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Chronology of Islam in America (2010)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
August 2010
Florida mayor calls ‘burn Koran’ church an embarrassment
August 2: With mounting news coverage about a Gainesville church's plan to hold a Quran burning on Sept. 11, Mayor Craig Lowe released a statement today condemning the church, dismissing it as a "tiny fringe group and an embarrassment to our community." "They are opposed (to) Gainesville's true character as a place that values every person," Lowe said in a news release. "We may be of different religions, sexual orientations, races, genders, national origins, or ages, but all are welcome here in our efforts to build a better community both locally and globally." In an interview, the mayor said he issued the statement to respond to the amount of attention Dove World Outreach Center's "International Burn a Koran Day" has gotten. Last week, the church's senior pastor, Terry Jones, was interviewed by CNN's Rick Sanchez, and news organizations across the world - from The Times of India to The Guardian in England - have made mention of Dove World's plans."This is not us," Lowe said. "The city of Gainesville stands against this kind of behavior." (Gainesville Sun)
Church to Burn Copies of Koran to Mark 9-11
August 3: A FLORIDA church was today promoting an event where it will burn copies of the Koran to mark the ninth anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the U.S. In the announcement on its Facebook page, The Dove World Outreach Center of Gainesville, Florida, asked other religious groups to join in standing "against the evil of Islam. Islam is of the devil!" The Facebook event has received more than 1,500 "Like" recommendations by users, but had also been attacked with a number of threatening messages posted on the page and corresponding anti-Islam rants. The church's pastor, Terry Jones - who has written a book titled "Islam is of The Devil" and sells T-shirts bearing the same message - defended the controversial event. "Islam and Sharia law was responsible for 9/11," Jones told Agence France-Presse.
"We will burn Korans because we think it's time for Christians, for churches, for politicians to stand up and say no; Islam and Sharia law is not welcome in the U.S. The National Association of Evangelicals (NAE) called for the church to cancel the event, The Christian Post reported. "It sounds like the proposed Koran burning is rooted in revenge," NAE president Leith Anderson said. "Yet the Bible says that Christians should ‘make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.'" (Information Clearing House)
Coalition concerned that anti-Islam leader trained FBI
August 3: A coalition of Muslim, Sikh, Asian-American, and other civil liberties groups today sent an open letter to FBI Director Robert Mueller seeking an explanation of why a leader of an anti-Islam hate group was recently invited to train state and federal law enforcement officers. Robert Spencer, co-founder of the hate group Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA), claimed in a blog post that he "gave two two-hour seminars on the belief-system of Islamic jihadists to the Tidewater Joint Terrorism Task Force." Those attending the training reportedly included FBI agents. In its letter to Mueller, the coalition outlined Spencer's bigoted views on Islam and Muslims, including referring to Islam's Prophet Muhammad as a "con man." The letter cited the independent national media watch group Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR), which identified Spencer as one of "Islamophobia's Dirty Dozen" who systematically "spread fear, bigotry, and misinformation." In its report, FAIR said, "By selectively ignoring inconvenient Islamic texts and commentaries, Spencer concludes that Islam is innately extremist and violent."
The coalition's letter also noted that Spencer joined with hate-blogger Pamela Geller to found a new organization named Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA): "SIOA has come to prominence through shrill opposition to the building of American mosques, anti-Islam bus and taxi advertising campaigns, support for European far-right groups and Islamophobes such as the English Defence League and Geert Wilders, and bigoted anti-Islam statements by its co-leader, Pamela Geller. Geller has claimed that 'Hitler and the Nazis were inspired by Islam' and offered rhetorical support to both accused Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic and slain Apartheid-era leader Eugene Terre'blanche."
SIOA is an outgrowth of a similar group in Europe that seeks to block the construction of mosques. That group, Stop the Islamization of Europe, "considers Islamophobia to be the height of common sense." The United States Patent and Trademark Office refused to grant SIOA a trademark because: "The applied-for mark refers to Muslims in a disparaging manner because by definition it implies that conversion or conformity to Islam is something that needs to be stopped or caused to cease."
