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Chronology of Islam in America (2005)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
November 2005
Federal judge dismisses lawsuit over headscarf removal
Nov. 2: A Muslim woman in Madison, Wis., forced to remove her religious headscarf while visiting a state prison cannot sue the Department of Corrections or its secretary for damages in federal court, a judge ruled."I am devastated," Cynthia Rhouni of Madison said Wednesday when told of the ruling. U.S. District Judge John Shabaz dismissed Rhouni's lawsuit, saying the state cannot be held liable for monetary damages sought by private citizens in federal court. Rhouni claimed her constitutional right to practice religion was violated when she took her son to visit his father at the Columbia Correctional Institution in Portage. A security measure that took effect months earlier banned visitors from wearing headgear inside state prisons. Rhouni said two male guards ordered her to take off her hijab despite her protests. She said she was humiliated inmates saw her without the garment, which practicing Muslim women are supposed to wear in public and especially in front of men. (Duluth News-Tribune)
Muslims' prayers at game led to FBI queries
Nov. 3: The trouble started after five Muslim men were seen praying inside Giants Stadium (NJ) before a Sept. 19 football game. A suspicious spectator notified authorities, who cornered the men in the stands during the game. "All of a sudden, eight yellow-jacketed security officers come up to us," said Sami Shaban, one of the five men, and a Mahwah High School graduate. "They told us, 'Get up.'Ÿ" As the men complied, Shaban said, security guards clutched their arms and other spectators shouted their approval. "Now I feel safer!" one bellowed. Several state troopers waited at the bottom of the stairs. The men were then turned over to FBI agents, five of whom questioned them for about 30 minutes before escorting them back to the stands during the game between the Giants and the New Orleans Saints. Shaban and others, including Mostafa Khalifa of Howell, described the incident Wednesday during a news conference timed to coincide with the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Fitr, which begins this week. They called on law enforcement officials to stop racial and religious profiling. (North Jersey Media)
Kirk 'OK' with visa bias against some Arab men
Nov. 6: Rep. Mark Kirk of Highland Park made what he admitted were "politically uncomfortable" remarks when asked about the difficulties of the visa process for immigrants entering the United States. "I'm OK with discrimination against young Arab males from terrorist-producing states. I'm OK with that," Kirk said. "I think that when we look at the threat that's out there, young men between, say, the ages of 18 and 25 from a couple of countries, I believe a certain amount of intense scrutiny should be placed on them. "I'm not threatened by people from China. I'm not even threatened by people from Mexico. I just know where the threat is from. It's from a unique place, and I think it's OK to recognize that." Kirk (R-Ill.), speaking at a nanotechnology conference at Northwestern University, Ill, had talked about China gaining an economic advantage over the United States, producing 10 times the number of engineers as the United States. (Chicago Sun Times)
UN nuclear chief, ElBaradei searched at US airport
Nov. 8: UN nuclear chief Mohamed ElBaradei, who is Egyptian, was pulled out of line at Logan airport in Boston and searched by security officials before being allowed to fly on to Washington, diplomats said in Vienna. They said the incident occurred on Sunday (Nov 6). ElBaradei's wife, who was travelling with him, was also stopped and searched, as officials apparently screen people according to their names. One diplomat, contacted in Washington from Vienna, said ElBaradei was "really angry and embarrassed by the incident." IAEA officials refused to comment on the report. ElBaradei spoke last week at the UN General Assembly and then was in Boston where he spoke at both Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. (Hindustan Times)
Muslim groups ask Kirk to apologize for remarks
Nov. 8: Arab-American and immigrant rights groups riled by U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk's recent comments sanctioning discrimination against Arabs are asking for a retraction and an apology. The Highland Park Republican made the controversial statements at a Saturday symposium on nanotechnology at Northwestern University in Evanston. According to a published report, Kirk said: "I'm OK with discrimination against young Arab males from terrorist-producing states ... I think that when we look at the threat that's out there, young men between, say, the ages of 18 and 25 from a couple of countries, I believe a certain amount of intense scrutiny should be placed on them." Kirk went on to say, "I'm not threatened by people from China. I'm not even threatened by people from Mexico. I just know where the threat is from. It's from a unique place and I think it's OK to recognize that." His remarks have infuriated some immigrant rights groups. "We ask for a retraction and an apology and think it is incredibly counterproductive to make the type of blanket statements that he has," said Mehrdad Azemun, senior organizer for the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights. Ahmed Rehab, a spokesman for the Chicago Council on American- Islamic Relations, a national Muslim civil rights advocacy group, said Kirk's comments are irresponsible because his suggestion has not been proven as an effective way to deal with terrorism. (Daily Herald)
Facing community pressure, the Hillsborough School Board restores religious holidays
Nov. 9: After listening to passionate speeches about God, country, children and tradition, the Hillsborough School Board (Florida) restored several religious holidays to next year's school calendar, reversing a 2-week-old decision that garnered national attention. The vote came a year after the Council on American-Islamic Relations requested all Hillsborough students be given a day off for Eid al-Fitr, the end of the 30-day fasting period of Ramadan. The district's calendar committee studied the issue this summer but forwarded the secular calendar to the board for approval. The only dissent came from the committee's lone Muslim member. (St. Petersburg Times)
