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Chronology of Islam in America (2009)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
March 2009
An African-American elected as CAIR chairman
March 3: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), nation's leading Muslim civil rights and advocacy group, elected an African-American as its new board chairman. North Carolina State Senator, Larry Shaw replaces Dr. Parvez Ahmed, an Indian-American and a professor of the University of North Florida, who was elected CAIR chairman in May 2005. Omar Ahmad, a Palestinian-American, was the founding president of CAIR that was established in 1994. (CAIR)
Judge: Al-Arian plea deal matters
March 4: For the first time, federal prosecutors in Alexandria, Va., have acknowledged that when Sami Al-Arian took a plea deal in early 2006, federal prosecutors in Tampa believed — as did Al-Arian — that it exempted him from testifying in other cases. Despite what prosecutors in Tampa agreed to, the Virginia prosecutors argue they had a right to move Al-Arian to Virginia to testify. They also say that when Al-Arian repeatedly refused, citing a good-faith belief his plea agreement protected him, he was guilty of criminal contempt. He "willfully disobeyed," they say. But U.S. District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema has said it does matter what he and the Tampa federal prosecutors agreed to. A criminal conviction could mean more prison time and she would need to see "a completely full record" to determine the length of his sentence. Furthermore, Brinkema has said, she doesn't think "the Department of Justice can compartmentalize itself." "This is not one U.S. Attorney's Office vs. another. … You have the United States Department of Justice … involved at both ends," she said. (St. Petersburg Times)
Hijab controversy in Minnesota and Oklahoma
March 6: A showdown between Minnesota Muslims and a state legislator over driver's license photos may have been averted, says Star Tribune of Minnesota. Rep. Steve Gottwalt, R-St. Cloud, has announced he will tweak a bill that would have banned from the photos all head scarves that many Muslim women say they are required to wear at all times. Instead, he will amend the bill so that head coverings, called hijabs, can be "worn for religious or cultural purposes." Gottwalt introduced a bill in 2007 and again this year that would have banned headwear in driver’s license photos. The bill created an uproar among Muslims who said the restrictions would discriminate against people whose religion requires covering their head.In Oklahoma, Rep. Rex Duncan included a clause in House Bill 1645 that would prohibit Oklahomans from wearing head scarves and head garments in driver’s license photographs.The bill was passed the House last month, 88-8. Duncan said he wrote his proposal after a Muslim woman was allowed last month to wear her traditional Islamic head scarf for her driver’s license photograph. Several months earlier, she was told she couldn’t wear the scarf, or hijab; the Oklahoma City chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations intervened and the Department of Public Safety said a head covering is permitted when taking the driver’s license photo as long as it does not obstruct or obscure a full frontal view of a person’s face from hairline to chin. (Media Reports)
Houston Imam in catch-22
March 6: Sheikh Zoubir Bouchikhi, Imam of the Abu Bakr Siddqui of Houston is in catch-22. U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services has revoked his petition. One of the reason cited for revocation is that Bouchikhi failed to submit a formal certificate of ordination. Tellingly, such a document does not exist in Islam, which awards positions to clergy by education, experience and community consensus. Sheikh Zoubir Bouchikhi, a native of Algeria, was arrested on Dec 17 at his home shortly after leading morning prayers at the Abu Bakr Siddqui Mosque of Houston and has been held without bond at a detention center in north Houston ever since. Bouchikhi has lived in the U.S. for 11 years and has three American-born children. He first came to this country in January 1998 on a student visa to study at the School of Islamic and Social Sciences in Leesburg, Va., where he earned a master’s degree. In 1999, Bouchikhi moved to Houston. He applied for a religious worker visa, and was hired by the Islamic Society of Greater Houston in 2001. ISGH is a coalition of mosques and schools that includes Abu Bakr Siddqui. In June 2003, ISGH filed a petition on Bouchikhi’s behalf for permanent residency status as a religious minister. The petition was accepted, and Bouchikhi applied for permanent residency for himself, his wife and the couple’s oldest child, a boy who had moved to America as a baby. In 2007, the family received a notice that USCIS revoked ISGH’s petition and denied Bouchikhi’s request for permanent residency. The government said ISGH had failed to prove Bouchikhi had been continuously employed for the two years prior to filing of its petition and had not demonstrated its ability to pay Bouchikhi’s salary. The government also questioned why ISGH had not proved Bouchikhi was an imam by submitting a formal certificate of ordination. ISGH and Bouchikhi appealed, but the appeal was rejected in November 2008. The imam was arrested a month later. (Houston Chronicle)
Muslim community rallies behind Tariq Mehanna charged by the FBI
