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Chronology of Islam in America (2007)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
May 2007 page II
Islamic Charity KinderUSA sues ex-Bush official
May 19: A former Bush administration official has been sued for libel by a U.S.-based Islamic charity for alleging in a book that the organization has helped fund Middle East terrorists. The lawsuit — filed in Los Angeles County Superior Court by Kids in Need of Development, Education and Relief and its chairwoman, Dr. Laila Al-Marayati of Los Angeles — accuses Matthew Levitt of falsely linking the charity to extremists. It also names Yale University Press and the Washington Institute for Near East Policy as defendants for their role in publishing the book last year. Levitt, deputy assistant secretary for intelligence and analysis at the U.S. Treasury Department until earlier this year, has been a government witness in several federal terrorism cases and is a senior fellow at the institute. The Dallas-based charity, known as KinderUSA, was founded five years ago by a group of physicians and humanitarian relief workers with the goal of bringing educational, health and rehabilitation programs into war zones and areas of disaster, according to its lawsuit and website. To date, it has received and distributed about $4 million to $5 million overseas. (Los Angeles Times)
Muslim history in U.S. full of surprises
May 19: Where was one of the first mosques in the United States located? You might think somewhere in Michigan, with its large Arab-American population. Or maybe cosmopolitan places like New York City or Chicago. You'd be wrong in all three cases. But in searching for the answer, you'd get steaming hot, if you thought of a place that gets very cold. Some sources say the answer is the town of Ross, in the unlikely state of North Dakota. The mosque there opened in 1929. But others say two mosques opened in Maine and Connecticut as early as 1915. One of the oldest mosques still in existence -- it opened in 1934 -- is in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. The "Islam in America" exhibit currently on display at the Muslim Community Cultural Center of Baltimore, in the 3400 block of W. North Ave., gives a surprising history lesson about Muslims in our country. Islam's roots in America go back much farther than 1929, a fact that no doubt causes some discomfort to the professional Islam-bashers who have crept out of the woodwork since Sept. 11, 2001. These are the characters who, pulling selected lines from the Quran, have called Islam a violent, evil religion. Muslims can just as easily read the Bible, especially those Old Testament passages that seem like a handbook for -- and give divine approval of -- pillaging, atrocities, mass murder and ethnic cleansing, and make similar conclusions about Christianity. (Baltimore Sun)
NY bookstore pressured to drop reading by Palestinian author
May 21: The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) today expressed concern about an apparent attempt to block a reading by a Palestinian author at a bookstore in that state. A news release issued by the author’s agent stated: “The previously announced book reading and signing of THE SCAR OF DAVID by Susan Abulhawa has been reduced to a "book signing" with no reading to occur. “In explaining its reasoning, Barnes & Noble expressed several concerns including ‘sensitivity’ to the Jewish Community, space limitations of the store and the author's safety. The Scar of David is a work of historic fiction which reveals the untold brutal history of Israel's Occupation of a nation as also depicted by the recently released Palestine, Peace Not Apartheid by former USA President Jimmy Carter. (CAIR Bulletin)
Rep Jim McDermott: Invading Iraq was all about oil; the new secret plot against Iran is all about oil
May 23: Looking Iraq in its larger historical context instead of pretending it just sprung up overnight like mushrooms after a rainfall, Rep. Jim McDermott tells the house: “This president and vice president have vowed to repeat the mistakes of history, and they have put into motion a plan to do just that in Iran, even as the House is about to send the president a box of blank checks for Iraq, against the will of the American people….Oil is the only benchmark this president and vice president want, and they will keep American soldiers fighting and dying until an oil law is passed in Iraq that gives Western oil companies control of the spigot. It is time to unmask the latest doomed plot to overthrow Iran and past time to get out soldiers out of Iraq. Nothing less than protecting our troops is acceptable.” (Independent Media Institute)
'War on terror' dividing world, warns Amnesty
May 23: Fears stoked by the post-9/11 "war on terror" are increasingly dividing the world, Amnesty International said today, while rapping rights abuses from China to Darfur and Russia to the Middle East. The report showed the "terrible price that ordinary people are paying for the failure of their leaders to uphold human rights," said Amnesty chief Irene Khan.The politics of fear is fuelling a downward spiral of human rights abuse in which no right is sacrosanct and no person safe, she said. "The 'war on terror' and the war in Iraq, with their catalogue of human rights abuses, have created deep divisions that cast a shadow on international relations." (AFP)
Imam leads prayer in Alabama House
May 24: A Muslim minister gave the opening prayer today in the Alabama House. Kareem Abdullah, imam of the Birmingham Islamic Center, prayed for Alabama to prosper as the House was coming into session. Ministers from across the state, mostly from Christian churches, come to the microphone to pray at the start of each day's session, just before House members say the Pledge of Allegiance. Abdullah was invited by Rep. Yusuf Salaam, D-Selma, the only Muslim member of the Legislature. Salaam said he invited Abdullah because he feels it's important to show legislators and other Alabama residents that most Muslims are "sane, sober-minded people," and not terrorists or against America. (The Associated Press)
