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Chronology of Islam in America (2011)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
March 2011 - (Page Two)
Religious, ethnic slurs used during assault on Muslim Cabbie
March 19: A Muslim driver was allegedly assaulted when he arrived at a Newport Beach, Calif., cigar lounge on March 19 in response to a call for a taxi. The victim reports that he was confronted by the owner of the facility when he inquired if anyone had requested a taxi. The man who identified himself as the owner allegedly told the victim, "I am a Marine officer, f**k you." Shortly after the verbal confrontation, a woman came out of the cigar lounge and confirmed that she had requested the cab. The victim stepped out of the cab to talk to the woman. According to the victim, three men then came out of the facility and confronted him, pushing him repeatedly and asked questions such as "What's your religion?" "Where are you from?" and said "We're going to f**k you up like we f**ked up your country." The assailants followed the victim to his taxi when he returned to push the vehicle's emergency response button, which failed. Once inside his taxi, the victim had begun to call 911 when one the attackers sat in the seat behind him, placed him in a headlock and proceeded to punch him. The other two men and the owner also began punching the victim. After a few minutes, the lounge owner reportedly said, "Stop, we've f**ked him enough." The victim sought medical treatment for facial and head injuries. CAIR-LA has contacted the DOJ to ensure the prompt investigation of the alleged assault as a hate crime. CAIR-LA also reported the incident as a hate crime to the Orange County Human Relations Commission and the Newport Beach Police Department, and has requested assistance for the victim from the Orange County Victims' Assistance Program. (CAIR)
Illinois Muslim pressured to become informant
March 21: Abe Mashal, a 31-year-old dog trainer, says FBI agents told him he ended up on the government's no-fly list because he exchanged e-mails with a Muslim cleric they were monitoring. The topic: How to raise his children in an interfaith household. Mashal, a former Marine from St. Charles, Ill., found out he'd been flagged last April, when he tried to board a flight to Spokane, Wash., to train dogs for a client. Since then, his family members and friends have been questioned, and he said he has lost business because he is not allowed to fly. Mashal, who says he has never had any links to terror or terrorists and is a "patriotic," honorably discharged Marine Corps veteran, is one of 17 plaintiffs in lawsuit filed in June by American Civil Liberties Union lawsuit over the list. FBI agents questioned him at Chicago's Midway Airport, then in his home. Finally he was summoned to a hotel in Schaumburg, where more FBI agents told him he'd been placed on the no-fly list because of an e-mail he had sent to an imam, or Muslim cleric, that they had been watching. Mashal said he had sought the iman's advice about raising children in a mixed-religion household. Mashal is Muslim, and his wife is Christian. The agents offered to get him off the list if he would become an undercover informant at mosques, Mashal said. He refused and said he feels he was being blackmailed. "I feel like I'm living in communist Russia, not the United States of America, for someone to jump into my life like that," he said. (Chicago Tribune)
Koran burned after Fla. church mock trial
March 22: Terry Jones, the Gainesville, Fla., pastor who ignited rage across the world with his scuttled plans to burn a Koran on September 11, has overseen the burning of a Muslim holy book, after a mock trial found the Koran guilty of crimes against humanity. The torching of the book was part of an event Jones called International Judge the Koran Day, which was streamed live online and promoted on Facebook. Jones, pastor of the (50-member) Dove World Outreach Center, himself presided over the trial Sunday as "judge," hearing evidence and testimony against the Koran. After several minutes of deliberation, the jury handed its verdict to Jones: Guilty on all counts. An online poll had helped decide the punishment following a guilty verdict. (The choices: Burning, shredding, drowning, or firing squad.) The kerosene-soaked book was placed in a metal tray and ignited with a barbecue lighter by pastor Wayne Sapp. About 30 people attended the trial and execution. The U.S. Embassy in Islamabad, Pakistan, issued a statement condemning the burning, and rejected religious intolerance in any form. "The deliberate destruction of any holy book is an abhorrent act," Ambassador Cameron Munter said. "The U.S. commitment to freedom of religion and freedom of expression goes back to the founding of our nation and is enshrined in the Constitution." "This is an isolated act done by a small group of people that is contrary to American traditions," the embassy said. [CBS News]
U.S. court validates spying fears of journalists, activists
