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Chronology of Islam in America (2006)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
April 2006
Court skips enemy combatant issue
April 3: A potential showdown between the Supreme Court and the Bush administration over the president's war powers was averted today when the court declined to hear the appeal of a U.S. citizen who was held in military custody for more than three years. By a 6-3 vote, the court granted the administration's request not to review the case of Jose Padilla, an alleged member of al-Qaida arrested in Chicago in 2002, because the administration in November met Padilla's demand to be indicted in a civilian court and transferred from a Navy brig to a civilian jail. That made consideration of his rights "hypothetical," according to an opinion signed by three of the justices in the majority. The decision is an administration victory because it left intact an appeals court ruling that upheld the president's authority to detain Padilla as an "enemy combatant." (The Washington Post)
Muslim student attacked on Baylor campus
April 3: A Muslim Baylor University (Michigan) senior of South Asian heritage who was active in Muslim-Christian relations was attacked on the school’s campus Saturday night, suffering multiple injuries. Chief Jim Doak of the Baylor Department of Public Safety confirmed that police were alerted about the attack and that the incident is being investigated, but he refused to release further details. Rabiah Ahmed, a spokeswoman for the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), said the victim called them Monday and said a man, thought to be in his 30s, grabbed her hijab, an Islamic head scarf, and threw the woman to the ground. As he did, the attacker allegedly yelled anti-Muslim and ethnic slurs at the woman including “Arabian (expletive)” and “(expletive) Muslims.” When the woman screamed, her attacker reportedly slapped her and kicked her multiple times in the ribs, according to Ahmed. An emergency room examination found bruises and a dislocated shoulder, Ahmed said. (Chicago Tribune-Herald)
9/11 Detainees in New Jersey say they were abused with dogs
April 3: The photograph, seen worldwide, is one of the defining images from Abu Ghraib: a dog strains at its leash, lunging at a terrified prisoner in an orange jumpsuit. One United States military dog handler was recently convicted of abusing detainees at Abu Ghraib, the prison in Iraq, and the court-martial of another is to start in May. But for Ibrahim Turkmen and Akhil Sachdeva, the image evokes something closer to home: the dogs used inside the Passaic County Jail in New Jersey. The two men, plaintiffs in a pending class-action lawsuit known as Turkmen v. Ashcroft, were among hundreds of immigrant detainees held in the Passaic jail for months after 9/11 before they were cleared of links to terrorism and deported on visa violations. Until now, lawsuits brought by former detainees against top American officials have focused attention on the maximum security unit of a federal detention center in Brooklyn where the Justice Department's inspector general found widespread abuse. But today in Toronto, as Mr. Sachdeva, a Canadian citizen born in India, gives his first deposition for the class-action lawsuit, the spotlight will shift to the New Jersey jail. There, about 400 of the 762 mainly Muslim detainees rounded up in the United States after 9/11 were held. The lawsuit charges that the detainees' confinement was arbitrary, illegally based on their religion or national origin, and that guards routinely terrorized them with aggressive dogs. In November 2004, federal officials who oversee the detention of immigrants facing deportation said they would no longer send detainees to jails that used dogs to patrol inside. That decision by the Department of Homeland Security came a day after National Public Radio broadcast an investigative report saying that the dogs had been used over a three-year period to intimidate, attack and, in at least two cases, bite immigrant detainees in the Passaic County Jail. (New York Times)
Boykin promotion would send negative message to Muslims
April 5: His career apparently stalled after superiors chided him for casting the war on terrorism in religious terms , Army Lt. Gen. William G. "Jerry" Boykin was caught up in a campaign for the U.S. Senate and a budding contest for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. A letter from U.S. Sen. George Allen, R-Va., urging Boykin's promotion and transfer to a high-profile assignment drew howls of outrage from a potential Democratic challenger to Allen. Boykin's past comments about Muslims "are inappropriate and reckless, and George Allen knows it," said Harris Miller, one of two Democrats vying for their party's nomination to oppose Allen's re-election. Larry J. Sabato, director of the University of Virginia's Institute of Politics, meanwhile, saw the letter as a sign that Allen continues to look beyond this year's Virginia campaign and is bolstering his support among Christian conservatives for the 2008 presidential race. (Virginian-Pilot)
