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Chronology of Islam in America (2007)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
June 2007
Dr. Anwar opens Connecticut Senate session with a prayer
June1: At the urging of state Sen. Gary D. LeBeau (D-East Hartford), an American Muslim made history today as the first Muslim to lead the opening prayer in the Connecticut State Senate. The event comes three days after a Hindu priest last week became the first non-Christian or non-Jew to open the state Senate session with a prayer. Dr. Saud Anwar of South Windsor, who is co-chairman of the American Muslim Peace Initiative, delivered the invocation around. (Website Senator LeBeau)
Arabic school in New York City creates stir
June 1: In September, New York City will open the nation's first public school dedicated to teaching Arabic and Arab culture. Named after the Christian Arab poet Khalil Gibran, it's one of 65 specialty dual-language schools in New York. But it's the only one that has sparked a public controversy. Some conservative critics have warned it could breed home-grown extremists: "A Madrassa Grows in Brooklyn," read one provocative headline in The New York Sun. Others have attacked it for balkanizing public education, which has historically played a primary role in helping the nation's many immigrants assimilate. Supporters deny both claims and say the academy is designed to educate world citizens and bridge Eastern and Western cultures, something sorely needed in today's increasingly global world. Underlying the controversy, experts say, is a larger question of how the nation and its schools cope with the influx of Arab and Muslim immigrants during a time when the threat of Islamic terrorism sows distrust. It's also a period in which ignorance about Arab culture and Islamic teaching runs high. (Christian Science Monitor)
Jury Award for Muslim woman welcomed
June 4: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) today welcomed a Phoenix, AZ, jury award of $287,640 to a Muslim woman after the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) brought an employment discrimination case against Alamo Car Rental on her behalf. Alamo had terminated Ms. Bilan Nur in December of 2001 for refusing to remove her hijab, or head covering, during the Holy Month of Ramadan. This was the first post-9-11 backlash discrimination case brought by the EEOC’s Phoenix District Office. (ADC Press Release)
Security agency enlisting Muslims to rebut radicals Idea is to engage young minds in ideological battle
June 5: After nearly six years of intense law enforcement scrutiny of Muslims in the United States, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff is reshaping his agency's approach to Muslims and invited four prominent Muslims to help the agency prevent homegrown radicalism. The four leaders Chertoff called on -- a former ambassador from Pakistan, a Santa Monica author who grew up in San Jose, a Houston city councilman and an Austin, Texas, blogger -- suggest increasing youth services, working with bloggers to fight extremist ideology on the Web and even changing the terminology the government uses to describe terrorists. The May 8 meeting -- the first of its kind the Homeland Security secretary has called with Muslims -- was part of a series of gatherings that Chertoff told Congress in March would be "an unprecedented level of cooperation" with various ethnic and religious communities to "prevent radicalization." (San Francisco Chronicle)
MPAC releases special report on Muslim American youth with interfaith alliance
June 7: Muslim American youth must be engaged directly rather than being discussed in a vacuum, Muslim Public Affairs Council Executive Director Salam Al-Marayati said today during a forum in Washington, DC to announce the findings of a special report on Muslim American youth and identity formation post-9/11. Entitled "The Impact of 9/11 on Muslim American Young People: Forming National and Religious Identity in the Age of Terrorism and Islamophobia", the special report provides analysis of key issues of identity, social and political alienation, the definition of moderate, and Islamophobia as root causes of radicalization. It also provides specific recommendations to government officials, media professionals and universities to bolster integration and prevent radicalization of Muslim American youth. (MPAC bulletin)
Palestinian Immigrant released after nearly four years in jail
June 8: A Palestinian man, Majed Talat Hajbeh, jailed for nearly four years on an immigration violation was released from a Virginia jail today after a federal judge ruled that his constitutional rights had been violated. Last month a federal judge in Norfolk ruled that Hajbeh had to be released because the government, which wants to deport him, had taken too long to find a country that would take him. U.S. District Court Judge Jerome B. Friedman said in his order issued May 25 that the government violated Hajbeh's constitutional rights and that he must be released by June 8. Hajbeh, a Palestinian by birth who was raised in Jordan, was arrested and detained in 2003 in a sweep of suspected immigration violators. An immigration judge ordered him deported, reasoning that Hajbeh entered incorrect information on papers when he entered the United States in 1993. Hajbeh said he made a mistake when he checked "single" instead of "married." (Daily Press)