Signatories to the letter to Mueller include: Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), Defending Dissent Foundation, Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), MAS Freedom, Muslim Advocates, Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), Sikh Coalition and South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT). (CAIR)
Jewish course instructor compares Islam to Nazis and the Ku Klux Klan
August 3: The Arizona chapter of Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-AZ) today called on a Jewish educational organization in that state to offer a balancing perspective to a recent course taught by an instructor who has equated Islam with Nazi ideology. CAIR-AZ said the six-part course “Islam 101” offered by the Bureau of Jewish Education (BJE) was taught by Dr. Carl Goldberg, an individual who reportedly has a past history of bashing Islam and Muslims. Goldberg has appeared several times around the state at places where Muslim speakers were scheduled to lecture, handing out anti-Muslim materials outside of the venues. When commenting on the “threat of Islam” in the United States, Goldberg stated: "What would you do if you had a Ku Klux Klan center, or Nazi party centers all over the United States propagating Nazi ideology?”. . ."What would you do about it? It's quite similar, actually, because the ideology is not all that different.” At least one of the course participants reportedly walked out “in disgust” after the first day of class. Goldberg recently offered a similar presentation to an Arizona Tea Party group. (CAIR)
E-Mail mocks name of Michigan Muslim candidate
August 3: The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) today voiced concern about an anonymous e-mail being circulated that mocks the Islamic name of a Muslim running for the state senate. Chairman of the Detroit Board of Police Commissioners Mohamed Okdie received an e-mail caricaturing him as a clown and referring to him as "Mohamhead," an obvious reference to the Islamic prohibition on the consumption of pork products. Okdie stated, "It was an attack, as I see it, on my heritage, on Islam, and it was reminiscent of the attacks that were made on President Obama when he ran for president." "Such bigoted e-mails circulated prior to the primary election seek to delegitimize Muslim candidates while making a mockery of the most common name used by Muslims," said CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid. "We call on Michigan candidates and activists of all parties to stick to the issues and not invoke ethnicity and religion to score cheap political points." Walid noted that a GOP opponent of an Indian Muslim congressman has exploited religious bias in his election bid and recently compared Muslims to "kamikazes." He said other candidates have pandered to anti-Muslim sentiments in controversies over the building or expansion of mosques nationwide. (CAIR)
CAIR-MI Sues State Police for Info on Imam's Death
August 5: The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) has filed a lawsuit against the Michigan State Police for its failure to release information relating to the fatal shooting of Imam Luqman Ameen Abdullah last autumn. The Michigan State Police, part of a multi-jurisdictional law enforcement task force that conducted a series of raids that resulted in the death of Imam Abdullah, has denied Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests submitted by CAIR-MI seeking public information related to the case. CAIR-MI said it will soon file a series of lawsuits against other law enforcement agencies in an effort to obtain information relating to Imam Abdullah's death, including video surveillance showing him being attacked by FBI dogs and being shot 21 times. The FBI shot Abdullah to death after they said he opened fire on an FBI dog when they tried to arrest him on suspicion of dealing in stolen goods. The Michigan Attorney General's Office and U.S. Justice Department have not released their reports on the shooting. (CAIR)
A Florida church's plan to burn Qurans is vile
August 5: Some 15 or 20 years ago, …..Japanese automobiles had been selling exceptionally well in the United States, and their success was controversial. A handful of American men — they may have been autoworkers — had taken sledgehammers to an old Japanese car to demonstrate their concern. The event made all the networks. Most Americans probably viewed it as a colorful, if illogical, curiosity. After all, the Japanese automobiles were not forcing themselves on anyone. Anyway, pictures of the men flailing away at the car made news for a day. In this country. In Japan, they were shown over and over, until one incident involving five or six people began to look like a national explosion of hatred.