Methodists, Muslims, form pact in Illinois
April 6: United Methodists and Muslims in Northern Illinois have officially created a covenant relationship between the two faith groups. More than 100 leaders of the greater Chicago Islamic community and the United Methodist Northern Illinois Conference celebrated that covenant at an 6 interfaith banquet at the Islamic Foundation in Villa Park. United Methodist Bishop Hee-Soo Jung and Abdul Malik Mujahid, chairman of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago, signed a "Declaration of Relationship" committing the two groups to "a relationship grounded in our mutual love for God and dedication to the ethical core of our faiths." The covenant includes an agreement that the two groups will continue in dialogue with each other and expand the dialogue to include local faith communities; work together on issues of social justice; inform one another of situations that may affect each other's faith community; and gather annually to celebrate, reflect on the relationship and reaffirm the commitment. (Spero News)
Bridgeview mosque gets expansion OK
April 7: The Bridgeview Village Board (Michigan) approved expansion of a mosque on the village's southwest side this week after a group of homeowners dropped their opposition. The mosque proposal had languished for months before the village's Zoning Board of Appeals while residents and officials considered traffic and other quality-of-life issues surrounding expansion of the Mosque Foundation of Bridgeview's worship center. The Plan Commission was deadlocked 3-3 on the project last month. (Chicago Tribune)
MI: First female Arab Muslim takes the bench
April 10: As the first Arab American to sit on the 3rd Circuit Court of Wayne County, Charlene Mekled Elder knows she plays an important role. Not only does she carry the weight of serious decision making, but she serves as a role model for Middle Eastern women around the globe. Appointed to the Wayne County 3rd Circuit Court by Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm, Elder embarks on a new phase in her career at the age of 36 - marked by a balanced commitment to her profession, her family, and her community. Also, she is the first Arab-American female judge in this circuit to speak Arabic fluently. Elder's press release says she is also the first female (Immigrant) Muslim to hold a judicial position in the country. (Arab American News)
Jury awards Southwest passenger $27.5 million
April 11: A California woman of Iranian descent arrested in El Paso three years ago after Southwest Airlines employees accused her of assaulting a flight attendant and interfering with a flight should receive $27.5 million in damages for false imprisonment and malicious prosecution, an El Paso jury decided. El Paso lawyer Enrique Moreno said the verdict showed that jurors agreed that his client, Samantha Carrington, was wrongfully arrested on Oct. 7, 2003, when a flight to Houston from Los Angeles made a scheduled stop in El Paso. "In the evidence it came out that one of the flight attendants stated that Ms. Carrington reminded her of a terrorist, and in our views she was the victim of profiling stereotypes and discrimination," Moreno said. According to court documents, the jury found the airline caused Carrington to be maliciously prosecuted and falsely imprisoned. The jury also found that Carrington's conduct did not contribute to her arrest and prosecution. Moreno said the verdict sends a national message about racial profiling. (El Paso Times)
Justice Department urged to protect rights of Muslim teen
April 12: The Sacramento Valley chapter of the Council on Islamic-Relations (CAIR-SV) today called on the Department of Justice to protect the civil rights of Halema Buzayan, a Muslim teenager arrested following an alleged "fender bender" that media reports now indicate may never have occurred.According to an ABC 7 News investigative report: "A Muslim family from the town of Davis, CA, appeared in court for the eighth time Monday in a minor fender bender. The case raises questions of racial discrimination and whether Yolo County prosecutors are wasting tax dollars by pursuing the matter so vigorously. "The fact that county officials have taken such extreme measures in a minor traffic case creates the impression that there is something motivating them other than the pursuit of justice," said CAIR-SV Executive Director Basim Elkarra. (CAIR Bulletin)