New York is hell for young Osama
June 8: After years of being taunted as "bin Laden" and "terrorist" at school, Osama Al-Najjar attempted suicide last July at the age of 15. Now 16, he is an extreme example of the difficulties facing some Arabs in New York, the city hit hardest by the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. "They destroyed everything nice in our life with what they did to him," said Suad Abuhasna, Osama's mother, referring to racist abuse she said was heaped on her son while he was a student at Tottenville High School in Staten Island. Osama is now officially known as Sammy. He changed his name in December to escape the stigma attached to the name he shares with al Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden. "I just wanted to make his life easier," said Suad, who immigrated from Jordan with her husband and four children in December 1999. Her eldest son has served in the U.S. Navy in the Iraq war. (Reuters)
Government's handling of Muslims protested
June 11: A handful of protesters stood outside the federal building this afternoon to highlight the no-contest resolution for U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales before the Senate and the Justice Department's actions against Muslims in general. Eight people held signs accusing local U.S. Attorney Glenn Suddaby of politicizing the Justice Department. Madis Senner, a protester, said the arrest and conviction of Dr. Rafil Dhafir, who founded a charity to aid Iraqi children, was unreasonable. Senner said he hopes the attention on Gonzales will make lawmakers take a closer look at the types of cases being prosecuted. (Syracuse Post-Standard)
Arab-American says he was booted from bus
June 12: An Arab-American man from Dearborn claims he was kicked off a Greyhound bus by a driver who allegedly told him, "Get away Arab." According to a lawsuit filed in Detroit against Greyhound, Iraqi native Faroq Alfatlawi boarded a bus in Detroit for Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24, 2006. During a rest stop in Toledo, Alfatlawi got off the bus to have a cigarette, according to the lawsuit. When he tried to board the bus, the driver told him he couldn't get on "because you smoked in the bus," the suit said. Alfatlawi said he never smoked on the bus. The driver then allegedly said, "Get away Arab," and denied him entry.Alfatlawi said he asked if he could get his luggage, but the bus drove off, and he never got his belongings back, according to the suit. (Detroit Free Press)
Three-year-old child of Muslim citizen barred from US
June 12: The Maryland and Virginia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MD/VA) today called on immigration officials to explain why a three-year-old child of a father who is a U.S. citizen and a mother who is a permanent resident is being denied entry to this country. CAIR-MD/VA representatives say the child has been denied entry to the United States for the past two years. They suspect the denial may be related to the child's name, "Ahmed Yasinne," which is similar to that of a Palestinian leader assassinated by Israel. The child's father, who lives in Falls Church, Va., came to the United States from Morocco in 1997 after winning the U.S. immigration lottery. He became a citizen in 2005. His wife was granted permanent residence status in 2006. For the past two years, the child has been living with an aunt in Morocco while the immigration approval process has been stalled. (CAIR Bulletin)
Robertson: "Islam is not a religion. It is a worldwide political movement meant on domination"
June 12: On today’s edition of the Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club, following a report on Muslims in Minneapolis seeking religious accommodations at school and work, host Pat Robertson stated, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have to recognize that Islam is not a religion. It is a worldwide political movement meant on domination of the world. And it is meant to subjugate all people under Islamic law." He characterized the American Muslim community as "Islam light" and went on to say Muslims "want to take over and we want to impose Sharia on you. And before long, ladies are going to be dressed in burqas and whatever garments they would put on them, and next thing you know, men are going to be allowed to have wife-beating and you'll be beheading adulterers and so on and so forth." (Media Matters)
SANE: An Islamophobic group seeks to banish Islam from the U.S.