We remembered those events the other day when we read in this newspaper that a church in Gainesville, Fla., plans to hold an “International Burn a Quran Day” on September 11. What a recklessly vile idea. “We believe that Islam is of the devil, that it’s causing billions of people to go to hell,” explained Pastor Terry Jones. The man seems to have a bee in his bonnet concerning the religion of Islam. He has even written a book about it: “Islam is of the Devil.” He has produced a Facebook page and a YouTube video to spread his convictions.
Next month, when the holy books go up in Jones’s flames, the world news media will be in Florida to capture the event. Americans view it in perspective. Off-kilter people sometimes do strange things here in the land of the free. They’re entitled. No nation is more open to religious diversity than the United States. Freedom of worship is even written into the Constitution. Yet what will the 1.5 billion Muslims in other lands think of this show of contempt for their faith, as it is transmitted around the world? What would Christians think if a Bible-burning celebration were held in some other land?
The Council on American-Islamic Relations is calling for counter-protests. It plans to hand out Qurans to opinion leaders as the burnings approach. The National Association of Evangelicals has warned the Gainesville church that its calculated insult could stir up religious tension. Do you think? Let’s hope the objections spread to other mainstream organizations, faith-based and otherwise, to provide a sense of context to the international audience. Because if this rotten little display proceeds largely uncontested, it could do more to distort and damage America’s reputation than a whole army of burly guys with sledgehammers. (New Hampshire Sentinel editorial)
Angry protesters descend on Connecticut mosque
August 7: The Connecticut office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CT) today called on public officials and law enforcement agencies in that state to protect the right of Muslims to worship without intimidation by anti-Islam protesters. The Connecticut Post reported that right-wing protesters carrying signs and shouting "Islam is a lie" angrily confronted worshippers outside a Bridgeport mosque yesterday. Worshippers arriving at the Masjid An-Noor mosque were harassed by protesters shouting "Jesus hates Muslims." One protester reportedly shoved a hate sign at a group of young children leaving the mosque. Police arrived on the scene to separate the groups, but said no arrests were made. Flip Benham, of Dallas, Texas, organizer of the protest, was yelling at the worshipers with a bullhorn. “This is a war in America and we are taking it to the mosques around the country,” he said. A number of other mosques nationwide have been targeted either by anti-Muslim protests or by hate crimes. CAIR is concerned that more anti-mosque incidents will occur during the upcoming Islamic fast of Ramadan. On September 11, a Fla. Church plans to burn a copy of the Quran, Islam's revealed text, and extremist anti-Islam Dutch politician Geert Wilders will address an anti-mosque rally in New York City. (CAIR)
Ground Zero controversy fueled attacks on Texas Mosque
August 9: The president of an Islamic Center in Texas says backlash against the proposed mosque at Ground Zero has made its way over to the Lone Star State and is manifesting itself in acts of hatred against his congregation. Jamal Qaddura, president of the Dar El-Eman Islamic Center in Arlington, says it started with a disturbing act of vandalism. The FBI and Arlington Police Department confirmed that they are investigating a July 23 graffiti incident and a July 25 playground fire at the mosque. Qaddura says it’s obvious the crimes were fueled by hate and, more specifically, by backlash against the proposal to build an Islamic center at Ground Zero. “This started after they started this controversy about the mosque in New York. Not just us, by the way. This is happening to a majority of the mosques in many, many states. These people, they want their First Amendment and their freedom of speech at the expense of the Muslims' First Amendment and their freedom to worship,” Qaddura says. “We should respect as Americans each other’s right for religious freedom.” (Fox News)
Muslims ask Minnesota Governor to retract statement against NY Islamic Center
