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Chronology of Islam in America (2009)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
February 2009
San Diego bank apologizes for refusing service to woman
Feb 3: The Navy Federal Credit Union of San Diego said today it is sorry for refusing service to a local woman.Amal Hersi notified 10News after she was confronted at a Mission Valley branch for wearing her traditional Muslim head scarf. A Navy Federal Credit Union representative said the bank would take steps, including re-training staff, to make sure such incidents do not occur again. The representative said the bank's policy does not prohibit nor discourage the use of headscarves, and they would make sure all employees understand that. (10News)
British Foreign Office colludes with US to cover-up torture of Binyam Mohamed
Feb 4: A British High Court ruling by two British judges regarding the torture of a Guantánamo detainee has unleashed a major political crisis. The judges have stated that they have been pressured by the United States into concealing evidence that should be made available in any country governed by the rule of law. This took the form of threats to withdraw security cooperation, instigated under the Bush administration and continued under Barak Obama's presidency. Binyam Mohamed, 30, is currently in Guantánamo Bay but is reportedly being prepared for a return to the UK. He states that he was tortured by US agents in Pakistan, Morocco and Afghanistan between 2002 and 2004, and that Britain's security agencies were complicit. The High Court judgment on February 4 refused to order the disclosure of the CIA dossier said to contain evidence of his abuse. The document is a report by the US government to the British security services. While calling for the document to be made public, the judges stated that it was not presently in the public interest to publish it, as the US government could "inflict on the citizens of the United Kingdom a very considerable increase in the dangers they face at a time when a serious terrorist threat still pertains". (Information Clearing House)
Rep. Spruill apologizes for Muslim remark
Feb 5: Del. Lionell Spruill (D-Chesapeake-Virginia) apologized today for saying on the House floor yesterday that he doesn't like to hear prayers of different religions, "especially those of the Muslim faith that I don't care too much about." Spruill, who is also a member of the Democratic National Committee, issued his apology moments after his employer, Democratic gubernatorial candidate Brian Moran, urged him to do so. Beside being a delegate and a DNC member, Spruill is a paid consultant for the Moran campaign when the General Assembly is not in session. (Washington Post)
Oakland bank apologizes to Muslim woman it denied service
Feb 5: The Community Bank of the Bay has apologized to a Muslim woman denied service in December because she was wearing a hijab, but has also defended its decision. When Safa Magid went to the Community Bank to make a deposit, a teller refused to serve her, explaining that the bank's policy prohibiting people from wearing hats included head scarves. "The woman asked if I could take off my scarf," Magid said. "And I said, `No, I'm not going to take off my scarf.' Then, she said she couldn't serve me because I'm wearing a scarf." The president of the Oakland bank blamed the incident on an "overzealous" employee who was "not exercising good judgment." (Contra Costa Times)
Oklahoma Muslim driver to re-take license photo with hijab
Feb 6: The Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-OK) announced today that a Muslim driver in that state will be allowed to re-take her driver’s license photograph while wearing a religiously-mandated head scarf, or hijab. The Muslim driver was initially told she must expose her hairline and ears for the photograph. Following intervention by CAIR-OK, the director of Oklahoma’s Department of Public Safety (DPS) Driver License Examining Division offered to re-take the photograph with hijab at DPS headquarters and to institute diversity training for staff. Like many other states, Oklahoma has a policy on allowing religious exemptions in driver’s license photographs. According to a 2004 CAIR review, most states, with the exception of Georgia, Kentucky and New Hampshire, have addressed religious accommodation concerns. Five states - Arkansas, Mississippi, Kansas, Missouri, and Maine - recognize some religious practices, while the other 42 states have adopted more inclusive approaches to religious accommodation policies. (CAIR)
“Torture, abuses undermine values in U.S., U.K.”