March 8: To friends and family, he was a maturing leader in the Muslim community, a passionate writer who was departing for Saudi Arabia for a career as a pharmacist. But the arrest of Tariq Mehanna in November, as he was about to board a plane at Logan International Airport for his new life in the Middle East, has cast the 26-year-old in darker terms, as a liar supporting and associating with terrorists. With an indictment in federal court, the Mehann faces a maximum sentence of eight years in prison on charges of lying to investigators in a terrorism inquiry. But a community of supporters has rallied around him, questioning how Mehanna could have been ensnared in a federal case and whether he is being used a pawn in the FBI's war on terrorism. Mehanna has been released pending trial after his parents posted more than $1 million in surety, including their sprawling Sudbury home. His lawyers, led by J.W. Carney Jr. of Boston, are challenging the case. But he is also fighting a separate battle to shed a stigma that has shadowed him since his arrest, as he faces scrutiny over his blog postings, his acquaintances, and his associations with people such as Daniel Maldonado, who later became the first American charged with terrorism activities in Somalia …. It is clear that Mehanna did not help his case by openly supporting controversial figures such as Aafia Siddiqui, the Pakistani woman who was on the FBI's Most Wanted List before she was arrested last year on charges of shooting at a US soldier in Afghanistan. A 1995 MIT graduate, Siddiqui reportedly established ties with Al Qaeda during her time in Boston. Mehanna does not dispute his support of Siddiqui, or the sources of his writings. He says he has never met Siddiqui but is concerned with the controversy surrounding her arrest, noting her supporters around the world have questioned how a frail woman could have managed to wrestle a weapon away from armed military men and shoot at a soldier, while getting shot twice, as is reported. Humanitarian groups have also questioned her mysterious disappearance and sudden arrest in Afghanistan, he noted. (Boston Globe)
250 attend 6th annual Jewish-Muslim peace walk in Tucson
March 9: About 250 people participated today in the 6th Annual Jewish-Muslim Peace Walk in Tucson, Arizona. The goal of the event is to promote mutual understanding and to talk about "what's going on," said Rabbi Thomas Louchheim, 52, of Congregation Or Chadash. "It's good for Tucson," he said, explaining that his personal goal is for understanding in the Tucson community. "I'm not looking to have a greater impact." Farid Farooqi, imam at the Islamic Center of Tucson, took this as an opportunity to also promote understanding. "If you have differences, that's fine." he said. "It's just like a brother and sister in a home." (Tucson Citizen)
Congressman Wolf’s attempt to silence CAIR
March 13: In an apparent attempt to silence a leading American Muslim civil rights advocacy group – the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) - Republican Congressman Frank Wolf from Virginia has expressed deep disappointment at the FBI’s “insufficient response” to his letter that apparently sought negative information based on smears against CAIR by Muslim-bashers like Steven Emerson. In a letter sent to FBI on February 2, Rep. Wolf asked: Has the FBI severed ties with CAIR? If so, how is the FBI planning to formally notify Members of Congress and other government officials of this decision? If FBI policy has changed with regard to CAIR, is there any indication that this decision is being revisited by the new administration? If so, what new evidence would justify a change in course? Is CAIR's national office still in contact with the FBI? Congressman Frank Wolf, who has a track record of anti-Muslim bearing, sent this letter after the FOX News reported that the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) has cut off ties with CAIR "amid mounting evidence that it has links to a support network for Hamas." Given that Hamas is on the current list of U.S. designated foreign terrorist organizations, this is obviously a serious claim, one which would rightly inform a shift in FBI policy, the Wolf wrote. In response, John Miller, Assistant Director Office of Public Affairs wrote: “As you know, we recently acknowledged that we have suspended any formal engagement with Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) field offices around the country. "Formal" relationships as defined here means appointing or accepting CAIR or its representatives on any organized committee or group sponsored by the FBI. However, representatives of CAIR have the same access to the FBI as any other persons and are encouraged to report any crime or violation of civil rights. (AMP Report)
Muslims slowly emerging as active American citizens
March 18: American Muslims have been political late bloomers, said a Muslim political science professor, but collectively the group is slowly but surely coming of age in the United States. Isolated from American politics by language, culture and religion, migrant American Muslims have faced huge obstacles to their political engagement and advancement, most recently the domestic and foreign policy implications of the worldwide war on terror, Black Hills State University professor Ahrar Ahmed said Monday. Ahmed spoke on “Muslims in the U.S. and American Foreign Policy” at South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, sponsored by the Muslim Student Association. Although Muslims and other Arab Americans have been much slower than their Jewish counterparts to enter political life and form effective lobbying and political advocacy groups, they do have a high voting rate. Eighty percent of American Muslims are registered to vote, and 93 percent of them voted in 2008, Ahmed said. Still, it was not until 2006 that the first Muslim was elected to Congress. Today there are two Muslim members of the U.S. House of Representatives. But more and more groups, such as the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights & Elections, formed in 2004, are encouraging the political interests and involvement of American Muslims, he said. (Rapid City Journal)
Anti-Muslim film shown at New Jersey church