June 13: An anti-Islam group known with the acronym SANE: the Society of Americans for National Existence unveiled its so-called "Mapping Shari'a in America Project" devoted to spying on 2,300 Islamic institutions in the United States. “The project will collect information about America's 2,300-plus mosques and associated day schools, provide information to both law enforcement officials and the public, and test the proposition that Shari'a (read Islam) amounts to a criminal conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government,” the SANE project said. The main objective of the group is banishing Islam from the US by making "adherence to Islam" punishable by 20 years in prison. In February of this year, it released a policy paper that in part stated: "Whereas, adherence to Islam as a Muslim is prima facie evidence of an act in support of the overthrow of the US. Government through the abrogation, destruction, or violation of the US Constitution and the imposition of Shari'a on the American People. . .It shall be a felony punishable by 20 years in prison to knowingly act in furtherance of, or to support the, adherence to Islam." (AMP Report)
Islam on US Virgin Islands
June 14: It was only about 30 years ago that a Muslim community began to grow on the Virgin Islands with the building on St. Thomas of Masjid Muhammad in 1978. Later it became Masjid Al-Nur located in Charlotte Amalie, the capital of the US Virgin Islands. With a population of about 300 Muslims the Islamic Community in St. Thomas is unique in that it is made of up of indigenous Virgin Islanders, Palestinians, and residents that moved there from the United States mainland. Much like their US stateside Muslim community counterparts, there is a struggle to maintain a sense of community amongst the indigenous African-Caribbean Muslims along with the other ethnic groups. Despite some of their struggles in trying to understand one another, they still work to try to come together so that they and their children can have a sense of hope in practicing Islam on such a small predominately Christian island. (Black Star News)
Canadian Muslim leader Dr. Munir El-Kassem was treated like a terror threat
June 14: The case of a respected London-Canada Muslim leader, detained for hours at the Detroit airport last month, has been brought to the attention of U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice. Dr. Munir El-Kassem, who was detained, interrogated and fingerprinted for hours in Detroit, met in Ottawa with Foreign Affairs Minister Peter MacKay. MacKay told El-Kassem -- a local imam, university chaplain and UWO professor -- that he brought the issue to Rice's attention over the weekend. The Foreign Affairs Minister also instructed his own staff to follow up with a complete investigation into the series of events, El-Kassem a director at UWO's Schulich School of Medicine and Dentistry. He was interrogated for hours at the airport after telling an official he was Muslim. During the questioning, officials probed El-Kassem on whether he knew Osama bin Laden and Saddam Hussein and asked if he loved God or Allah. (The London Free Press, Canada)
MPAC executive director testifies before US house committee on Homeland Security
June 14: Muslim Public Affairs Council Executive Director Salam Al-Marayati testified today before the House of Representatives Subcommittee on Intelligence, Information Sharing, and Terrorism Risk Assessment about "Assessing and Addressing the Threat: Defining the Role of a National Commission on the Prevention of Violent Radicalization and Homegrown Terrorism". "Islam is the antidote to violent radicalization and the empowerment of the mainstream Muslim American community is the most effective but underutilized resource in creating effective counterterrorism strategies," Al-Marayati said. "The role of community-based organizations like MPAC is critical to bridging the governmental and non-governmental agencies in any policy initiative. "To do so, there must be an environment of mutual trust and respect. Muslim Americans want to be treated as partners in making America safe and secure, not suspects," Al-Marayati added. "Treating them as suspects by advocating for policies that single out and hence isolate the entire community undermines and impedes efforts for homeland security." (MAC bulletin)
Over 2400 people participate in ADC’s 2007 convention
June 14: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) announced today that 2,400 people participated during the June 2007 Annual National Convention. This year's Convention had distinguished attendees such as HRH Princess Haya Bint Al Hussein, wife of UAE Vice President, Prime Minister, and Ruler of Dubai HH Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Charge d'Affaires of the Embassy of Qatar, Sheikh Ali Bin Jassim Al-Thani, , and Ambassador of the Sultanate of Oman to the US, HE Hunaina Sultan Ahmed Al Mughairy. The keynote speaker of the Gala Banquet Dinner was Wade Henderson, President and CEO of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights (LCCR), an organization of more than 192 national organizations, representing persons of color, women, children, labor unions, individuals with disabilities, older Americans, major religious groups, gays and lesbians and civil liberties and human rights groups.
Public officials and figures who participated included Senator Chuck Hagel (R-NE), Chairman of the Democratic National Committee (DNC) Gov. Howard Dean, Congressman Keith Ellison (D-MN), Congressman John Conyers (D-MI), Congressman Nick Rahall (D-WV), Congressman Dennis Kucinich (D-OH), former Senator Mike Gravel (D-AK), and former Congressman Paul Findley (R-IL). (ADC Press Release)
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