North Carolina schools forbid selling religion
May 24: From now on, guest speakers in the Wake County School System (NC) must sign a document agreeing not to denigrate any culture, race, gender, national origin or religion. That new rule was made in response to an incident earlier this year in which a guest speaker at Enloe High School denigrated Islam and urged students to shun Muslims.The new rule grows out of a three-month investigation into an incident last February in which an Enloe High School social studies teacher, Robert Escamilla, invited a Christian evangelist to his classrooms. The evangelist, Kamil Solomon of Raleigh, asked students to embrace Christianity and distributed pamphlets calling the Prophet Muhammad a "criminal," "demon possessed" and "inspired by Satan." Solomon's visit led to outrage in the Muslim community and to a 90-day paid suspension for Escamilla. (News & Observer)
Cornyn Amendment Would Allow Use of Secret Evidence
May 24: Senator John Cornyn (R-TX) has introduced an amendment (#1148) to the on-going immigration debate that would deny lawful permanent residents the opportunity to become U.S. citizens based on secret evidence. This amendment gives the Attorney General unreviewable discretion to use secret evidence to determine if an alien is ‘described in’ the national security exclusions within immigration law. A person applying for naturalization could have her application denied and she would never know the reason for the denial. For example, if a lawful permanent resident was giving money for Tsunami relief and accidentally gave money to a charity controlled by the Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, then that person could be denied citizenship on the basis of secret evidence and there would be no review in the courts. In sum, it allows deportations based on the unreviewable determination by executive branch that a person lacks "good moral character"; determinations can be made based on secret evidence that the person cannot even see let alone challenge. (ADC Bulletin)
Rejected by PBS, film on Islam revived by CPB
May 25: In an unprecedented move, the agency that oversees public broadcasting has stepped in to arrange distribution for a TV documentary on Islam that PBS had rejected as unworthy. The federally funded Corporation for Public Broadcasting helped find a new distributor for "Islam vs. Islamists: Voices From the Muslim Center" after seven Republican members of Congress and one Democrat demanded that CPB ask PBS to air it or release it elsewhere. The 52-minute film contends that moderate Muslims are being intimidated by radical Islamists in several Western democracies, including the United States. The dispute over the film thrust CPB into the middle of a politically charged affair. The film's producers claim that PBS and its producing station, WETA, both of Arlington, are kowtowing to conservative Muslims in "suppressing" the film. (Washington Post)
Both sides drop legal challenges in Boston mosque suit
May 30: Two sides in a legal dispute about the construction of a Boston mosque agreed to drop legal actions against each other, a move that supporters of the mosque say will allow construction to move forward. The decision comes three months after a Suffolk Superior Court judge dismissed a lawsuit by Boston resident James Policastro claiming it was unconstitutional for the city of Boston to sell land at a discount price to developers of an Islamic center. The judge ruled Policastro had no standing to bring the suit. Policastro agreed to drop future appeals after the Islamic Society of Boston agreed to drop a defamation lawsuit against opponents and journalists including the Boston Herald and FOX-TV, which reported on the sale. (South Coast Today)
Boyles continued trend of anti-Muslim rhetoric by Denver Clear Channel hosts
May 30: Summary: Peter Boyles of 630 KHOW-AM is the most recent Denver-based Clear Channel Communications host to engage in anti-Muslim rhetoric, telling a caller on his May 30 show that "the enemy" is "radical, crazy, religious Islam." Boyles also agreed with the caller's suggestions that the United States should bar "Islamic immigration" and that Islam should be declared "a political ideology." During a discussion about "radical, crazy, religious Islam" on his May 30 broadcast, 630 KHOW-AM host Peter Boyles agreed with a caller's suggestion that the United States "need[s] to say, 'No more Islamic immigration.' " Boyles also agreed with the caller's assertion that "for our purposes" Islam should be declared "a political ideology." (Colorado Media Matters)
Mosque attendance falls after terrorism arrests
May 30: Midday prayers at the South Jersey Islamic Center in Palmyra often have thin attendance, but since the arrest of a handful of its members, attendance has plummeted. The hundreds of congregants who used to show up for Friday evening prayers now number just dozens. People who had prayed there for years are now staying away. Ejlvir, Shain and Dritan Duka are among six New Jersey men accused of plotting to attack soldiers at Fort Dix. The FBI has said they were part of a homegrown terrorist cell intent on launching a jihad in New Jersey. Agents had been tracking the Duka brothers for more than 15 months before the arrests in early May; since then, Muslims around the mosque have been treading carefully. (National Public Radio)
NY: Rochester mosque vandalized for third time this year
May 30: A mosque in Rochester (New York) has been vandalized for the third time this year, and the FBI is now investigating the incidents. Leaders of the mosque (Masjid Sabiqun) say someone scrawled racial slurs across the entrance to the building over the weekend. Imam Yusuf Sharif says it's the third time in three months that his mosque has been targeted by vandals. (Associated Press)
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