March 20: A controversial film about threats to the U.S. from Islamic radicals was shown on Sunday at a Flanders church not to fuel anti-Islamic sentiment but as an indication of the expected return of Jesus Christ, according to the church pastor. The film (“Obsession: Radical Islam’s War Against the West,”), however, has been sharply criticized by the Islamic community for inflaming anti-Moslem sentiments and for misrepresenting facts about Islamic fundamentalists. Afsheen Shamsi, a spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations of N.J. (CAIR), said the film exploits America’s unfamiliarity with Moslems. “It is a propaganda piece,” Shamsi said. “It tries to bring people to believe that the Moslem world is an overall hot bed that wants to destroy the west. That is not so. These are people who are on the fringes of society.” “There is no threat from mainstream Muslims or Muslim nations,” she said. “Obsessions” was sharply condemned by an organization known as Hate hurts America, a non-partisan interfaith and community coalition formed by a wide base of religious and civic organizations in an effort to address the rising problem of hatred against American minorities. The Hate Hurts America website, Obsessionwithhate.com, says anti-Western militant ideology is being propagated by “those who have misused Islam.” “Few would disagree that Al Qaeda and its imitators are ruthless enemies that the United States must deal with forcefully,” the website says. “But “Obsession” is not an honest critique of violent radicalism. Instead, it is a propaganda piece that seeks to cast a wide net of suspicion against Muslims by blurring the line between violent radicalism and mainstream Islam.” (Mount Olive Chronicle)
FBI infiltrated spies into South California mosques
February 24: The American Muslim community is alarmed and dismayed at the recent revelation, that the FBI has been infiltrating spies into a number of mosques in Southern California. The Orange County Register 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. In 2007, Niazi reported suspicious behavior by a new Muslim convert, Mohteilh, 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 Mohteilh. 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 earlier in February 2009 on charges related to lying on his immigration documents and was later released on $500,000 bail. Niaz’s case is just one example of FBI’s infiltration in the Muslim community. (AMP Report)
Senate questions FBI director about Muslim relations
March 25 At a Senate Judiciary Committee hearing today, FBI Director Robert Mueller was questioned about a statement by the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections (AMT), a coalition of major national Islamic organizations, suggesting that the groups are considering suspending outreach relations with the FBI over recent incidents in which American mosques and Muslim groups have been targeted. Mueller was also asked about new Justice Department guidelines that took effect in December of last year, which lower the threshold for beginning FBI investigations and allow race and ethnicity to be factors in opening a probe.
Senator Russ Feingold (D-WI) asked Mueller: “[W]e've discussed before the need for the FBI to gain the trust of the American Muslim community to assist in the effort to stop terrorism. And I was disappointed to learn of a recent statement from the American Muslim Task Force on Civil Rights and Elections signed by 10 leading U.S. Muslim organizations indicating that they are considering suspending their work with the FBI. According to a news report, quote, ‘The groups claim the FBI has sent undercover agents posing as worshippers into mosques, pressured Muslims to become informants, labeled civil rights advocates as criminals and spread misinformation,’ unquote. Can you determine and report to this committee whether mosques have been entered by FBI agents or informants without disclosing their identities under the authority of the attorney general guidelines and, if so, how many?”
Director Mueller responded in part: “I will say that we do not focus on institutions, we focus on individuals. And I will say generally if there is evidence or information as to individual or individuals undertaking illegal activities in religious institutions, with appropriate high-level approval, we would undertake investigative activities, regardless of the religion. But it would -- we would single that out as an exceptionally sensitive circumstance that would require much vetting before that occurred…”
Senator Feingold then asked: “Do you think that the new attorney general guidelines are helping or hurting the FBI's relationship with the U.S. Muslim community? In light of this [AMT] statement, how do you plan to improve that relationship?” Mueller responded by saying his “expectation is that our relationships are as good now as before the guidelines” and he added that the Muslim community “has been tremendously supportive and worked very closely with [the FBI] in a number of instances around the country.” (AMT)
Obama administration sticks to ban on Tariq Ramadan
March 24: The US Attorney David Jones’ stand today in the Court of Appeal to maintain ban on the entry of Tariq Ramadan to US is another indication that the Obama administration has embraced all the policies of the Bush Administration on the so-called “war on terror.” Assistant U.S. Attorney David Jones told a U.S. federal appeals court panel that they should uphold a decision to bar Swiss Muslim Tariq Ramadan, from entering the United States.
"Consular decisions are not subject to litigation," Jones told the three-judge panel in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, broadly arguing the courts have no power to examine visa denials. During arguments, Jones said if the courts questioned a consular officer's decision to bar Ramadan, then that would leave the U.S. government in a "quagmire" with others seeking such reversals. Government lawyers argued in 2007 Ramadan was barred because he gave 1,670 Swiss francs, then worth $1,336, to the Association de Secours Palestinien, or ASP, from 1998 to 2002. Washington listed ASP as a banned group in 2003, saying it supported terrorism and had contributed funds to the Palestinian group Hamas. (AMP Report)
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