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Chronology of Islam in America (2007)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
March 2007
The persecution of Sami Al-Arian
March 1: One of the first big show trials here in the post-9/11 homeland was of a Muslim professor from Florida, now 49, Sami Al-Arian. Pro-Israel hawks had resented this computer professor at the University of South Florida long before Atta and the hijackers flew their planes into the Trade Towers because they saw Al-Arian, a Palestinian born in Kuwait of parents kicked out of their homeland in 1948, as an effective agitator here for the Palestinian cause. As John Sugg, a fine journalist based in Tampa who's followed Al-Arian's tribulations for years, wrote in the spring of 2006: "When was Al-Arian important? More than a decade ago, when Israel's Likudniks in the United States, such as [Steven] Emerson, were working feverishly to undermine the Oslo peace process. No Arab voice could be tolerated, and Al-Arian was vigorously trying to communicate with our government and its leaders. He was being successful, making speeches to intelligence and military commanders at MacDill AFB's Central Command, inviting the FBI and other officials to attend meetings of his groups. People were beginning to listen." At the direct instigation of Attorney General Ashcroft, the Feds threw the book at Al-Arian in February 2003. He was arrested with much fanfare and charged in a bloated terrorism and conspiracy case. He spent two and a half years in prison, in solitary confinement under atrocious conditions. To confer with his lawyers, he had to hobble half a mile, hands and feet shackled, his law files balanced on his back. (The Nation)
FIFA forbids head scarves: Ottawa girl's ejection sparked debate
March 3: Soccer's legislators in Manchester, UK, have ruled that no player can wear a head scarf on the field. The International Football Association Board was asked at its annual meeting to adjudicate on a decision to ban an 11-year-old Muslim girl from playing in a tournament near Montreal last weekend because she was wearing a head scarf. "If you play football there's a set of laws and rules, and law four outlines the basic equipment," said Brian Barwick, chief executive of the English Football Association, which is one of the IFAB members. Asmahan Mansour was told to either remove her hijab or leave the field in an under-12 tournament near Montreal. (The Globe & Mail)
Goldsboro City Council, NC, rejects mosque proposal
March 5: Goldsboro City Council unanimously voted tonight to not allow the construction of a mosque in the northern part of the city.All six councilmen and Mayor Al King agreed with the planning commission's recommendation that the building plan was too large for the proposed site off Wayne Memorial Drive and the facility would not provide the required number of parking spaces. Dr. Waheed Akhtar asked City Council last month to rezone his property on the southeast corner of Best Avenue and Wayne Memorial Drive to allow for the construction of a mosque. During a public hearing on Feb. 19, some of those opposed to the mosque did cite traffic concerns, but others simply did not want a mosque in their neighborhood. (Goldsboro News Argus)
Anti-Islam talk at North Carolina high school prompts ACLU action
March 6: As part of an ongoing investigation, a Christian evangelist's appearance at a Duke University-area high school has now sparked reaction from the American Civil Liberties Union. During his Feb. 15 appearance at Enloe High School, Kamil Solomon denounced Islam and distributed pamphlets titled "Do Not Marry A Muslim Man, Part I" and "Jesus Not Muhammad, Part I" to teacher Robert Escamilla's social studies classes. The case attracted the attention of the ACLU of North Carolina Legal Foundation when the father of an Enloe student filed a complaint against the high school. The ACLU said it believes the incident is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids any government action that advances any one set of religious beliefs over another. (Duke Chronicle)
American Muslim groups condemns attacks on Shi'a pilgrims in Iraq
March 6: American Muslim organizations today condemned a pair of suicide attacks in the holy city of Karbala, Iraq, which killed at least 149 Shi'a pilgrims and left another 200 wounded. According to agency reports, the attacks took place near a rest tent set up in the town of Hilla to provide food for pilgrims, who were walking by foot to Karbala to commemorate the end of a 40-day mourning period following the anniversary of the death of Prophet Muhammad's grandson, Hussain. The attacks were just the latest in a long string of deliberate violence against Shi'a pilgrims and their holy sites, including the destruction of the "Golden Dome" in Samarra in February 2006. The American Muslim Voice (AMV) the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR and Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) in their statements pointed out that there can be no justification or excuse for these obvious attempts to divide the Iraqi people along sectarian basis. Last week, MPAC held a meeting in Los Angeles with prominent Muslim American leaders of various backgrounds to formulate a unified stand against sectarian divisions in their mosques. During that meeting, the leaders committed to the creation of a "Code of Honor" among all American Muslims which would disallow the practice of "takfir" (judging other Muslims as "nonbelievers"), and call on leaders to refrain from insulting historical figures held dear by other Muslims (namely the family and companions of the Prophet). Later this month, a group of prominent American Muslim leaders will gather to formally launch the "Code of Honor". (AMP Report)
Gonzales, Mueller admit FBI broke law: FBI underreported use of Patriot Act
March 9: The nation's top two law enforcement officials acknowledged today the FBI broke the law to secretly pry out personal information about Americans. They apologized and vowed to prevent further illegal intrusions. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales left open the possibility of pursuing criminal charges against FBI agents or lawyers who improperly used the USA Patriot Act in pursuit of suspected terrorists and spies.The FBI's transgressions were spelled out in a damning 126-page audit by Justice Department Inspector General Glenn A. Fine. He found that agents sometimes demanded personal data on people without official authorization, and in other cases improperly obtained telephone records in non-emergency circumstances.The audit also concluded that the FBI for three years underreported to Congress how often it used national security letters to ask businesses to turn over customer data. The letters are administrative subpoenas that do not require a judge's approval. (Washington Post)