Mosque exposes fears in Michigan
April 12: The plans for Warren's first mosque were approved two days back, but a series of ill-informed, fear-tinged and derogatory comments from residents and city planning commissioners still echoed a day later. "It's reminiscent of the Jim Crow South of the 1950s and 1960s," said Dawud Walid, executive director for the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations who attended the meeting. "There were blatant Islamophobic comments made by two members on this board," he said, adding that he is happy the plan was approved. "But we're also very discouraged by some of the comments from both the residents and the commissioners." During the two-hour session, one Warren resident was loudly applauded for demanding that the developer prove the Islamic Organization of North America won't have ties to terrorists. Planning commissioner Maurice Daniels asked if sacrifices would be made. The planning commission rejected the plan a month ago, and nearly tabled it this month before giving it the OK. Steve Elturk, the 50-year-old. "What I saw were not only anti-Islamic sentiment, but anti-minority sentiment," Walid said. "We are hopeful that there are no types of retaliatory actions taken against the mosque. One positive is that there are people in the academic and religious communities in Warren that spoke out in favor of the mosque." (Detroit Free Press)
Bank of America resolves complaints of anti-Muslim bias by former fleet bank
April 12: Bank of America Corp. in Boston has agreed to resolve allegations by Arab and Muslim groups that the former Fleet Bank discriminated against 15 customers with Arabic names by closing their accounts in 2002 and 2003 over suspicions of terrorism or money laundering. Although a state investigation found no evidence of discrimination, Bank of America agreed to take steps including paying the state $50,000 to create a brochure and video on consumer finance geared toward Arab-American and Muslim communities. Attorney General Tom Reilly, who announced the agreement, also said the bank will name a senior vice president as a liaison to local Arab-Americans and Muslims. (Boston Globe)
Iraq-born woman's ordeal prompts federal inquiry
April 13: The U.S. Department of Homeland Security will investigate the treatment of an Iraq-born woman who was strip-searched at the Pinellas County Jail, where she was detained after being barred from entering the country. Safana Jawad, 45, was sent home tonight without seeing the teenage son she planned to surprise or her ex-husband, who was lauded last year by Gov. Jeb Bush as a symbol of progress in Iraq. She was treated as if she were a common criminal, said Ahmed Bedier, director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Tampa. Jawad was fingerprinted, photographed, strip-searched, given a navy blue jumpsuit and placed in a 6- by 6-foot maximum security cell, Bedier said. "Why did she have to go through this?" Bedier asked. "There has to be a different way to deny people entry into the U.S. without treating them like a dangerous criminal." Homeland Security officials declined for a second day to provide details for why Jawad was denied entry, citing privacy concerns. Jawad said that federal agents told her she is connected to someone they view as suspicious, but refused to identify that person. (St. Petersburg Times)
Radio host Savage advocates killing 100 million Muslims
April 17: Nationally syndicated radio host Michael Savage called for "kill 100 million" Muslims. On his radio show, Savage told listeners that "intelligent people, wealthy people ... are very depressed by the weakness that America is showing to these psychotics in the Muslim world. They say, 'Oh, there's a billion of them.' " Savage continued: "I said, 'So, kill 100 million of them, then there'd be 900 million of them.' (Media Matters)
Teen’s hit-run case dismissed
April 17: A Yolo County judge in Woodland, CA, today dismissed a hit-and-run charge against a 17-year-old Davis girl whose family claimed they were the targets of police discrimination. “Case dismissed, justice is done,” Jamal Buzayan, father of Halema Buzayan, said as he left Judge Thomas Warriner’s courtroom. Warriner’s ruling comes about 10 months after Halema’s June 13, 2005, arrest at her Pistachio Court home, an incident that prompted the discrimination claims. Davis police say they arrested the teen after one of two witnesses identified her as the driver of a sport-utility vehicle that was seen moving next to a parked vehicle — which later showed damage to its bumper — in a South Davis parking lot. Halema has denied driving the family car, and her mother, who says she was the driver that day, claims to have no knowledge of an accident. Still, the Buzayan family later agreed to pay the hit-and-run victim $870 to repair the damage to her car. The family, which is Muslim, believes Davis police have treated them differently by arresting Halema because of their ethnic and religious background. The case has generated considerable discussion and controversy in the city of Davis, where police have been on the receiving end of numerous allegations of racial profiling, discrimination and harassment. (The Davis Enterprise)
