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Chronology of Islam in America (2007)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
February 2007 Page II
NY: CW Post fires dorm advisors over 'Hostage' movie
February 7: A two-minute video that administrators consider insensitive to Muslims has cost five resident assistants and a residence hall advisor their jobs at the C.W. Post campus of Long Island University. The short film depicts a scene similar to one where Americans being held hostage by Al-Qaeda terrorists are forced to shoot videos pleading for their life. In the video the five resident assistants were disguised in ski masks and speaking broken English and using stereotypical "Middle Eastern" accents. The video was posted on YouTube and Google Video and later taken down. (Newsday)
Muslim chosen to lead interfaith alliance
February 7: Larry Collins was installed recently as president of The Interfaith Alliance of Marion County (Florida). He is the first Muslim to hold the office. Collins grew up an Army brat. He served in the Air Force and did a year in Vietnam. Collins is a devout Muslim and has been since 1966. The Rev. Dale Stewart is a founding member and former president of the Marion County chapter of the alliance. He believes Collins' dedication will be an asset to the organization. (Ocala Star-Banner)
Civil rights groups file class-action suit against delay in citizenship processing
February, 8: In San Francisco, CA, civil rights groups filed a class-action lawsuit today against the federal government for its practice of indefinitely delaying citizenship applications in violation of the Constitution and federal statutes and regulations. The first of its kind in Northern California, the lawsuit seeks to enforce federal laws that expect the government to decide a citizenship application within 120 days of the naturalization test. Many of the named plaintiffs have been waiting for several years, a clear violation of the law. The plaintiffs, long-time legal permanent residents of Northern California, have met all the legal requirements for citizenship, including passing their immigration interview and clearing criminal record checks, but have not been granted citizenship due to a so-called “FBI name check,” a process that has taken years to complete. The eight plaintiffs include one Afghan, two Pakistanis, four Chinese and one Canadian national. (AMP Report)
Shias and Sunnis are closer together than Catholics and Protestants
February 9: In the wake of vandalism at predominantly Shiite mosques in Dearborn, Michigan, Muslim Public Affairs Council, executive director, Dr. Salam Al-Marayati, told the Newsweek: Sunni and Shiites were closer together than Catholics and Protestants. We read from the same Qur’an, practiced the same five pillars. The divisions are political and historical and for all intents and purposes not relevant to society today. Schools of thought are considered a personal choice, a family decision and don’t play a significant role in the everyday life of the American Muslim. You can be Shiite, you can be Sunni or you can be non-denominational—which I think is really the Qur’anic way—to say really there should not be that division and you’re just a Muslim. (Newsweek)
Critic of Islam finds new home in U.S.
February 10: The Associated Press reported - under the title Critic of Islam finds new home in U.S. - Ayaan Hirsi Ali has joined the American Enterprise Institute, after a sometimes stormy 14 years in the Netherlands, where she was a member of parliament and became a central figure in two events that jolted the nation. "I'm an apostate. That's why the book is called 'Infidel,'" she said in a telephone interview from New York. She joined the AEI in last September. "We believe that she will bring an increase to the level of anti-Muslim bias in this country that we saw her bring to the situation in Europe," the council's communications director, Ibrahim Hooper, said in an interview. "She is just one more Muslim-basher on the lecture circuit," he said. Many institute scholars have had a close relationship with the Bush administration. Among its senior fellows are former House Speaker Newt Gingrich; John R. Bolton, former U.S. ambassador to the United Nations; and Lynne Cheney , wife of Vice President Dick Cheney . (Associated Press)
MPAC calls on DOJ to move past Al-Arian case
February 12:, The Muslim Public Affairs Council today sent a letter to the U.S. Department of Justice urging Deputy Attorney General Paul McNulty to meet with the American Muslim community regarding the case of Dr. Sami Al-Arian. In the letter, MPAC highlighted the importance of this case in terms of its perception within the community. Al-Arian was arrested in 2003 on charges of funding terrorists. In 2005, he was acquitted on eight of the 17 charges against him, including conspiracy to commit racketeering, conspiracy to murder and maim people abroad, conspiracy to support a terrorist organization, mail fraud and obstruction of justice. On April 14, 2006 Al-Arian plead guilty to a single count of conspiracy to provide services to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad and agreed to be deported. In return, federal prosecutors agreed to drop the remaining eight counts against him. U.S. District Judge James Moody sentenced Al-Arian to a maximum of 57 months in prison and gave him credit for time served, leaving him with a balance of 19 months. The government has been unwilling to carry out Al-Arian's previous plea agreement and a grand jury has subpoenaed Al-Arian to testify in a case involving an American Muslim think-tank. Testifying was not part of the original plea agreement. Despite having been found guilty of nothing by a U.S. court, Al-Arian continues to be held under a belief of culpability. Al-Arian has been imprisoned under conditions condemned by Amnesty International. (MPAC bulletin)
Kansas City Muslims battle prejudice for their beliefs
February 12: Tensions between Christianity and Islam have never been higher in the United State. Still, in this primarily Judeo-Christian nation, some statistics suggest Islam is the fastest growing religion in the country and the world. Hard and fast numbers are hard to come by but some statistics suggest 34,000 Americans are converting to Islam every year. No one really tracks these numbers in an official way, because there is no "evangelism" per se in Islam. They say they're not actively trying to make people Muslims, they can only tell you the message, whether or not you embrace it is between you and God. Here in Kansas City, Muslim leaders said 9/11 exposed a lot of people to Islam and its message, and as some learn about the faith, they're called to follow it. The Islamic Center in Kansas City said before 9/11 one person would embrace Islam maybe every three or four months, but now it's more like once a week. (FOX 4 News)