Florida school religious holidays restored
Nov. 10: The Hillsborough County (Florida) School Board reinstated Good Friday, Easter Monday and Yom Kippur as school holidays after getting more than 3,500 e-mails from around the country criticizing its earlier decision to eliminate them rather than add a Muslim holiday. The School Board voted 5-2 to restore the holidays to the 2006-07 school calendar after a Muslim group said it didn't want its request to add the Islamic holiday Eid al-Fitr, which marks the end of Ramadan, to result in Christian and Jewish holidays being taken away. "It is a temporary solution," said Ahmed Bedier, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations. ``We've been adamant the last two weeks that we would give up on our request for a holiday so the other religions won't lose theirs." (Associated Press)
VA: Muslims helped elect new governor
Nov. 10: Not since L. Douglas Wilder's historic run for governor in 1989 has a Democrat captured a majority of the vote for governor in Loudoun County. Democrats in Prince William County have been waiting even longer. But Virginia Gov.-elect Timothy M. Kaine (D) won both in Tuesday's election. Republicans needed to win big in the outer suburbs to offset heavy support for Kaine in areas closer to Washington, and their failure to do so was one of the keys to the defeat of Republican Jerry W. Kilgore. Kilgore slipped in areas where Republicans have been so dominant that they control the local boards of supervisors, sheriff's offices, commonwealth's attorney posts and most delegate seats. Kaine reached out to voters in these rapidly growing outer communities who are accustomed to the dust and traffic that come with new homes. Mukit Hossain, president of the Virginian Muslim Political Action Committee said his group, which endorsed Kaine, compiled a comprehensive database of Muslim voters in Virginia, finding that about 15,000 of 49,000 statewide live in Prince William and Loudoun. Many legal immigrants in the area were turned off by Kilgore's pledges to use state police to fight illegal immigration and his opposition to a proposed taxpayer-funded day labor site in Herndon, and voted accordingly, he said. (Washington Post)
Charter school may include Muslim holiday
Nov. 11: The Florida Muslim community failed to get it on Hillsborough County's school calendar, but at least one public school in the district wants to recognize the holiday marking the end of Ramadan. Terrace Community School, a charter school at the Museum of Science & Industry serving fifth through eighth grades, wants to add a day off next school year to observe Eid al-Fitr, the holy day at the end of Ramadan. (Tampa Tribune)
Staten Island (NY) Muslims claim police had been asking improper questions about their citizenship
Nov. 12: Staten Island of New York’s top cop sat down with members of the board of trustees of Muslim Majlis of Staten Island Inc. to defuse mosque members' recent concerns about post-Sept. 11 racial profiling by the city Police Department. Board chairman Suhail Muzaffar said the group requested the sit-down with Borough Commander Albert Girimonte in reaction to four incidents over the past 11 months in which cops investigating minor auto accidents or traffic infractions allegedly asked mosque members inappropriate questions about their citizenship status. "The typical question has been: 'Where are you from, where were you born?'" Muzaffar said. "Two questions that are totally irrelevant at an accident scene." In one of the incidents near the Staten Island Mall at Christmastime last year, a female Pakistani wearing a Muslim shawl repeatedly was asked where she came from, he said. (Staten Island Advance)
NJ: Muslim becomes mayor after anonymous flier alleges terror ties
Nov. 13: The anonymous flier mailed to households days before a new mayor was to be chosen was direct and devastating in its claims: A Muslim council member, one of three candidates for the post, was "a betrayer living among us" with ties to the 9/11 terrorists. The mailing said Mohamed Khairullah "should not be living in our clean town" and "will try to poison our thoughts about our great country." But the letter failed to derail his candidacy; the Borough Council chose Khairullah in a 4-0 vote Wednesday night, making him one of only two Muslim mayors in New Jersey. (Newsday)
Muslim activists slam plan to register air travelers
Nov. 14: Muslim groups expressed concern about a move by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to urge Muslim air travelers who are experiencing problems at the airport to register with the federal government before flying. U.S. officials said some people have experienced problems getting cleared to fly as a result of a mistaken match on a no-fly list, and they may register with the federal government to reduce the chances they'll be stopped at the airport. But local Muslim activists said it appears to be another attempt by law enforcement to single out Muslims and Arab Americans for closer scrutiny. "Either nobody should register or all of us should have to register. Don't single us out," said Samina F. Sundas, executive director for American Muslim Voice, which set up a hot line for Muslims during the INS registration after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. "Let's just treat everyone equally." (The Oakland Tribune)
Senate committee concludes investigation of Muslim groups in U.S., finds no wrong doings
Nov. 15: A U.S. Senate committee found nothing "alarming" in the financial records of the Plainfield-based Islamic Society of North America and nearly two dozen other Muslim groups the committee reviewed searching for terrorist connections. In seeking the tax records of the Muslim groups in December 2003, Senate Finance Committee leaders said they would look at the "crucial role that charities and foundations play in terror financing" and that "often these groups are nothing more than shell companies." But almost two years later, the committee has concluded its work with no plans to issue a report, forward any findings to law enforcement agents, hold hearings or propose new legislation. "We did not find anything alarming enough that required additional follow-up beyond what law enforcement is already doing," U.S. Sen. Charles Grassley, the Iowa Republican who heads the committee, said in a statement. "If something in the future does cause new concern, we will continue the investigation." (Indianapolis Star)
