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Chronology of Islam in America (2007)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
May 2007
Man files lawsuit to try and halt mosque construction in Florida
May 1: A man fighting the opening of a mosque in his suburban neighborhood filed a lawsuit today to try and halt construction, a move derided by Arab leaders as anti-Muslim. Rodney Wright claims the relocation of the Islamic Center of South Florida to a new, larger building in his Pompano Beach neighborhood "presents a substantial harm to the well-being, safety and health" of the community. Wright identifies himself as a Christian. The lawsuit claims the leader of the mosque, Imam Hassan Sabri, has repeatedly been associated with others who are tied to terrorist groups including Hamas, al-Qaida and the Palestinian Islamic Jihad, though the connections outlined in the filing appear loose and there is no accusation of direct wrongdoing. Sabri has not been charged with any criminal wrongdoing and neither he nor his mosque have been the target of any publicized investigation. (Associated Press)
Muslims are big players in US economy
May 2: Arab Americans account for nearly 6% of the workforce and earn between $5.4 billion and $7.7 billion a year in southeast Michigan, according to a Wayne State University report released today. Still, businesses often fail to recognize their economic power. "In the U.S., the Arab and Muslim communities are small but generally very affluent and highly entrepreneurial," Nasser Beydoun, chairman of the Arab American Chamber of Commerce said. Only a few Detroit-area companies actively cultivate Muslims as consumers. Staff members from Comerica Bank, Ikea and AT&T have participated in awareness programs to address needs of Muslim consumers. Nationwide, with an estimated population of 6 million to 8 million, Muslim Americans' purchasing power is estimated to be $170 billion annually. (Detroit Free Press)
'Islamaphobia' is on the rise, group says
May 2: The leader of a major Arab-American advocacy group said today that there was a "rising tide of Islamaphobia" in America and that more Muslim-Americans are being targeted and threatened now than immediately after 9/11. Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, and FBI officials here spoke with reporters after a federal civil-rights charge was lodged against a Philadelphia woman for sending a threatening note to her Arab-American boss. Al-Marayati and FBI agent Brian Lynch said the case was unusual because of the cooperation among the Arab-American community, the FBI and the victim. Al-Marayati said most Muslim-American victims of hate crimes are reluctant to alert authorities because they don't trust the government. (Philadelphia Daily News)
Imams receive death threat for suing US Airways and passengers
May 8: A group of imams and their attorney have received a death threat for suing passengers who reported suspicious behavior that led to the imams being removed from a U.S. Airways flight last year. The threatening letter sent to New York lawyer Omar Mohammedi said: "We have located the residences and identified the families of all parties" in the lawsuit filed in March. "We plan, at random, to start systematically killing the people on our list if this suit proceeds. You, personally, have been identified as the prize kill. It is our belief that terrorists like you should understand the true meaning of terror," the letter says. Omar Mohammedi, who filed a discrimination lawsuit in the Minneapolis Federal Court on behalf of the Imams in March, said the threat was specific. A party calling itself "American Jihad" signed the latter. The sender scolds the lawyer and the Imams for filing the lawsuit. (AMP Report)
Muslims fear backlash from Fort Dix attack plot
May 8: Authorities' description of six suspects charged with plotting an attack on Fort Dix as "Islamic militants" is causing renewed worry among New Jersey's Muslim community. Hundreds of Muslim men from New Jersey were rounded up and detained by authorities in the months following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, but none were connected to that plot. Now, Muslims fear a resurgence of anti-Islamic sentiment and incidents of bias. "If these people did something, then they deserve to be punished to the fullest extent of the law," said Sohail Mohammed, a lawyer who represented scores of detainees after the 2001 attacks. "But when the government says 'Islamic militants,' it sends a message to the public that Islam and militancy are synonymous. Don't equate actions with religion." (Associated Press)
Baltimore Muslims voice protests over school calendar
May 9: Muslim advocates, some of whom have pressed for years to persuade Baltimore County school officials to close schools for Islamic observances, were quick to criticize the proposed calendar for 2008-2009 as it was presented to the school board last night. As usual, the calendar includes days off for Rosh Hashanah and Christmas, but makes no mention of Eid al-Fitr or Eid al-Adha. Bash Pharoan, president of the Baltimore chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, said the proposed calendar was discriminatory. "The superintendent chose to reject the 18- to 20-member calendar committee's unanimous support for adding one school closing day on Eid al-Fitr and simply throw it away." "What is so hard about being equal and fair; you closed schools on Jewish holidays but did not close them on the Islamic holidays," said Hadear Abdou, a student at Towson University. (Baltimore Sun)
Detroit council OKs racial profiling ban
May 9: The Detroit City Council voted 9-0 today to pass a new ordinance that bans profiling people based on race, immigration status, ethnicity, dress and appearance, among other factors. It was developed after talks with local Latino, Arab and Muslim groups, who say that immigrants are sometimes asked for their residency papers after being pulled over by police. In recent years, Los Angeles and Chicago have passed similar ordinances, making them what are sometimes referred to as sanctuary cities. (Detroit Free Press)
Professor's comments on Islam spark controversy