US military tells TV series 24 producers to cut out the torture scenes
February 13: The US military has appealed to the producers of popular television series 24 to tone down the torture scenes because of the impact they are having both on troops in the field and America's reputation abroad. Forget about Abu Ghraib, forget about Guantanamo Bay, forget even that the White House has authorized interrogation techniques that some classify as torture, that damned Jack Bauer is giving us a bad name. The United States Military Academy at West Point confirmed that Brigadier General Patrick Finnegan recently traveled to California to meet producers of the show, broadcast on the Fox channel. He told them that promoting illegal behavior in the series - apparently hugely popular among the US military - was having a damaging effect on young troops. (Independent UK)
Florida county rejects Muslim cemetery plan
February 13: Amid opposition from many residents, Florida’s Hernando County Planning and Zoning Commission has voted unanimously against a Muslim cemetery, though the county Planning Department had recommended approval. The Bosnian Member Association was asking for a Muslim cemetery. Clearwater-based organization has only about 200 families, many of whom fled the former Yugoslavia during the civil war of the 1990s. The organization includes members of the Catholic and Orthodox churches, as well as Muslims, and so would the cemetery, Vedad Sakovic, president of the Bosnian Member Association said. (St. Petersburg Times)
Al-Arian collapses at jail: He was on the 23rd day of a hunger strike
February 16: Sami Al-Arian, a former computer science professor at the University of South Florida, who has been on a hunger strike since mid January, collapsed this week in a Virginia jail. At daybreak, guards discovered him lying unconscious on the concrete floor of a shower room in the Northern Neck Regional Jail in Warsaw, Va., and called for medical help, according to Nahla Al-Arian, his wife. It was the 23rd day of a hunger strike during which he had consumed water only. Al-Arian is on a hunger strike to protest being held in jail beyond his sentence for refusing to testify before a grand jury in Virginia. In May (2006), as part of a plea agreement, he was convicted of aiding associates of a terrorist group in nonviolent ways. (St. Petersburg Times)
Arab-American soldiers stress loyalty, patriotism
February 16: As American troops battle Islamic extremists in Iraq and Afghanistan and try to bring stability to the region, here at home the Pentagon is reaching out to Arab and Muslim Americans, trying to interest them in joining the U.S. military. At least 15,000 Muslims, including about 3,500 Arab-Americans, are already in uniform. In fact, Arab-Americans have been fighting, and dying, for this country since 1776. The Pentagon regards Arab-Americans as especially valued members of the U.S. military because of their important language skills and their understanding of the cultures of the Middle East. The armed services make efforts to accommodate their religious needs on base, such as building Islamic prayer rooms and hiring Muslim chaplains. But many Arab American soldiers say, 5 years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, they still feel they need to prove both their worth as soldiers, and their loyalty to the United States. (Voice of America)
Goode speaks out again about Muslims
February 16: Virginia Congressman Virgil Goode is speaking out again about Muslims. Goode told his colleagues that Islamic jihadists would want U.S. currency to say "in Muhammad we trust," with an Islamic flag flying over the White House and U.S. Capitol. Goode angered Muslims in December when he questioned Minnesota Congressman Keith Ellison's decision to be sworn in on the Quran instead of the Bible and warned that more Muslims would be elected to office unless immigration was limited. Ellison was born in Detroit and converted to Islam in college. (Associated Press)
Religion and culture are not to blame for tensions between Islam and the west: Global poll
February 19: The global public believes that tensions between Islam and the West arise from conflicts over political power and interests and not from differences of religion and culture, according to a BBC World Service poll across 27 countries. While three in ten (29%) believe religious or cultural differences are the cause of tensions, a slight majority (52%) say tensions are due to conflicting interests. The idea that violent conflict is inevitable between Islam and the West is mainly rejected by Muslims, non-Muslims and Westerners alike. While more than a quarter of all respondents (28%) think that violent conflict is inevitable, twice as many (56%) believe that “common ground can be found.” The survey of over 28,000 respondents across 27 countries was conducted for the BBC World Service by the international polling firm GlobeScan together with the Program on International Policy Attitudes (PIPA) at the University of Maryland. GlobeScan coordinated the fieldwork between November 2006 and January 2007. (BBC)
Norwegian documentary: USA vs Al-Arian
February 19: Though unquestionably biased, eye-opening docu "USA vs Al-Arian" throws the spotlight on a justice system shanghaied by the Patriot Act, leaving a deeply sympathetic family frayed but not quite broken. Branded the most dangerous man in the U.S., Tampa-based computer science professor Sami Al-Arian came through a six-month trial with no charges sticking, but the judge ignored the jury and Al-Arian is still in jail. Norwegian helmer Line Halvorsen constructs a damning portrait of the case by focusing on the trial's emotional toll. Halvorsen interviews law professors and reporters, but it's the family that gets the most screen time. Thoroughly American, the Al-Arian kids are an incredibly articulate group, held together by their mutual support and the determination of mom Nahla to keep them strong. Phone calls from dad in prison become a daily routine. (Director) Halvorsen, backed up by legal experts, presents the verdict as a blow not only to the family but also to American justice. (Variety)
Continued on page III
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