March 22: Fearing that a powerful U.S. spy agency is listening in, a group of activists and journalists – including Canadian Naomi Klein – has persuaded a New York appeals court that it is reasonable to assume their phone and e-mail conversations are being monitored. The ruling finds that new U.S. surveillance laws are so broad as to compel certain professionals to protect their sensitive conversations. Otherwise, their dialogues with sources – such as radicals, dissidents and alleged terrorists overseas – might well be overheard. “The plaintiffs have good reason to believe that their communications, in particular, will fall within the scope of the broad surveillance that they can assume the government will conduct,” reads the ruling from the Second Circuit appeals court in New York. The ruling highlighting growing U.S. “signals-intelligence” – or SigInt – practices stops short of confirming any such spying. But it is a rare judicial nod to fears that laws governing “foreign” surveillance practices have been watered down to the point of permitting disturbing dragnets. The plaintiffs – which include Human Rights Watch, Amnesty International and several journalists including Ms. Klein – now have the legal standing to challenge the post-9/11 surveillance laws. A lower court had found their concerns “too abstract” and tossed out the suit. The American Civil Liberties Union is leading the suit. The Second Circuit ruling explains that while U.S. citizenry as a whole has little to fear, the plaintiffs are hardly paranoid if they take precautions to safeguard sources. “Fears of surveillance are by no means based on ‘mere conjecture,’ delusional fantasy or unfounded speculation,” the ruling says.
The U.S. National Security Agency is the most powerful SigInt body in the world. Its interception technologies are growing increasingly sophisticated even as U.S. spymasters have exploited legal loopholes to permit more spying. In general, SigInt agencies exist to monitor the communications of hostile foreign entities – such as terrorist operatives or rival spy services. However, in 2008, Congress removed some checks and balances – including a “probable cause” clause that stipulated government agents should zero in only on hostile foreigners. Now it is no longer just terrorists and spies who worry about being monitored – lawyers, journalists and activists fear they are fair game too. It’s even possible their conversations may turn up in mass intercepts from countries the United States regards as problematic. (Globe and Mail)
Franklin Graham's new Obama-Muslim conspiracy theory
March 22: Yes, there's a new Obama-Muslim conspiracy theory on the right: The evangelical son of one of America's most famous evangelists says that President Barack Obama has allowed the Muslim Brotherhood to become part of the US government and influence administration decisions. In an interview last week with Newsmax.com, a conservative website (that pushes the Obama-was-born-in-Kenya conspiracy theory), Franklin Graham, an evangelist like his father, Billy Graham, claimed that the fundamentalist Islamic political group has burrowed into the Obama administration and is shaping US foreign policy. Sounding a bit like Glenn Beck, Graham explained: The Muslim Brotherhood is very strong and active in our country. It's infiltrated every level of our government. Right now we have many of these people that are advising the US military and State Department on how to respond in the Middle East, and it's like asking a fox, like a farmer asking a fox, "How do I protect my henhouse from foxes?" We've brought in Muslims to tell us how to make policy toward Muslim countries. And many of these people we've brought in, I'm afraid, are under the Muslim Brotherhood…. Though Graham did not back up his charge that Obama has opened the US government to the Muslim Brotherhood, he did say that he believes the president is more concerned with helping Muslims than Christians—both in the United States and abroad. When the Newsmax interviewer asked Graham if Obama has been doing enough to support Christianity and Christians at home and overseas, Graham replied, "No...If anything, it's the opposite." He added, "The Muslims are protected more in this country than Christians." (Mother Jones)
American Family Association says Muslims have no First Amendment rights
March 24: The ultra-rightist American Family Association (AFA) occasionally spews venom against Islam and Muslims through its director of Issue Analysis for Government and Public Policy, Bryan Fischer. In a comment on his Renew America Blog today, he says that when it comes to Islam, the First Amendment is a privilege, not a right. "Islam has no fundamental First Amendment claims, for the simple reason that it was not written to protect the religion of Islam," Fischer wrote. "The First Amendment was written by the Founders to protect the free exercise of Christianity. They were making no effort to give special protections to Islam. Quite the contrary," Fischer wrote. He continued: “Islam is entitled only to the religious liberty we extend to it out of courtesy. While there certainly ought to be a presumption of religious liberty for non-Christian religious traditions in America, the Founders were not writing a suicide pact when they wrote the First Amendment.” Not surprisingly, the AFA has been listed as a “hate group” by the Southern Poverty Law Center for making false statements about gays and lesbians, as well as Muslims. (AMP Report)
CNN poll: Most Americans 'okay' with a mosque in their community
March 24, 2011 - The CNN/Opinion Research Corporation survey released today found that 69%of Americans would be "OK" with a mosque in their area while 28% would not. But there are big differences depending on where you live. Half of rural Southerners say they disapprove of a mosque in their neighborhood, while 42 % say they would be "OK" with it. That rises to roughly three-quarters among those who live in cities and suburbs. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, anti-mosque activity across the country, ranging from vandalism to lawsuits, has occurred in 21 states over the past five years.