August 9: Leaders of over twelve Minnesota Muslim organizations and mosques today called on Governor Tim Pawlenty to retract his statement to opposite the New York Muslim cultural center. His comments appeared to link all Muslims and the Islamic faith to the terrorist attacks of 9/11. On August 6, Pawlenty told Real Clear Politics, “I'm strongly opposed to the idea of putting a mosque anywhere near Ground Zero -- I think it's inappropriate. I believe that 3,000 of our fellow innocent citizens were killed in that area, and some ways from a patriotic standpoint, it's hallowed ground, it's sacred ground, and we should respect that. We shouldn't have images or activities that degrade or disrespect that in any way.” In a letter sent to Pawlenty’s office, the Muslim leaders urged the governor to understand that the 9/11 terrorist attacks were a tragedy for all Americans, including Muslims. The letter noted that dozens of American Muslims were killed in the attacks. Signatories to the letter include: Center for Somali Solutions; Council on American-Islamic Relations-Minnesota; Dar Al Hijrah; EngageMN; Islamic Circle of North America-MN Chapter; Jafari Islamic Center; Masjid An-Nur; Northwest Islamic Community Center; Sisters Need a Place; Somali Action Alliance; Somali American Community; Somali Community Link; and Tawfiq Islamic Center.(CAIR)
For GOP, Islamophobia is the new anti-Communism
August 9: The mosque controversy is not a continuation of the dynamics that started on Sept. 11, 2001, but a sharp reversal of course nine years on, one that's antithetical to the approach during the administration of President George W. Bush. Then, leading conservatives were careful to portray the U.S. response to the terrorist attacks as a targeted campaign against a minority group of murderous fanatics, not a broad cultural conflict with Islam. They appreciated that the latter approach would amount to a strategic and moral disaster. On the surface, there’s plenty of validity to this. Bush’s insistence after 9/11 that Islam is "a religion of peace" and that those who attacked America represented the faith’s fanatical fringes does indeed have the ring of admirable maturity compared to Newt Gingrich’s cynical conflation of the 9/11 terrorists and the Islamic faith. But let’s be honest: The difference between Bush’s GOP and Newt’s is one of window dressing only. The Republican Party of the Bush years had the same magnetic allure to Islamophobes as today’s does, even if it didn’t use quite the same inflammatory rhetoric.
It was Bush, after all, who filled his inner circle with committed neoconservatives who believed that Islam itself imperiled Western values and the long-term survival of the United States, and who embraced the neocons’ vision of a "global war on terror." Daniel Pipes, for instance, used a speech one month after 9/11 to warn of the threat posed by "the presence, and increased stature, and affluence, and enfranchisement of American Muslims." Bush appointed Pipes to the board of the U.S. Institute of Peace. The "war on terror," in turn, cemented for Bush and the GOP the loyalties of America’s most virulent Islamophobes, many of them right-wing Christians who had long yearned for just such a confrontation between the West and Islam. Even as Bush was insisting on his "religion of peace" construction, Pat Robertson was branding Islam “an erroneous religion” and suggesting its adherents were "worse than Hitler," and Jerry Falwell was labeling the prophet Mohammed “a terrorist.”
A cynic would call this a version of good cop/bad cop, with Bush using soothing platitudes to placate moderate swing voters while his right-wing allies energized their flock by articulating the effect of his policies in blunt terms. If that was the idea, it clearly worked, given the importance of conservative Christians to Bush’s narrow 2004 reelection. Bush’s policies also found vocal support from Islamophobes outside the Christian right. "I have nothing against Islamic people," Dennis Miller told Bill O’Reilly during the Bush years, "but I must say, due to the recent track record, when I'm on a plane and there's a guy anywhere between 20 and 30 who looks vaguely shaky, yes, I'm clocking him for most of the flight." Miller supported and campaigned with Bush in 2004. That Miller, who supports abortion and gay rights, found common ground with Robertson on Bush’s war on terror illustrates the political power of Islamophobia for the GOP. In many ways, it has become the glue that anti-Communism used to be: a demon that fundamentalist Christians and white ethnic voters from outside the Bible Belt (Reagan Democrats used to be the term for them) can both agree to curse.
