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Chronology of Islam in America (2009)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
July 2009
Reforming charitable giving rules
July 3: This week, the Muslim Public Affairs Council joined other nonprofit organizations in signing a letter urging President Obama to follow up on his commitment made in Cairo last month to work with Muslim Americans to revise charitable giving rules. Current regulations have made it difficult for Muslims to fulfill their religiously-mandated obligation to give to charity. Signatories to the letter have pledged cooperation in developing new rules that protect and promote legitimate charitable programs and their donors. The letter reads in part: We are writing as American nonprofit organizations to thank you for the comments in your Cairo speech that recognized the problems current rules for charitable giving create for American Muslims, and for your commitment to correct the situation. We are seeking a meeting with you and the appropriate representatives of your administration to provide background information on how current national security rules create problems for all U.S. charities and to provide recommendations for change... To succeed we believe new rules governing charitable giving and operations must address systemic problems… (MPAC)
U.S. leaders asked to address growing Islamophobia
July 8: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group, today cited recent anti-Muslim incidents nationwide in calling on American leaders to address what it said is a “growing level of anti-Muslim prejudice and stereotyping” in American society. The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said opinion leaders, policymakers and law enforcement authorities should speak out against the type of Islamophobic rhetoric on Internet hate sites and on talk radio programs that may lead to bias-motivated attacks. In making its appeal to local and national leaders, CAIR cited recent incidents targeting American Muslim individuals and institutions, including a bias-motivated attack on a Muslim woman and child in Seattle by a self-proclaimed white supremacist, vandalism of mosques in Florida and California, an anti-Islam sign outside a Florida church, racist fireworks sold in Wisconsin, the beating of a Muslim student in New York, and the death of a California Muslim leader in a “suspicious” fire. (CAIR)
Seattle man says threats against Muslims were to 'defend America'
July 8: Seattle Police have arrested a man accused of threatening a local woman and her baby because of their race and religion. The incident took place on July 1 when the 25-year-old woman and her 6-month-old baby visited the Seattle Indian Health Board at 611 12th Ave. South, according to the statement of probable cause. Investigators said Eric Gardner reportedly made derogatory comments such as, "You Muslim people scare people when you wear that clothing," and "When I see a black woman, it makes me want to throw up." The woman tried to move away from the aggressive man, but he followed her. He then pulled out a sheath knife with an 8- to 10-inch blade, held it in front of her face and said, "I'm going to cut you and your baby with this knife," the statement said. Gardner slammed the knife on the counter, struggling to get it out of the sheath, detectives said. A staff member of the health clinic reached over and took the knife away from the suspect. Gardner then lunged over the counter, grabbed the knife out of Stewart's hand and fled, investigators said. Police found Gardner walking in Seattle's Capitol Hill neighborhood the following night. They said Gardner, who was carrying a knife, admitted he had "pulled a knife on a Muslim woman earlier in the day because he was 'doing his part to defend America,'" according to the statement. (KOMO-TV)
Muslim worker alleges harassment, unjust termination
July 9: The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations today announced the filing of a complaint in federal court on behalf of a Muslim man of South Asian descent who alleges that he suffered harassment at his workplace, culminating in an unjustified termination from his position. The former employee of Affiliated Computer Services claims that he faced discrimination by co-workers based on his race and religion throughout his tenure there. A particularly abusive employee allegedly began targeting him with racial slurs such as “terrorist” and “Bin Laden” after attempting to convert the plaintiff to Christianity. In one incident, the abusive employee reportedly sprayed aerosol cleaner into the Muslim worker's eye. A new manager allegedly escalated the discriminatory treatment by cutting the plaintiff's bonuses in half (well below the bonuses of other employees), increasing his work load, issuing written warnings over minor issues, and finally firing the plaintiff without justification. In response to the allegations of harassment and unfair termination, the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) issued a right to sue notice on May 19, 2009. (CAIR)
American groups express concern over the murder of scarved Muslim woman in German court
July 10: American Muslim and Arab civil rights groups have expressed concern over the assassination of a scarved Muslim woman in a German court. The incident happened on July 1, when a 28-year old German man stabbed Marwa Sherbini, Egyptian national, 18 times in Dresden courthouse before she gives evidence against court appeal. Marwa Sherbini was suing her attacker after he insulted her for wearing the headscarf. She stood in court to give evidence against court appeal before the German man took out a knife and stabbed her 18 times. Marwa, a three month pragnent, took her 3-year old son Mostapha to play in a Dresden park. A German man, identified only as Axel W, insulted her because of wearing headscarf and called her a "terrorist". She filed a case against him in German courts after the incident. She won the case and the court fined him the 780 Euro for having abused her. But German man appealed against the verdict.