Dr. M. Saud Anwar receives accolades for his services
April 18: The Connecticut State General Assembly today, passed an official citation to offer sincerest felicitations to Dr. M. Saud Anwar, President-Elect of Pakistani American Public Affairs Committee (PAKPAC) Connecticut in recognition of his outstanding achievements, leadership and commitment to Connecticut. The entire State Assembly extended best wishes on the memorable occasion and expressed the hope for his continued success. Dr. Anwar also received official recognition with a statement from Governor Jodi Rell, Governor of Connecticut, who on behalf of the State of Connecticut extended greetings and congratulations to Dr. Saud Anwar and commended his perseverance and dedication to public service. (Pakistan Link)
Davis, CA: Marchers protest police treatment
April 18: Protestors march in Davis, CA, today in support of Halema Buzayan, who was arrested on June 13 for an alleged hit-and-run. Protestors chanted at a "March for Justice," organized by Davis Senior High students and UC Davis graduate student David Greenwald. The march took place to draw attention to the controversial arrest of a Halema Buzayan, the 16-year-old Muslim teen arrested June 13 for what many alleged to be a fender-bender. The Buzayan family said they believed that the police did not handle the case fairly due to their religion. The criminal case filed against Buzayan for the incident has recently been thrown out by a local judge. Now the family intends to file a civil suit against the DPD. "The reason for this march was first to support Halema, and secondly to send a message to the council that there is a problem with the system and they need to write a policy to make sure that this doesn't happen again," said Dina EL-Nakhal, member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations of the Sacramento Valley. (California Aggie)
Muslims Villainized in American Culture
April 19: While there existed a climate of intolerance toward Muslims prior to 2001, it has become more acceptable to be blatantly ignorant and prejudiced against Islam after the events of Sept. 11, according to As’ad Abukhalil, an associate professor of political sciences at CSU Stanislaus and a research fellow at UC Berkeley. In his lecture, he addressed the various stereotypes and prejudices that exist against Muslims and Islam. “It seems to me that we now have room for people to express their bigotry and prejudice against Muslims,” Abukhalil said. Abukhalil provided examples of prejudice in Stockton, Calif. and at UC Irvine. In both instances, individuals called their local police because they were suspicious of the activities of Muslims. In the case of the UCI, someone called the police department to report Muslims praying in a parking lot. “When a government sets the tone for prejudice, you will see that society often follows,” Abukhalil said. Of all the religions in the United States, Islam is the only religion for which the government has a foreign policy, according to Abukhalil. “You do not have American foreign policy for Buddhism, for Judaism, Presbyterian [or] Quakers, but for Islam, you do,” Abukhalil said. “This is because Islam is not a reference to a religion here. Muslims are referred to as people who inhabit a world that is apart from anything else.” (UC Irvine News)
FBI detains tech student, but won't say why
April 20: A Georgia Tech student born in Pakistan has been in federal custody for nearly a month, apparently because authorities suspect a videotape he made of a building may have been related to terrorism, his family said. Syed Haris Ahmed, a 21-year-old mechanical engineering major who had become increasingly religious in his Islamic faith, was arrested by the FBI March 23 and has been held since, his family said. It is unclear what charges face Ahmed, but his family is convinced that they stem from suspicions that he was participating in activities that could be related to terrorism. Ahmed's family denied that he could be involved in anything related to terrorism. He came to the United States with his family in 1997, is an American citizen and lived with his family near Dawsonville before moving to an off-campus apartment near Georgia Tech. (Atlanta Journal-Constitution)