Positive views of Muslim Americans are on the rise since 2002, according to the new poll, which found 46% of all Americans have a favorable view of American Muslims today, and 26% say they have an unfavorable view. "Overall, positive views of American Muslims have risen since 2002, when memories of 9/11 were still fresh in most Americans' minds," says CNN Polling Director Keating Holland. "In 2002, as the first anniversary of the 9/11 attacks approached, only 39 percent of all Americans said they had a favorable view of Muslims."
Americans in the South and rural communities are far less likely to have a favorable view of American Muslims, with just 32% saying they hold such views. Thirty seven percent of rural Southerners say they don't know enough to have an opinion. When it comes to attitudes towards the Muslim faith itself, however, American opinions haven't changed much. "In 2002, 28 percent of all Americans had a favorable view of Islam and 33 percent feel that way today," Holland says. (CNN)
Muslim Americans harassed when crossing border
March 24: The Michigan Chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations says it has received dozens of complaints from local Arab-American and Muslim men and women about being targeted for harassment by border control guards on the U.S. side of border crossings from Port Huron to the Ambassador Bridge.
Four local men told journalists of various harrowing experiences with border guards during a news conference at CAIR-Michigan's office today. They said they were not only questioned by border guards when they came back into the United States, they were handcuffed, locked up for lengthy periods and groped in their genital areas by the guards. "I had an American passport, and I was put in a cell for four hours," said Kheirreddine Bouzid, an Ann Arbor teacher who is of Algerian descent. "They asked me if I could give them the names of any terrorists."
Abdulrahman Cherri, a Dearborn Heights resident, recalled a recent incident when he was returning from visiting his fiancée in Windsor, Ontario, when he was stopped at the Detroit side of the U.S.-Canada border and his car was searched with dogs. "They took my picture and my fingerprints," said 22-year-old Cherri, who was born in Ohio. "A male officer touched my male body parts and squeezed them." The men also complained that they have been asked questions about when they pray, where they worship and whether they know any terrorists. (The Detroit News)
DuPage County, Ill, approves mosque
March 25: The distinctive minaret and golden dome will be absent, but a Muslim group — after months of controversy — won approval today to build a mosque near Willowbrook. A conflict between the religious group's right to practice its faith and the local community's concern about overdevelopment gave way to compromise when the DuPage County Board accepted a scaled-back proposal of the mosque from the Muslim Educational Cultural Center of America, or MECCA. After rejecting a call to send the matter back to the county's Zoning Board of Appeals for further study, the board signed off on the revised plan by approving a conditional-use permit 13-5.