May 9: A North Carolina religion professor’s statement that Christianity and Islam talk about “the same God” is causing a furor among Baptists in Texas. At a February conference in Austin, Texas, Charles Kimball of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, N.C., said Islamic teaching about Allah involves “the same God that Jews and Christians are talking about.” His comments sparked resolutions by two associations of churches, which asked the BGCT to clarify its doctrinal position. Leaders in Basin Baptist Network in the Midland/Odessa area approved an April 5 resolution refuting the “false and precarious” teaching that God as revealed in the Bible and Allah as presented in the Quran are the same. The resolution, signed by 14 representatives from eight churches in the Midland/Odessa area, asked BGCT Executive Director Charles Wade, CLC director Suzii Paynter and the BGCT Executive Board to “formally distance themselves and our convention from and publicly denounce such false teaching, and [to] reaffirm the commitment to the doctrine of the triune God as clearly and correctly articulated in the 'Baptist Faith and Message.'” (Church Executive)
Church's sign against Islam sparks controversy
May 11: Words like "bomb" and "die" draw attention to the small sign in front of Good News Independent Baptist Church. Rev. Gary Murrell put up the sign, which on one side claims the message of Islam is "submit, convert or die." The other side reads: "When is the last time you heard of a Jew or Christian with a bomb strapped to their body?" Despite some in the Islamic community who claim the sign is offensive, Murrell says it is not a hate sign. Murrell says it is a violent religion compared to Christianity. (WRAL)
First imam named to US commission on international Religious Freedom
May 15: Imam Talal Eid of Quincy today became the first Muslim cleric to be appointed to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom. The 54-year-old Lebanon native has been picked by the Bush administration for a two-year term on the independent, bipartisan agency, which monitors overseas conditions and makes policy recommendations to the president, State Department and Congress.Imam Eid replaces UCLA law professor Khalid Abou El Fadl as the Muslim representative on the 11-person commission. The commission has included a Muslim since Congress created the agency in 1998, but Imam Eid is the first religious leader to be chosen. The former spiritual director of the Islamic Center of New England in Quincy has long been active on interfaith issues. He has gained a higher profile in the past year, as a guest at White House Ramadan dinners and a speaker at State Department events in the Middle East. (Patriot Ledger)
Florida mosque gets approval to grow despite protests
May 15: Hernando County's (Florida) lone mosque received approval Monday for a significant expansion. The Barclay Avenue mosque plans to expand to more than seven times its current size, creating a single-story building with space for offices, community events and 3, 790 square feet of assembly space for prayer. The five-member Hernando County Planning and Zoning Commission unanimously recommended approval to revise a special use permit that will allow the expansion of the mosque. (St. Petersburg Times)
New study examines impact of religion on Muslim youth
May 15: To gain insights into the impact of religion on Muslim youth, the first phase of a long-term study has found that social success is strongly linked to religious involvement within the Islamic majority nation of Indonesia, according to the study's co-author Doran French, professor and chair of psychology at Illinois Wesleyan University. This study of Muslim 13-year-olds found a correlation between religious involvement across many indices of social competence or success.French suggested that a key to interpreting these findings is understanding the context of a homogenously religious culture, where religion permeates society and is a public, community identity rather than a compartmentalized, private experience as in the U.S. (Illinois Wesleyan University News)
U.S.A. vs. Al-Arian documentary
May 16: The drama of Dr. Sami Al-Arian's federal trial was played out today on the big screen in a packed theater in Tampa, Florida, just one block from the federal courthouse where the controversial case unfolded. If the crowd at the premiere of "U.S.A. vs. Al-Arian" was any indication, the Sami Al-Arian story still intrigues a lot of people in the Bay Area. The documentary is the first dramatization of the trial that dragged on for six months. Al-Arian’s trial ended with the jury acquitting him on eight of the 17 charges against him, deadlocking on the remaining nine charges. Ultimately, the USF Professor, in a plea bargain to avoid re-trial, did plead guilty to a one count of conspiracy to provide services to the Palestinian Islamic Jihad. He also agreed to be deported. According to Tampa Tribune, for Norwegian filmmaker Line Halvorsen, the case of Sami Al-Arian is about freedom of speech and about the U.S. government's efforts to silence a tireless voice for human rights. It is about post-Sept. 11 hysteria and the persecution of a Muslim, as well as the emotionally grinding devastation the prosecution brought to the Al-Arian family. It is not about the evidence presented in a complex, five-month trial in U.S. District Court two years ago. Halvorsen's documentary, "USA vs Al-Arian," has won accolades and awards. The producers say it was picked best film at the Norwegian Documentary Film Festival and the New Orleans International Human Rights Festival. (AMP Report)
3 firms pull ads on KOA program
May 17: At least three Denver metro-area businesses have asked radio station KOA-850 AM to pull their advertisements from the "Gunny Bob" Newman show following remarks about Muslims made last week by the conservative talk-show host. ProgressNowAction has taken issue with comments Newman made regarding Muslims. During a broadcast last week, he said: "I want every Muslim immigrant to America who holds a green card, a visa, or who is a naturalized citizen to be required by law to wear a GPS tracking bracelet at all times." He also proposed that the government "bug their places of work and their residences." (Denver Post)
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