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Chronology of Islam in America (2007)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
February 2007 Page III
In US, fear and ignorance feed Christian-Muslim divide
February 20: Fear and ignorance about each other are the two factors that prevent the Muslim and Christian communities in the US from getting closer, says Joel C Hunter, an American Christian leader representing the Evangelical Church. Hunter, who represents the National Association of Evangelicals, was in Doha attending the US-Islamic World Forum. Talking to The Peninsula on the sidelines of the conference, Hunter said despite the widespread misunderstandings about Islam and Muslims, an atmosphere of dialogue is steadily emerging between the Muslims and the majority Christian community in the US. "The 9/11 was a catalytic event that further strengthened the feeling of fear among the Americans about Muslims. On the other hand, it has triggered a lot of curiosity about Islam and Muslims," noted Hunter. (Peninsula, Doha, Qatar)
Ellison endorses Obama, lauds 'unifying spirit'
February 20: Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., said today that he is backing Illinois Senator Barack Obama in his campaign for president. "Not because he's black," said Ellison, who is black. Speaking to a Black History Month lunch-hour event for about 100 employees at Star Tribune headquarters in Minneapolis, Ellison said he supports Obama's message of an open and fair economy, a balanced prosperity and clear opposition to the war in Iraq. Ellison, from Minneapolis, is the first black elected to Congress from Minnesota and the first Muslim elected from any state. (Minneapolis Star Tribune)
Anti-terror case data flawed
February 20: Federal prosecutors counted immigration violations, marriage fraud and drug trafficking among anti-terror cases in the four years after 9/11 despite no evidence linking them to terror activity, a Justice Department audit said today. Overall, nearly all of the terrorism-related statistics on investigations, referrals and cases examined by department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine were either diminished or inflated. Only two of 26 sets of department data reported between 2001 and 2005 were accurate, the audit found. (Associated Press)
First Muslim cemetery opens in Alaska
February 20: A 1998 newspaper story about two Muslim children mistakenly buried on top of each other in Palmer left Ake Dobrova weak with outrage. That year, he decided to make a cemetery himself. This year, what he started has become the first official Muslim resting place in Alaska. Anchorage now has close to 2,000 Muslims, said Imran Khan, ICCAA's (the Islamic Community Center of Anchorage, Alaska) acting imam, or spiritual leader. A few are converts, and many more are immigrants from the Middle East, Europe, Asia and Africa. (Anchorage Daily News)
IL: Muslims' request for space rejected
February 20: Athletic officials will not establish a designated prayer space for Muslim students at sporting events held at Ryan Field and Welsh-Ryan Arena, said John Mack, Northwestern's associate athletic director of external affairs. Instead, officials will grant certain concessions, such as allowing prayer rugs into the stadiums and letting students pray in places that do not block traffic flow. The decision came after Muslim students expressed a need for clean prayer areas in January. Associated Student Government (Illinois) passed a resolution asking the athletic department to meet with the Muslim-cultural Students Association to explore possible accommodations. (Daily Northwestern)
Teen's dad says 'anti-Muslim' literature handed out in class isn't freedom of speech
February 22: The father of a North Carolina ninth grader who was given 'anti-Muslim' literature in class says the material handed out is not an issue of free speech, but of slander and defamation. "First of all, it slanders, things like, Mohammed is a 'criminal,' is 'demon possessed' ... that just made my blood boil," said Tariq Butte, whose daughter Saira, was one student who participated in the ninth grade orientation seminar at Enloe High School in Wake County, N.C., where the material was distributed. Butte is not a practicing Muslim; his wife is Christian and his kids are taught to accept and respect all religions. "So for a person like me to feel like that - I've never been to a mosque - to feel like that … for me to feel such hideous attacks, they were not just pointing out failures or weaknesses in Islam or Muslims, they were just attacking." A representative from the Kamil International Ministries Organization, a Christian group based in Raleigh, was invited by a teacher to come and speak to the class. He handed out literature class that compared the teachings of Jesus with accusations against Islam's Prophet Muhammad; Muslims Jesus as a prophet of God equal to the prophet Muhammad. (Fox News)
Muslim call to prayer gets complaints
February 22: The Masjid Nur al-Islam mosque, on Church Avenue in Kensington, Brooklyn, is a humble two-story brick structure with a green and white sign in Arabic and English. Amid the auto body shops and the Mexican and Middle Eastern restaurants that populate its low-slung corner of the neighborhood, the building barely stands out -- except for the sounds that emanate, four times a day, from a small gray bullhorn mounted on the edge of its roof. A little before 12:30 p.m. and again at 3, 5:30 and 7:15, the speaker broadcasts Muslim calls to prayer that the faithful consider essential, but that some neighbors, who have complained for years, say are just too loud. These residents renewed their complaints at a recent meeting of the Dahill Neighborhood Association attended by the police captain in charge of the 66th Precinct. Ivan Selzer, co-president of the neighborhood group, said in an interview that in response to previous entreaties, the mosque had lowered the volume, but that the noise had recently gotten worse. (New York Times)