This awkward marriage was perfectly illustrated when pro-choice Rudy Giuliani was endorsed for president in 2008 by Robertson. Giuliani, like Bush, had shown admirable maturity in the wake of 9/11, publicly urging New Yorkers not to engage in "group blame." But he was also an unwavering believer in the neoconservative worldview, one who insisted on the campaign trail that all references to terrorism be preceded with the words "radical Islamic." This was enough to win him Robertson's backing. It is possible that Bush, whose father embodied a pre-1989 brand of Republicanism that valued ties to the Arab and Muslim worlds, genuinely believed that his policies weren’t in conflict with his rhetoric. But even if we give him credit for that, he was still guilty of profound naiveté. By surrounding himself with clash-of-civilizations types and embracing their war, Bush certified the GOP as the party of Islamophobia. And the voters that he won by doing so are the same voters that Gingrich and Sarah Palin and others are courting today with their ugly rhetoric. The only difference, it seems, is that they’re less conflicted about it. (Steve Kornacki news editor salon.com)
NY bus ads sponsored by anti-Islam extremists
August 10: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said today that controversial advertisements on New York buses opposing a planned Islamic community center in that city are being sponsored by groups and individuals with long histories of promoting anti-Islam hate. The advertisements, which juxtapose a plane flying toward a flaming World Trade Center with a photoshopped image of the Islamic center planned for Lower Manhattan, are being paid for by a hate group founded by an anti-Islam extremist who has called for the killing of all Muslims. John Joseph Jay, founder of American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI), wrote: “[T]here are no innocent muslims. islam is subject to killing on grounds of political expediency on the same basis as islam kills its victims, and islam cannot ethically and morally claim otherwise.” [Note: Grammatical errors in the original text have be maintained.] The group's other founders include anti-Islam extremists Pamela Geller and Robert Spencer.
Spencer, co-founder with Geller of another hate group, Stop the Islamization of America (SIOA), has called Islam's Prophet Muhammad a "con man." SIOA is an outgrowth of a similar group in Europe that seeks to block the construction of mosques on that continent. The United States Patent and Trademark Office refused to grant SIOA a trademark because: "The applied-for mark refers to Muslims in a disparaging manner because by definition it implies that conversion or conformity to Islam is something that needs to be stopped or caused to cease."
SIOA's sister organization, Stop the Islamization of Europe, "considers Islamophobia to be the height of common sense." Spencer's group has invited anti-Islam Dutch extremist Geert Wilders to speak at a September 11 protest against the proposed Islamic community center in New York City. The independent national media watch group Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) identified Spencer as one of "Islamophobia's Dirty Dozen" who systematically "spread fear, bigotry, and misinformation." In its report, FAIR said, "By selectively ignoring inconvenient Islamic texts and commentaries, Spencer concludes that Islam is innately extremist and violent."
Pamela Geller has claimed that "Hitler and the Nazis were inspired by Islam" and offered rhetorical support to both accused Serbian war criminal Radovan Karadzic and slain Apartheid-era leader Eugene Terre'blanche. She has posted images on her blog that include a fake photograph of Supreme Court nominee Elena Kagan in a Nazi uniform, another fake image of President Obama urinating on an American flag and drawings purporting to depict Islam's Prophet Muhammad as a pig. In a June 25 blog entry, Geller posted a video claiming that Muslims engage in bestiality.