The group wants to replace its existing place of worship located in a cramped commercial office space. Opponents expressed concerns that the mosque would negatively impact residents near the site, but their opinions didn't sway the board. (Chicago Tribune)
David Yerushalmi: A driving force behind anti-Sharia efforts
March 25: One of the driving forces behind Shari'a-related conspiracy theories and growing efforts to ban or restrict the use of Shari'a law in American courts is David Yerushalmi, an Arizona attorney with a record of anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and anti-black bigotry. In recent years, Yerushalmi has created a characterization of Shari'a law (i.e., Islamic law) that declares there are "hundreds of millions" of Muslims who are either "fully committed mujahideen" or "still dangerous but lesser committed jihad sympathizers" who, because of Shari'a law, would be willing to murder all non-believers unwilling to convert, in order to "impose a worldwide political hegemony." ….. Yerushalmi's latest weapon is model anti-Shari'a legislation he has titled "American Laws for American Courts," developed for a group called the American Public Policy Alliance (APPA). The group claims that "one of the greatest threats to American values and liberties today" comes from "foreign laws and foreign legal doctrines," including "Islamic Shari'ah law," that have been "infiltrating our court system." Yerushalmi's proposed legislation has been the basis for anti-Shari'a measures introduced by state lawmakers in several states in recent years. For example, a bill introduced by Sen. Alan Hays and Rep. Larry Metz in Florida to outlaw Shari'a (and other non-secular or foreign laws) in March 2011 is strikingly similar to Yerushalmi's model legislation. Both Tennessee and Louisiana actually passed variations of Yerushalmi's legislation in 2010. On its Web site, the APPA cites 17 cases where it claims that Shari'a has been introduced in state courts; this is its evidence of "creeping" Shari'a law within the United States. Yerushalmi has testified in support of the anti-Shari'a legislative efforts based on his proposal. For example, in a hearing before the Alaska House State Affairs Committee in March 2011, Yerushalmi claimed that "today, we are far more likely than ever before to have foreign laws in American courts. There are plenty of occasions in which foreign law informs what Alaskan law could be."
Yerushalmi has not only actively promoted his conspiratorial vision of Shari'a law, but has also sought to portray all Muslims as a threat. In one March 2006 article, for example, Yerushalmi even went so far as to claim that "Muslim civilization is at war with Judeo-Christian civilization. The Muslim peoples, those committed to Islam as we know it today, are our enemies." That same year, Yerushalmi founded the Society of Americans for National Existence (SANE), a "think tank" that has published anti-Muslim, anti-immigration and anti-black materials, as well as New World Order-style conspiracy theories. In 2007, SANE, declaring itself "dedicated to the rejection of democracy and party rule and a return to a constitutional republic [of the original founders of the US]," launched a campaign fueled by suspicion of all Muslims. That campaign, "Mapping Shari'a in America: Knowing the Enemy," sought to determine exactly what type of Shari'a every single mosque and Muslim religious institution in the U.S. was advocating. A June 2007 press release announcing the campaign indicated that SANE would work to "test the proposition that Shari'a amounts to a criminal conspiracy to overthrow the U.S. government" by investigating and ranking the adherence to Islamic law of mosques and their associated day-schools throughout the U.S. The statement also promised to "advocate for the criminalization of Shari'a" if it felt its targeted investigation into mosques and Islamic day schools proved such a measure necessary. SANE also proposed legislation that furthering or supporting adherence to Shari'a "shall be a felony punishable by 20 years in prison." It called on Congress to declare war on the "Muslim nation," which it defined as "Shari'a-adherent Muslims," and further asked Congress to define Muslim illegal immigrants as alien enemies "subject to immediate deportation." (ADL)
Conyers calls for inquiry of treatment of Muslim Americans
March 26: The ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee has called for an investigation into claims by American Muslims that they are being harassed by U.S. customs and border officials while trying to cross back into the country from Canada. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) asked the Justice Department (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to investigate allegations made by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) that American-Muslims are being handcuffed, interrogated and sexually harassed for hours by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents along the northern border. “With federal hearings on radicalization and intense scrutiny by law enforcement of religious institutions, the American-Islamic community today is living in a climate that has the risk of producing a siege mentality,” said Conyers in a statement. “The American-Islamic community should know that the federal government will protect the interests of the community, while maintaining the appropriate focus on national security.” In a letter to DHS officials, (a leading Muslim civil advocacy group) CAIR said, “The men are thrown against their vehicles, handcuffed, and taken inside for questioning. An invasive and humiliating body search is performed, which many have described as sexual harassment. Some are left handcuffed for hours on end, in many cases standing upright. Others are left in a cell. At least a dozen Muslim women of Somali origin have also reported being subjected to invasive and humiliating searches at the border that they felt were inappropriate and a form of sexual harassment.” (The Hill)
Republican presidential hopeful Herman Cain says:
‘I would not’ appoint a Muslim in my administration
March 26: As the Republican presidential nomination process begins, one GOP candidate is making a name for himself as the Islamophobia candidate: Herman Cain. Earlier this week, Cain gave an interview to Christianity Today in which he declared that, “based upon the little knowledge that I have of the Muslim religion, you know, they have an objective to convert all infidels or kill them.” ThinkProgress caught up with the former CEO of Godfather’s Pizza today at the Conservative Principles Conference in Des Moines, Iowa, to discuss his comments further. We asked him, in light of his statements on Islam, would he be comfortable appointing any Muslims in his administration. Rather than skirting the question or hedging his answer, as most presidential aspirants are wont to do, Cain was definitive: “No, I would not.” Think Progress asked Cain: Would you be comfortable appointing a Muslim, either in your cabinet or as a federal judge? Cain’s responded: No, I would not. And here’s why. There is this creeping attempt, there is this attempt to gradually ease Sharia law and the Muslim faith into our government. It does not belong in our government. This is what happened in Europe. And little by little, to try and be politically correct, they made this little change, they made this little change. And now they’ve got a social problem that they don’t know what to do with hardly. (Think Progress)
Conyers calls for inquiry of treatment of Muslim Americans
March 26: The ranking Democrat on the House Judiciary Committee has called for an investigation into claims by American Muslims that they are being harassed by U.S. customs and border officials while trying to cross back into the country from Canada. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) asked the Justice Department (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to investigate allegations made by the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) that American-Muslims are being handcuffed, interrogated and sexually harassed for hours by U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents along the northern border. “With federal hearings on radicalization and intense scrutiny by law enforcement of religious institutions, the American-Islamic community today is living in a climate that has the risk of producing a siege mentality,” said Conyers in a statement. “The American-Islamic community should know that the federal government will protect the interests of the community, while maintaining the appropriate focus on national security.” In a letter to DHS officials, (a leading Muslim civil advocacy group) CAIR said, “The men are thrown against their vehicles, handcuffed, and taken inside for questioning. An invasive and humiliating body search is performed, which many have described as sexual harassment. Some are left handcuffed for hours on end, in many cases standing upright. Others are left in a cell. At least a dozen Muslim women of Somali origin have also reported being subjected to invasive and humiliating searches at the border that they felt were inappropriate and a form of sexual harassment.” (The Hill)
Alaska GOP turns to fringe blogger as Islam expert
March 31: In becoming the latest state legislator to seek to ban Islamic law, Alaska Republican Rep. Carl Gatto called a fringe anti-Muslim blogger to testify as an expert witness in the House Judiciary Committee. That would be Pamela Geller. The New York-based (anti-Muslim) blogger delivered a statement by phone and then took questions from Alaska legislators during the hearing yesterday. Geller is the blogger who spread many of the original falsehoods about the so-called "ground zero mosque" (sample headline from her "Atlas Shrugs" website: "Monster Mosque Pushes Ahead in Shadow of World Trade Center Islamic Death and Destruction"). Her blog also regularly features conspiracy theories such as the classic, "Malcolm X is Obama's father."
Anchorage Democratic Rep. Lindsey Holmes objected to Geller’s testimony. "I'm getting very uncomfortable with what I see is some fairly negative testimony against a large segment of society. I think we're getting off into some pretty dangerous, divisive territory," Holmes said. There are an estimated 4,000 to 6,000 Muslims in Alaska, making up less than 1 percent of the state's population.