Also, her husband and her son were present in the court room. When the assailant attacked Marwa her husband ran to rescue her. But the assailant stabbed him 3 times. Meanwhile, a German security officer in court shot the husband in the leg too. The husband Elwy Okaz lapsed into a coma and was taken to hospital suffering from serious injuries to the stomach and liver.
On July 8, representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) met with the German embassy officials in Washington, D.C., to discuss the incident. During their meeting, CAIR representatives delivered a letter from the organization’s National Executive Director Nihad Awad to German Chancellor Angela Merkel, which stated in part: “There is a growing perception that the German government was slow to condemn this bias-motivated act of violence and has not addressed the underlying Islamophobia that can lead to such tragic incidents. We are also concerned that the ban in several German states on Muslim teachers wearing hijab may serve to legitimize the type of Islamophobic views held by [the woman’s] attacker.
In a letter to German Ambassador Klaus Scharioth, the American-Arab Anti Discrimination Committee (ADC) expressed its deep concern over the heinous murder of Marwa Sherbini. In the letter to Ambassador Scharioth, ADC National Executive Director Kareem Shora said, This attack is but the most recent incident involving anti-Muslim hate and intolerance targeted against the Muslim community in Germany. It is our hope that German authorities will use all available legal means to classify this as a hate-motivated murder and report it to the appropriate agencies monitoring anti-Muslim intolerance including the Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) at the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE)."
Crime initially ignored by German government and media
Tellingly, German officials did not acknowledge about bloody event - which is taken in front of the 3 year old son's eyes – for 24 hours and did not inform Marva's family or Egyptian embassy. According to father of Marwa who spoke to an Egyptian TV, they learned the killing from a family friend on phone after 24 hours.
Also, the media reported that German officials put the son of Sherbinis, Mostafa in an orphanage, rejecting to hand him over Egyptian embassy for send him to family members. A muted initial reaction from Berlin has enraged both the domestic Muslim population and people in Cairo, where small demonstrations have been held outside the German embassy accusing the West of Islamophobia.
Anti-immigrants parties gain popularity in Europe
Marwa El-Sherbini’s assassination came at a time when political parties running campaigns against immigrants and other ethnic groups made gains in June 2009 European Parliamentary elections. In the Netherlands, the anti-Islamic, nationalist Freedom Party did better than expected.The far-right anti-Islamic Party for Freedom emerged as the big winner in the European elections in the Netherlands on June 5. The Party for Freedom - formed in 2006 - is led by Geert Wilders, the Islamophobic Dutch MP who was banned from entering Britain this year for his beliefs. It won four seats in the European Parliament for the first time. According to daily Times, the result, which placed the party second in the Netherlands, behind only the ruling Christian Democratic Alliance (CDA), suggested that anti-immigrant parties would attract disaffected voters in a number of countries in the European polls. They were expected to gain seats in Austria, Belgium, Italy, Hungary, Slovakia and Romania. (AMP Report)
Library group panelists withdraw over role of Islam-basher, Robert Spencer
July 11: The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) today announced that all other panelists scheduled to speak at an American Library Association (ALA) annual conference session on stereotyping of Islam have withdrawn in protest over the participation of Robert Spencer, one of the nation’s leading Islam-bashers. The Council on Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC), a coalition of more than 50 Muslim organizations, also joined CAIR-Chicago, the other ALA panelists and a number of librarians and academics in calling on ALA to drop Spencer from the July 12 panel titled “Perspectives on Islam: Beyond the Stereotyping.” Spencer is the publisher of the anti-Islam Internet hate site “Jihad Watch.” The independent national media watch group Fairness & Accuracy in Reporting (FAIR) identifies him as one of “America's leading Islamophobes” who systematically “spread fear, bigotry, and misinformation.” A FAIR special report, called “Smearcasters,” provides examples of Spencer's Islamophobic views.” All of the three other panelists originally scheduled to speak along with Spencer have now withdrawn in protest. (CAIR)
International Center for Inter-Religious Dialogue agreed at Vienna conference
July 14: Representatives of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today joined other world religious leaders at a conference in Vienna, Austria, in agreeing to establish an International Center for Inter-Religious Dialogue to help promote world peace and reconciliation. The two-day conference, a follow-up meeting to an initiative launched last year by Saudi Arabia's King Abdullah, included representatives of Islam, Judaism, Christianity, Buddhism, and other world faiths and philosophies. Conference delegates agreed to set up a working group and steering committee to offer concrete proposals for the establishment of the dialogue center. “We look forward to the establishment of the International Center for Inter-Religious Dialogue and to the positive results that it, God willing, will offer to the world community,” said CAIR Board Chairman State Senator Larry Shaw (NC), who took part in the Vienna conference. Other CAIR participants included National Executive Director Nihad Awad and National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. “This is a major step in carrying out King Abdullah's ground-breaking interfaith initiative,” said Awad. (CAIR)
Closing schools for two Muslim holidays?