Feb 17: An international group of judges and lawyers is warning that systemic torture and other abuses in the global "war on terror" have "undermined cherished values" of civil rights in the United States, Britain and other nations. "We have been shocked by the damage done over the past seven years by excessive or abusive counterterrorism measures in a wide range of countries around the world," said Arthur Chaskalson, a member of the International Commission of Jurists, in a statement announcing results of a three-year study of counterterrorism measures since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. "Many governments, ignoring the lessons of history, have allowed themselves to be rushed into hasty responses to terrorism that have undermined cherished values and violated human rights,'' said Chaskalson, a former chief justice of South Africa. (Washington Post)
Use of Paid Informants to Infiltrate U.S. Mosques Undermines Outreach Efforts
Feb 24: The revelation today that the FBI used paid informants and agent provocateurs in U.S. mosques who have participated in law enforcement outreach efforts undermines the decade-long relationship that American Muslims built with law enforcement. This news sends a devastating message to community leaders and imams who have worked diligently to foster greater understanding between law enforcement and their communities. The case of Ahmadullah Niazi in Tustin, CA brings to light evidence of an all too familiar trend in law enforcement activity within the American Muslim community. In 2007, Niazi reported suspicious behavior by a new Muslim convert in his mosque, who he said was talking about jihad and suggested planning a terrorist attack in conversations with others at the Islamic Center of Irvine. He and a mosque official filed a report with the Los Angeles field office of the FBI. The FBI then told mosque officials that they were investigating the matter, and the mosque successfully got a three-year restraining order against the individual. Niazi reported that FBI officials later contacted him to ask him to be a paid informant. When he refused, he said they threatened to make his life "a living hell." Niazi was arrested last week on charges related to lying on his immigration documents and was released today on $500,000 bail. (MPAC)
Most imams in UK ill-equipped to help Muslim integration
Feb 24: Most of the imams who lead prayers in British mosques have come from outside Britain and are “therefore not qualified or properly equipped to help young British Muslims integrate into a democratic, multi-faith society,” claims a report (Mosques made in Britain) released today. The report is based on a survey conducted by the Quilliam Foundation whose declared aim is to achieve a more Muslim Britain. Quilliam conducted a poll in September 2008 of over 500 mosques in Britain, which posed five questions about facilities for women, language, evening classes for children and where the imam(s) were from and where they trained. The survey found that out of 254 mosques, 97 per cent of imams came from outside of Britain, and out of 152 mosques, 92 per cent trained abroad. The survey also found that out of 494 mosques, 44 per cent do not include English in any aspect of their Friday sermons and out of 501 mosques only 54 per cent say they have facilities for women. The report says: “Their overseas upbringing and training does not prepare them to help young British Muslims integrate into a democratic, multi-faith society, of which they have a limited understanding, and leaves them powerless to challenge Islamist extremist rhetoric propagated by young, English-speaking, and articulate Muslims. Muslim communities in Britain are diverse, with a study undertaken by the Open Society Institute (2005) stating that “it is claimed that the Muslim community (in the UK) has 56 nationalities, speaks 70 languages and prays in more than 1,200 mosques”. (DAWN)
Bigotry at the Capitol Hill: Senator Kyl hosts anti-Islamic Dutch lawmaker
February 26: Continuing the Islamophobic policies of the Republican Party, Republican Senator Jon Kyl today hosted screening of an anti-Islam film ‘Fitna’ at the Capitol building and invited anti-Islam far-right Dutch lawmaker, Geert Wilders, as his guest. Tellingly, Wilders, whose extreme rightist Freedom Party holds nine seats in the 225-seat Dutch House of Representatives, was denied entry to London on February 12 because British authorities believed that showing his controversial film posed a threat to public order. Islamophobe Wilders, who built his political career on fear-mongering, compares Islam’s holy book Qur’an to Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and calls for its banned. "Fitna" was released in March 2008 on the internet. It features cherry-picked verses from the Qur'an that equate violence with Islam. At the center of the film are five verses from the Qur'an which are mistranslated, quoted out of context and misinterpreted by Wilders to support his claim that the text is the inspiration for alleged Muslim violence and hate taking place today. (AMP Report)
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