Gatto, the sponsor of the bill, is of Italian descent. He said at the hearing: Gatto said he grew up in New York City, where his Italian neighborhood clung to technically illegal customs like giving a child whiskey to help with illness. But the world of other immigrants is different, he argued. "I'm more concerned about cultures that are vastly different from European immigrants, who come here and prefer to maintain their specific laws from their previous countries, which are in violent conflict with American law," Gatto said. "That's the issue that I am worried about." So there you have it. Whiskey-drinking Italian immigrants: good. Shariah-worshiping Muslim immigrants: bad. (Salon)
Islamophobia has exploded onto the political scene
March 29: Once relegated to the right-wing fringe, Islamophobia has exploded onto the political scene as anti-Muslim pundits and activists gain traction in the conservative mainstream. Lawmakers and activists are now targeting anything affiliated with Muslims -- be it a charity, a teacher, or a mosque. GOP politicians like former House Speaker and GOP presidential candidate Newt Gingrich are fear-mongering over perceived dangers within the American Muslim community to pander to the conservative extremes. But this weekend at the Conservative Principles Conference in Iowa, GOP presidential candidate Herman Cain introduced an unprecedented level of bigotry into the GOP platform by declaring he would never appoint a Muslim to his administration. His anti-Muslim views sparked considerable outrage, but Cain remains unphased. "I does not care, I feel the way I feel," he rationalized…. Right-wing activists have spouted their anti-Muslim bigotry in a host of venues, including state bills that tackle the phantom menace of Sharia law or public hearings on "Radicalization in the American Muslim Community." Rather than standing up to this un-American behavior, many GOP politicians are exploiting it for political gain.
Regardless of how he may feel, his anti-Muslim sentiment does not attract public support. Americans still support the religious freedoms enshrined in the Constitution and believe they should be applied to all, including Muslims. As President George Washington noted in 1790, the United States "gives to bigotry no sanction, to persecution no assistance, requires only that they who live under its protection should demean themselves as good citizens." Despite the concerted effort of conservative lawmakers and pundits to market Islamophobia to the public, they are out of touch with the American people. While anti-Islam activists and GOP officials continue to cultivate an anti-Islam campaign, 66 percent of Tennesseans said "they either supported or did not object to the construction of a new Islamic center in Murfreesboro." 67 percent said "Muslims deserve the same rights as any Americans" and believed that "it is wrong to profile people as potential terrorists solely on the basis of their Muslim beliefs. The tolerance of Tennesseans reflects the general attitude of the American public. A recent (CNN) poll found 69 percent of Americans "would not oppose having a mosque near where they live or work." Despite heavy-handed fear-mongering about Muslims, only 26 percent said they have an unfavorable view of Muslims. (Think Progress)
Unveiling truth behind the hijab
March 30: Al-Madinah Cultural Center and the Muslim Student Association, Minnesota, today held the “Hijabi for a Day” event as part of the annual Islam Awareness Week hosted by. Members of the student organizations provided more than 100 free scarves in front of Coffman Union to non-Muslim women — and even men — willing to wear the traditional covering for the day. Sabah Khatoon, a member of the Islam Awareness Week Committee, said the event is hosted to draw attention to the significance of the veil, combating the perpetuation of misconceptions and assumptions about Muslim women. Volunteers explained the meaning behind the hijab and answered questions as they helped participants pick scarves and put them on. (The Minnesota Daily)
NY student slapped with hate crime charge after trying to rip off headscarf
March 30: A Staten Island (N.Y.) schoolkid has been charged with felony assault as a hate crime after he tried to rip the religious headscarf off a fellow female classmate. Osman Daramy, 12, allegedly attacked the victim today around noon inside the Dreyfus Intermediate School on Warren Street in Stapleton. He and a 13-year-old accomplice beat the girl up, punching and kicking her, before she fell to the ground, authorities said. “Are you Muslim?” Daramy allegedly barked before grabbing at the hijab wrapped around the victim’s head. He was apparently unsuccessful in removing the covering. The boy was taken from the school by officers from the North Shore’s 120th Precinct and charged with "harassing the girl, beating her, throwing her to the ground, asking if she is Muslim and trying to pull off her scarf." The third-degree assault charge is an A-misdemeanor but the hate crime aspect bumps it up to an E-felony. (New York Post)
GOP candidate: Oath will be on the bible, not the Quran
March 31: The Right Scoop reports: Herman Cain definitely isn't politically correct and that's a quality that I love. CPAC Blogger of the Year Javier Manjarres with the Shark-Tank sat down with the Herminator for an interview a few nights ago and thus I have a new favorite line from Herman Cain: "I don't know one Muslim who will denounce Sharia Law, and then say they can support the Constitution of the United States of America. So my assumption based on what I know about their belief system is that they are not going to give up Sharia Law. Anybody that takes the oath of office in a Herman Cain administration will put their hand on the Bible, not the Koran!" (Fox News)
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