Americans ponder Evangelical, Muslim president
April 24: Many adults in the United States would not see faith as a deterrent for a politician seeking the nation's highest office, according to poll by Ipsos-Reid released by CanWest Global. 64 per cent of respondents say they would be willing to vote for a presidential candidate who was an Evangelical, and 63 per cent would back a Muslim. (Angus-reid)
Pat Robertson compares Islam to Nazism
April 24: On The 700 Club, televangelist Pat Robertson warned his viewers that "we are not listening" to what Islam "says," just as we did not listen to "what Adolf Hitler said in Mein Kampf." Robertson claimed that we are ignoring the threats by "not only the radical Muslims but Islam in general," because "it is not politically correct to believe that any religious group would do what they claim they are going to do." (Media Matters)
Scarf pulled off by cops
April 25: Dozens of area Muslims have placed protest calls to Arlington Heights Mayor Arlene Mulder demanding that charges against a Muslim civil rights protester be dropped after allegations were made that police ripped off the woman's headscarf during her October arrest. The protester, Rehana Khan of Chicago, was arrested Oct. 15 with four other people while demonstrating in Arlington Heights in support of immigrant rights and against the Minutemen, a group that opposes illegal immigration. Khan is charged with battery and resisting arrest. She is accused of hitting a female officer and trying to break free while being arrested, authorities said. Khan alleges that police handcuffed her and then ripped off her headscarf, or hajib, which observant Muslim women believe Allah commanded them to wear, according to Christina Abraham of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. (Chicago Tribune)
For Arab men, U.S. citizenship can be elusive
April 25: Ali Ali, Iraqi immigrant of Dearborn, says he has been unable to become a U.S. citizen, despite passing all the citizenship tests and requirements and waiting for almost a year. His problem is shared by other Arab and Muslim men in metro Detroit and across the United States, attorneys in Dearborn said today. Ali, along with attorneys and civil rights advocates,held a news conference held by the Michigan chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee. The committee also held conferences in Dallas, Anaheim, Calif., and Washington, D.C., to highlight problems. Under federal law, immigrants who have taken citizenship interviews are supposed to be notified within 120 days on whether their U.S. citizenship request has been approved. Ali had his interview in May 2005, but he still hasn't heard from the U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Service. A spokesman for the service, Shawn Saucier, said that the agency is "working hard to refine the process." The problem, he said, is that in some cases, it takes a while for the FBI to conduct background checks. Many of the people who are finding it difficult to become U.S. citizens are Arab and Muslim men. (Detroit Free Press)
Ali Al-Tamimi wins appeal ruling over wiretaps
April 25: An appellate court today directed a lower court to consider statements by a Muslim cleric in northern Virginia that he had been illegally wiretapped under the warrantless eavesdropping program that President Bush authorized. The ruling opened the door to what could be the first ruling by a federal court on whether information obtained under the program, operated by the National Security Agency, had been improperly used in a criminal prosecution. The cleric, Ali al-Timimi, who was sentenced to life in prison last year for inciting his Muslim followers to violence, is challenging his conviction because he says he suspects that the government failed to disclose illegal wiretaps of his e-mail messages and telephone conversations. In an order released today, the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit did not rule on the merits of Mr. Timimi's assertions about the N.S.A. program, but sent the case back to the federal trial court in Alexandria, Va., for a rehearing. (New York Times)
Government backs away from claim that Tariq Ramadan endorsed terrorism