July 23: The City Council overwhelmingly passed a resolution calling on the Department of Education to incorporate two major Muslim holidays into the city school calendar. The resolution, which passed 50 to 1, bears no legal weight; it is simply a formal request that the DOE schedule school holidays for Eid al-Fitr, which celebrates the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, and Eid al-Adha, which commemorates Ibrahim’s sacrifice of his son Ishmael. More than 800,000 Muslims live in the city, and at least 10 percent of the city’s school students are followers of Islam.
Mayor Mike Bloomberg has in the past expressed reservations about incorporating Muslim holidays into the school calendar. Bloomberg said schools wouldn’t be able to accomplish enough if there were too many days off and added that if Muslim holidays were granted, other religions might also request school closures for their holidays. New York wouldn’t be the first city to incorporate Muslim holidays into the school calendar; Dearborn, Mich., which has one of the country’s largest Muslim populations, as well as several cities in New Jersey, already do so. (Queens Chronicle)
Minneapolis Judge says imams booted from US Airways flight can sue police
July 24: A Minneapolis judge today cleared the way for a lawsuit by six Imams who were arrested on a US Airways jet in Minneapolis three years ago to move forward. In a strongly worded ruling, U.S. District Judge Ann Montgomery that a law passed in part to scuttle the Imam’s lawsuit doesn't give law enforcement officers immunity from being sued for violating the Constitution. Congress passed the law in 2007, to retroactively give individuals more protection from being prosecuted for reporting suspicious activities that could lead to acts of terrorism. Judge Montgomery also ruled that the actions of the imams prior to their flight did not justify their detention. She noted that the imams were subjected to “extreme fear and humiliation of being falsely identified as dangerous terrorists.” The ruling stated: “Unquestionably the events of 9/11 changed the calculus in the balance American society chooses to make, especially in airport settings, between liberty and security…But when a law enforcement officer exercises the power of the Sovereign over its citizens, she or he has a responsibility to operate within the bounds of the Constitution and cannot raise the specter of 9/11 as an absolute exception to that responsibility.”
The imams were arrested in November 2006 as they were returning home from the North American Conference of Imams. The Imams had been praying shortly before boarding a flight to Phoenix. Once they were in their seats, a passenger sent a handwritten note to the pilot that there were "6 suspicious Arabic men on plane, spaced out in their seats. All were together, saying ". . . Allah . . . Allah," cursing U.S. involvement w/ Saddam before flight--1 in front exit row, another in first row 1st class, another in 8D, another in 22D, two in 25 E&F." The police boarded the jet and asked the imams to get off. They were ordered to get their carry-on baggage and were taken to the airport police precinct. Federal agents interviewed them, cleared them of wrongdoing and said they could leave. US Airways refused to book new flights and they departed on Northwest. A discrimination claim also remains against US Airways for failing to rebook the imams on another flight once the clerics were cleared. (AMP Report)
Meeting of the faiths at Utah Church sites
July 25: Joining the throngs of visitors to Temple Square were leaders of Muslim and Catholic faiths from Southern California on July 15-17. They were escorted by Steve and Judy Gilliland of the Church's Los Angeles Public Affairs Council and hosted by Church public affairs in Salt Lake City. Sister Gilliland said the trip was planned to coincide with the open house of the Oquirrh Mountain Utah Temple so the visitors, after touring it, could have a deeper understanding of why members of the Church are so committed to faith, families and serving others. "It has certainly been a very exciting and inspiring two days," said Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Southern California Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "I will certainly go back to our Muslim community in the Los Angeles area and share the success story and achievement that I've noticed here." He said he hopes that will solidify a partnership for good between the members of the two religions.
Kalim Farooki, treasurer of the Shura Council of Southern California and chairman of the Islamic Society of Corona/Norco, said what he observed at Welfare Square and the LDS Humanitarian Center "shows the result of teamwork, commitment and organization." The commitment of volunteers also impressed him. He said, "When I went to the [Oquirrh Mountain] temple, I noticed there were hundreds of volunteers. All knew what they were doing and had smiling faces."
At the end of her visit, Hedab El Tarifi, vice chairwoman of the Muslim Public Affairs Council National Board of Directors and executive secretary of the Board of the Islamic Center of Southern California, said, "Now I can actually answer questions if I hear certain comments about the Mormons." She said it would give her greater ability to defend the Church from attacks as she would hope its members would similarly defend her faith from attacks. Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, spoke of the commitment of Church members in serving others. He said that welfare systems should be run as the Church runs its, "not in a patronizing way, but in the spirit of serving people in humility and with grace." (Church News)
North Carolina arrests raise serious issues: MPAC
July 29: The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) said today that the arrest of seven men in North Carolina this week on charges that they were plotting to wage "violent jihad" outside the United States raises serious issues. The latest in a string of high profile domestic counterterrorism cases, the arrests were made after three years of FBI surveillance of the men.