Domestic radicalization' amendment passed by senate homeland security committee
February 23: The Muslim Public Affairs Council today welcomed the recognition of Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs that engagement is a far more powerful tool in countering radicalization than mere enforcement. Last week, the Senate Committee approved legislation to implement unfulfilled recommendations of the 9/11 Commission. Included in the bill was an amendment expressing the "Sense of the Senate" regarding combating "domestic radicalization". Entitled "the Improving America's Security by Implementing Unfinished Recommendations of the 9/11 Commission Act of 2007", the amendment to the legislation underscores the need for enhanced engagement with the American Muslims by public officials and federal and local agencies. Written by Congressman George Voinovich (R-OH), the amendment advocates for "advocates for consulting with experts to ensure that the lexicon used within public statements is precise and appropriate and does not aid encourage extremists by unintentionally offending the American Muslim community" and "pursuing broader avenues of dialogue with the Muslim community to foster mutual respect, understanding and trust". (MPAC Bulletin)
Students told to shun Muslims Anti-Muslim literature handed out in class
February 23: The Council on American-Islamic Relations has rebuked the Wake County (North Carolina) Public School system for allowing a Christian evangelist to speak at Enloe High School and distribute pamphlets denouncing Islam. A representative from the Kamil International Ministries Organization, a Christian group based in Raleigh (NC), was invited by a teacher to come and speak to the class. He handed out literature in the class that compared the teachings of Jesus with accusations against Islam's Prophet Muhammad. Muhammad, the pamphlets distributed at the high school said, was "a criminal," a "demon possessed," and "inspired by Satan." The group also had a special message for the young women at the high school: "Do Not Marry a Muslim Man." Solomon, an Egyptian-born Christian, runs Kamil International Ministries Organization based in Raleigh, NC. (AMP Report)
Evidence against Muslim charity appears fabricated
February 25: When the Bush administration shut down the nation's largest Muslim charity five years ago, officials of the Dallas-based foundation denied allegations it was linked to terrorists and insisted that a number of accusations were fabricated by the government. Now, attorneys for the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development say the government's own documents provide evidence of that claim. In recent court filings, defense lawyers disclosed striking discrepancies between an official summary and the verbatim transcripts of an FBI-wiretapped conversation in 1996 involving Holy Land officials. The summary attributes inflammatory, anti-Semitic comments to Holy Land officials that are not found in a 13-page transcript of the recorded conversation. It recently was turned over to the defense by the government in an exchange of evidence. Citing the unexplained discrepancies, defense lawyers have asked U.S. District Judge A. Joe Fish in Dallas to declassify thousands of hours of FBI surveillance recordings, so that full transcripts would replace government summaries as evidence. (Los Angeles Times)
Interfaith group takes on 'Islamophobia'
February 25: When U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison was sworn in as the first Muslim member of Congress in January, the Minnesota Democrat took his oath of office on a copy of the Quran that had belonged to the author of the Declaration of Independence and third president of the United States, Thomas Jefferson. Jefferson, considered one of the nation's more profound thinkers of his time, recognized there was strength in religious diversity and tolerance. The Southwest Riverside County Interfaith Council (California) hopes to embrace Jefferson's idea of religious understanding. The Interfaith Council, which represents 17 Temecula Valley area churches, temples and mosques, is promoting a movement to quell misconceptions people have of Muslims and about the Islamic faith. The council aims to highlight the similarities between creeds and how all groups can live and work together. (North County Times)
Lawsuit over Boston mosque site is dismissed
February 25: A Suffolk Superior Court judge dismissed a lawsuit that contended the Boston Redevelopment Authority's sale of a parcel of land in Roxbury for a price significantly below its appraised value to the Islamic Society of Boston violated the constitutional separation between religious groups and the state. Judge Sandra L. Hamlin ruled that James C. Policastro of Mission Hill did not have legal standing to challenge the sale because he did not file his lawsuit within 30 days of the sale, which the Legislature set as the BRA's deadline for appealing the agency's decisions. Policastro filed his suit on Sept. 28, 2004, more than 16 months after the BRA sold the parcel. The sale price for the parcel was $175,000, and the society spent another $43,820 to improve the land. It had been appraised at more than $400,000. The Islamic Society planned to build the largest mosque in New England on the site, along with a school and a cultural center, but completion of the project has been delayed by funding problems and controversy over extremist remarks by two former officials of the society. (Boston Globe)
Muslim girl ejected from tournament for wearing hijab
February 25: Five young teams from across Canada walked out of a Quebec soccer tournament Sunday because a young Muslim girl was ejected for wearing a hijab. Calling the rule banning the headscarf worn by Muslim women racist, four other teams followed Asmahan Mansour's team, the Nepean Selects from Ottawa, after she was thrown out for running afoul of a Quebec Soccer Association rule. (CBC News)
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