April 25: In response to a lawsuit filed by the American Civil Liberties Union and the New York Civil Liberties Union on behalf of academic organizations, the Departments of State and Homeland Security have backed away from a claim that noted Swiss Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan is being denied entry to the United States because he endorsed or espoused terrorism. "As this case has progressed, it has become increasingly obvious that the government has no legitimate basis for barring Professor Ramadan from the United States," said Jameel Jaffer, the lead ACLU attorney in this case. "All the evidence suggests that the government is barring Professor Ramadan simply because it doesn't want Americans to hear what he has to say." In July 2004, the Departments of State and Homeland Security revoked a visa that would have allowed Ramadan to accept a tenured teaching position at the University of Notre Dame, explaining their action by pointing to a provision of the Patriot Act that allows the government to bar those who have "endorsed or espoused terrorism." In court, however, the government failed to introduce evidence that Ramadan had endorsed terrorism, and in papers filed it acknowledged that, despite its July 2004 statement to the media, it had never determined that Ramadan was inadmissible to the United States under that provision of the Patriot Act. (ACLU Press Release)
More secrecy cloaking terror cases
April 25: Nothing in Terence L. Kindlon's 30-year legal career prepared him to represent a man facing terrorism charges. Kindlon got security clearance to look at classified documents in the case, but watched as government lawyers repeatedly brought matters to the judge privately. However the judge responded, he did so without telling Kindlon. Kindlon's case is unfolding in upstate New York, but secret discussions between government lawyers and judges are cropping up at what experts say is an unprecedented level in terrorism-related cases around the country, including in Oregon. The emerging national trend goes to the very foundation of America's legal system: transparency. If one side makes an argument to a judge, the other side gets to be there to disagree. In Oregon, the issue is before the judge presiding over a lawsuit by Al-Haramain, an Ashland-based Islamic charity challenging the legality of a warrantless surveillance program set up by the National Security Agency. "Something remarkable and disturbing is happening in this case and in others across the country," Al-Haramain lawyers wrote in a court brief filed. The government "is attempting to draw a veil of secrecy over judicial proceedings." Bryan Sierra, a Justice Department spokesman, said federal law permits prosecutors to communicate privately with judges in cases of national security. Although lawyers occasionally communicate privately with judges, a wide range of experts expressed surprise at the government's extensive use of the practice in terrorism cases. (The Oregonian)
MSU professor apologizes for 'intemperate' e-mail
April 25: The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) today said that a Michigan State University (MSU) professor has offered an apology for an Islamophobic e-mail sent to Muslim students. In an e-mail reply to a person expressing concern over his offensive remarks, MSU engineering professor Indrek Wichman said: "I wrote my comments in haste to what I thought was a private organization and I used intemperate language. My apologies to you and others whom I have offended. I regret this very much and my comments have nothing to do with my classes or any research." In the e-mail, after citing several international incidents of what he said was Muslim violence directed against others, Wichman wrote: "I counsel you dissatisfied, aggressive, brutal and uncivilized slave-trading Moslems to be very aware of this as you proceed with your infantile 'protests.' If you do not like the values of the West -- see the 1st Amendment -- you are free to leave." "I hope for God's sake you choose that option," Wichman wrote. "Please return to your ancestral homelands and build them up yourselves instead of troubling Americans. Cordially, I.S. Wichman, Professor of Mechanical Engineering." (Media Reports)
United Muslims of America celebrates 25 years
April 29: Several hundred people attended the celebratory banquet in Newark, CA, for the 25th anniversary of the United Muslims of America. Dr. Islam Siddiqui, founder and past president, and Mr. Shafi Refai, current president, spoke about the history of this organization and stressed the need of political activism, interfaith dialogue, and the image of Muslims in America. “With the turning point of September 11, these needs are even deeper and wider. There is concern about the eroding civil liberties of Muslims because of the widespread ignorance of Americans about what this global faith tradition stands for.” Mr. Refai reminded the audience that out of nearly 60 Muslim-majority nations, only a few have terrorism problems - yet the majority of Muslims are being seen as holding identical views. (UMA Bulletin)
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