The attorney who sued the New York Metropolitan Transportation Authority on behalf of the anti-Islam bus ad sponsors is David Yerushalmi. Yerushalmi heads a group that has advocated prison terms for "adherence to Islam." In a 2007 commentary, he called for a “war against Islam and all Muslim faithful.” He wrote in part: "At a practical level, this means that Shari’a and Islamic law are immediately outlawed. Any Moslem in America who adopts historical and traditional Shari’a will be subject to deportation. Mosques which adhere to Islamic law will be shut down permanently.” (CAIR)
Top Social Conservative: 'No More Mosques, Period'
August 10: Bryan Fischer, the "Director of Issues Analysis" for the American Family Association, wrote a blog post today on the AFA's site arguing that the United States should have "no more mosques, period." "This is for one simple reason," he writes. "Each Islamic mosque is dedicated to the overthrow of the American government." Fischer writes that every mosque "is a potential jihadist recruitment and training center, and determined to implement the 'Grand Jihad.'" He adds that "because of this subversive ideology, Muslims cannot claim religious freedom protections under the First Amendment. They are currently using First Amendment freedoms to make plans to destroy the First Amendment altogether." If a mosque was willing to publicly renounce the Koran and its 109 verses that call for the death of infidels, renounce Allah and his messenger Mohammed, publicly condemn Osama bin Laden, Hamas, and Abdelbaset al Megrahi (the Lockerbie bomber), maybe then they could be allowed to build their buildings. "Permits should not be granted to build even one more mosque in the United States of America, let alone the monstrosity planned for Ground Zero," Fischer says. (Talking Points Memo)
Santa Clara Mosque's 64-foot minaret OK'd by planning commission
August 11: Santa Clara planning commissioners tonight approved the design of a nearly 64-foot minaret to be built alongside the Bay Area's largest mosque -- a decision that coincidentally occurred on the second night of Ramadan, Islam's holiest month of fasting. The city's architectural review board had earlier approved the design, but a businessman with an office near the mosque appealed the decision to the commission. Commissioners unanimously rejected the appeal. Mohammed Sarodi, chairman of the board of trustees for the Muslim Community Association said the minaret, along with a larger construction project to enhance and enlarge the mosque's entrance, could be completed in about nine months. (San Jose Mercury News)
Rutherford County, TN, residents demand construction on Mosque be halted
August 12: Several Murfreesboro county (Tennessee) residents spoke at tonight's monthly Rutherford County Commission meeting in opposition to a proposed Islamic Center on Veals Road. Most demanded construction be halted and stopped short of demanding the buried body of a Muslim on their property be exhumed. The 52,000-square foot Islamic Center of Murfreesboro was approved earlier this year by the Regional Planning Commission under a new state law that allows religious institutions to build whatever they want in residential neighborhoods as a "use of right." Residents who spoke want the county commission to reconsider their approval claiming Islam is not a religion and expressing fear that Islamic Sharia law will be imposed on Murfreesboro citizens. "Look at the history of Islam," Darrel Whaley told those gathered at the Historic Courthouse. "Look at the statements that it's making in all the countries where it rules and reigns and that is the intent right here in Rutherford County in the United States of America."
One resident threatened legal action against each individual commissioner if they didn't investigate the Muslim community's ties to terrorism before approving their expansion plans. (Murfreesboro Post)
Christians return to preach outside Connecticut mosque
August 12: Nearly a week after a picketing group of Christians outside the Bridgeport, Connecticut, mosque prompted controversy by proclaiming "Islam is a lie" and other beliefs, two Christians returned to the spot to try to convert Muslims. As Muslims milled around the entrance where the Christians stood and the atmosphere grew palpably tense, a man urged mosque attendees to come inside. One of the Christians, John Payne, of Milford, said he and Vinny Bosco, of Beacon Falls, had returned to the Masjid An-Noor mosque at the corner of Fairfield and Clinton avenues to distribute literature comparing the Quran and the Bible and engage "in dialogue and conversation with people." Mosque members didn't seem overjoyed to see them. About a dozen members of Texas-based Operation Save America had confronted worshippers at the mosque last Friday, yelling what mosque members described as hate-filled slogans. A Connecticut Post staffer who witnessed last week's incident reported that at one time protesters were on each of the four corners surrounding the mosque. Some were shouting, and one Christian minister was yelling through a bullhorn. One protester was photographed with a placard that said, "Islam is a lie." Police arrived on scene last Friday to separate the groups, but no one was arrested. The protesters left without serious incident, but the event sparked controversy and public expressions of outrage among members of the local faith community -- Christian and Muslim. Following Friday's events, Muslim leaders in Connecticut asked police and public officials for assurances that they can worship without being harassed. The Bridgeport mosque issue arises as a contentious debate swirls around a plan to build a mosque near Ground Zero in New York City. (Connecticut Post)
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