The government charged Daniel Boyd, a 39-year-old American convert to Islam with recruiting six young men (including two of his sons) to take part in a conspiracy "to advance violent jihad, including supporting and participating in terrorist activities abroad and committing acts of murder, kidnapping or maiming persons abroad."
According to the New York Times, highlighted in the indictment, but not part of the charges, was a period the authorities say Mr. Boyd spent with his brother in Afghanistan and Pakistan from 1989 to 1992, training with and supporting fighters who were trying to overthrow the Soviet-backed government in Kabul. They were in the news at the time, when the Pakistani government charged them with bank robbery and sentenced them to lose their right hands and left feet. (The convictions were overturned by the Pakistani Supreme Court at the urging of the State Department.)
The New York Times quoted Federal officials in Washington as saying that the men charged on July 27 were not seen as serious terrorist threats to the United States or American interests abroad, and that there were no indications of ties to Al Qaeda or other militant groups. But the officials said there was concern that they were amassing a sizable number of automatic weapons, given Mr. Boyd’s record as a foreign fighter. Besides Mr. Boyd, the indictment names his sons Zakariya, 20, and Dylan, 22; Anes Subasic, 33; Mohammad Omar Aly Hassan, 22; Ziyad Yaghi, 21; and Mr. Sherifi, 24. All are American citizens except Mr. Sherifi, who is from Kosovo and has legal residence in the United States.
According to the Associated Press, it's unclear how U.S. authorities learned of the allegations of the past three years, although court documents indicate that prosecutors will introduce evidence gathered under the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
In a statement, the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) said the arrests came at a time when questions had been raised about the use of FBI informants in mosques and tense relations law enforcement and local communities. The American Muslim community is alarmed at the recent revelation, that the FBI has been infiltrating spies into a number of mosques in Southern California. The Orange County Register (February 24, 2009) revelation was a shock to the community that the FBI used paid informants in mosques to spy on the community. The FBI sent a convicted criminal, Craig Monteilh, to pose as an agent provocateur in several of California’s mosques. A FBI agent allegedly told one of the mosque attendees, Niazi, that the agency would make his life a "living hell" if he did not become an informant. The MPAC said improper surveillance and questionable charges are not just contrary to American political values; they are bad counterterrorism policies.
CAIR questions legality of FBI’s ‘cruel trick’ on suspect’s family
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), another prominent national Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today questioned the constitutionality of what it termed a “cruel trick” played by the FBI on the family of Daniel Boyd. Family members told CAIR that the FBI allegedly sent an informant in the case to the family’s home falsely claiming that the father and three sons had been injured in a car accident and then had a fake “doctor” arrest the wife at the hospital.
“[The wife of the suspect] described a harrowing experience Monday afternoon when she answered the door to find a man she thought was a family friend wearing a shirt that appeared to be bloodied. He told her that Daniel and their three sons, Dylan, Noah and Zakariya, were in a serious car crash. He asked her to get into a Highway Patrol cruiser that would take her to Duke Hospital, where they were being treated.
“Boyd summoned her daughter and pregnant daughter-in-law. They wrapped their heads in scarves, grabbed their Qurans and flew out the door. For [the wife], it was a particularly painful experience. Her 16-year-old son, Luqman, died in a car crash near their home in 2007. “When they arrived at Duke Hospital, the cruiser took them to a construction site at the rear of the facility. A man dressed as a doctor came out and asked whether she was the wife. When she said yes, he extended his hand. She told him she does not shake men's hands. He then grabbed her wrist and handcuffed her. “’I'm not a doctor. I'm an agent and your family is not in the hospital,’ he told her. ‘You're being detained, and you need to cooperate with us.’ “[The wife] estimates she was then surrounded by 30 agents who frisked her and asked whether she had weapons or weapons of mass destruction.” (AMP Report)
Maryland’s Muslim State Legislator Supports Gay Marriage
July 31: Saqib Ali, Maryland's first Muslim State Legislator, has come out for marriage equality. In an editorial published in the Gazette, he wrote today: "My stance on this issue isn't politically expedient. I am the first Muslim in the legislature. Homosexuality is strictly forbidden in Islam. As such I have evinced much grief from my most conservative supporters. But I recognize that I represent people of all faiths and no faith at all. If I tried to enforce religion by law — as in a theocracy — I would be doing a disservice to my both constituents and to my religion." Currently, there are six states that allow gay marriage: Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, New Hampshire, Iowa and Maine. (In Maine, the anti-gay forces are trying to overturn it at the ballot box in their own version of Prop 8.) (Gazette.com)
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