Muslims advocate defeat amendment on charities
March 9: Muslim Public Affairs Council has commended the Muslim Advocates for working to defeat a troubling amendment that would have further criminalized well-intentioned humanitarian assistance to the needy around the world, including the Muslim world. In a 49-46 vote today, the U.S. Senate rejected the amendment offered by Senator John Cornyn (R-TX). This amendment was written so broadly that it could have made it a crime for individuals, including Americans and U.S. aid and relief organizations, to give charitable assistance to a family member or anyone who might live next door to a suspected terrorist. It also contained other problematic provisions, including a proposal to remove the role of the courts in reviewing visa revocation decisions. (MPAC Bulletin)
House GOP Try to Halt Muslim Seminar
March 12: House Republicans said today that Democrats should retract an offer to let the nation's largest Islamic civil liberties organization use a Capitol conference room for a seminar. The House Republican Conference referred to the Council on American-Islamic Relations as "terrorist apologists" and called on House Speaker Nancy Pelosi to cancel the forum scheduled for tomorrow. "Democrats arrange official meeting with pro-Hamas, pro-Hezbollah group in U.S. Capitol," headlined a Conference press release carrying a Washington Times article on the planned meeting. "It's really disappointing," said CAIR national communications director Ibrahim Hooper, that whenever there's an attack from elective officials "we don't even ask any more which party it is. It should be a concern to ordinary Republicans that the party is being viewed as a reservoir of anti-Muslim hate." The seminar takes up global attitudes on Islam-West relations. It's common practice for lawmakers to authorize use of rooms in the Capitol for advocacy group meetings. The CAIR meeting was arranged by Rep. Bill Pascrell, D-N.J., in a room used by the Ways and Means Committee. (Washington Post)
Imams file civil rights suit against US Airways
March 13: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today announced that six imams, or Islamic religious leaders, removed from a US Airways flight in Minneapolis last November have filed a lawsuit against the airline and Minnesota's Metropolitan Airports Commission alleging that their civil rights were violated. The lawsuit, filed in United States District Court for the District of Minnesota, claims US Airways' alleged discriminatory actions were based on the imams' "perceived race, religion, color, ethnicity, alienage, ancestry, and/or national origin." It goes on to state: "Because of Defendants' discriminatory acts, Plaintiffs were denied the right to make and enforce a contract, subjected to unlawful discrimination by a recipient of federal financial assistance, denied equal treatment in a place of public accommodation, and falsely arrested and detained by law enforcement officers." (CAIR Bulletin)
Arab Americans, once pro-Bush, are now looking to the Democrats
March 13: The top Republican Party official got polite applause at a gathering of Arab American leaders, while his Democratic counterpart got a standing ovation. What a difference four years - and a transforming national crisis - has made. Bush, whose substantial Arab American support in 2000 helped him win swing states, has plummeted in Arab American polls. "The community has changed. It was almost the other way around in 2000," said pollster John Zogby, himself an Arab American. Democrats have taken note of the change, and eight of the nine Democratic candidates for president gave speeches last weekend at an Arab American Institute conference in Dearborn, Mich., which boasts a heavy concentration of Arab Americans. It helped that some of the states with the heaviest Arab concentrations - including Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida and Pennsylvania - are considered up for grabs for Democrats or Republicans in 2004. Candidates pitched their appeals to issues dear to the hearts of Arab Americans - including opposition to how Bush is conducting the post-war operation in Iraq and the perceived dangers to civil liberties of the USA Patriot Act - but artfully avoided one issue. (JTA)
Defense for AIPAC duo says groups refuse to testify
March 13: Several Jewish organizations are refusing to cooperate with the defense in the case against two men accused of passing classified information while working for the main pro-Israel lobby. According to sources close to the defense team, three major Jewish organizations are telling their employees not to testify on behalf of Steve Rosen and Keith Weissman, former officials of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. The defense sources expressed disappointment over the alleged refusal to cooperate, describing it as yet another example of the organized Jewish community turning its back on Rosen, Aipac's former policy director, and Weissman, its top Iran specialist. The Forward has learned that the appeal to the Jewish groups relates to a dinner meeting that took place three years ago. During the meeting, which was arranged by Rosen, he and officials at the three other Jewish organizations were briefed by a senior administration official on issues relating to the Middle East. (Forward)
Muslim tenants win bias suit
March 14: The Southern California office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today applauded an arbitration decision in favor of six Muslim tenants whose civil rights were violated by the owner of an Anaheim, Calif., apartment complex. A lawsuit, filed in September 2005, alleged that Muslim families were harassed because of their faith, deprived of needed repairs to their apartments and prevented from renting or moving to larger spaces. All parties to the lawsuit later agreed to binding arbitration. In his decision last Friday, Orange County Arbiter Jay Cordell Horton said: "[T]here were violations of [the apartment owner's] own policies that did demonstrate discriminatory conduct which caused some amount of emotional distress for plaintiffs and, in some cases, actual damages...In summary, I have found that there is sufficient evidence to support a cause of action for violation of the Unruh Civil Rights Act and FEHA on behalf of each plaintiff." Horton ordered the apartment owner to compensate the tenants for the damages they incurred. (CAIR Bulletin)
Continued on page II
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