Crackdown on a Middle Eastern banking system
Nov. 15: An informal banking system known by Middle Easterners as hawala, which began centuries ago on the Silk Road and Sahara desert caravans, has become a target in the war on terror by federal authorities who believe it allows terrorists to transfer vast sums of money without a trace. Since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the government has moved aggressively to halt these money transfer services or at least force them to comply with federal financial reporting laws. The campaign has resulted in the indictment of 138 people and the seizure of $25.5 million. Three (San Francisco) Bay Area men have been caught up in the crackdown; one of them is a Castro Valley man scheduled to be sentenced Thursday for illegally sending money to Sudan. But critics say the government has found no links to terrorism in any of its cases and has done little more than shut down mom-and-pop businesses guilty of failing to register their companies or report their transactions. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Court clears school of pushing religion with lesson on Islam
Nov. 18: A Contra Costa County (CA) school was educating seventh-graders about Islam, not indoctrinating them, in role-playing sessions in which students used Muslim names and recited language from prayers, a federal appeals court ruled Thursday. The Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals rejected a lawsuit by two Christian students and their parents, who accused the Byron Union School District of unconstitutionally endorsing a religious practice. "The Islam program activities were not overt religious exercises that raise Establishment Clause concerns,'' the three-judge panel said, referring to the First Amendment ban on government sanctioning a religion. (San Francisco Chronicle)
Schakowsky blasts Kirk's remarks on Arab males
Nov. 20: U.S. Rep. Jan Schakowsky (D-Ill.) said she was "deeply offended" that her colleague Mark Kirk thinks it's "OK" to discriminate against young Arab males, and she joined a diverse group of immigrants' rights supporters in demanding an apology from the Republican congressman. "No one should be OK with discrimination," Schakowsky said to an applauding, standing-room-only crowd at the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights convention at Navy Pier, Chicago. "It is comments like this, which characterize an entire group of people, that represent the kind of thinking that ultimately led to the internment of Japanese-Americans during World War II." When Kirk, of Highland Park, was asked about the difficulties of the visa process for immigrants at a nanotechnology conference at Northwestern University earlier this month, he said, "I'm OK with discrimination against young Arab males from terrorist-producing states. I'm OK with that." (Chicago Sun-Times)
Judge allows suit challenging sale of land for mosque
Nov. 22: A state judge in Boston has allowed a lawsuit to proceed that seeks to invalidate the city's sale of Roxbury land at deep discount to a Muslim society that is building a mosque on the property. Mission Hill resident James C. Policastro sued in an attempt to undo the Boston Redevelopment Authority deal with the Islamic Society of Boston, saying the sale violated provisions of the US and Massachusetts constitutions, which prohibit government from establishing or unfairly assisting religious institutions. (Boston Globe)
Kirk's racial profiling comments draw protests
Nov. 22: Dozens of community groups are calling on U.S. Rep. Mark Kirk to apologize for a remark they say he made in support of racial profiling. CBS 2's Mike Parker reports on protesters, who took their message to the congressman's office. More than a dozen people marched into Congressman Mark Kirk's Deerfield office carrying 800 signatures of people protesting what they call Kirk's endorsement of profiling Muslims and Arabs. The demonstrators, representing more than 20 religious and community groups, are upset over Kirk's recent comments at Northwestern University. "I'm ok," Kirk said, "with discrimination against young Arab males from terrorist producing states." "We need to make sure that even the smallest hint of discrimination against any group of people, any race of people are tackled and dealt with," said Shafic Budron with the Arab American Anti-Discrimination Committee. "I wouldn't condone for others what I condemn for my own people," said Rabbi Isaac Serotta of Lakeside Congregation. A later written statement from Kirk's office makes it sound like there won't be an apology. The congressman, it says, was talking about tougher review policies on visa requests. "To do anything less," says the statement, "would be a disservice to the safety of Americans." (CBS2Chicago)
U.S. indicts Padilla after three years in Pentagon custody
Nov. 22 - Jose Padilla, an American citizen held without charge for more than three years as an enemy combatant, has been indicted in what the federal authorities said today was a plot to "murder, kidnap and maim" people overseas. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales, who announced the indictment here, said that Mr. Padilla had conspired as part of a "North American support cell" to send "money, physical assets and new recruits" overseas to engage in acts of terrorism and that he had traveled abroad himself to become "a violent jihadist." Almost from the moment his arrest was announced in 2002, Mr. Padilla has been at the center of a debate over the proper balance between national security and personal liberties, especially in an age of terrorism and shadowy forces that neither serve nor operate under the conventions of nation-states. The government's announcement of a criminal indictment of Mr. Padilla today marked a significant shift in its public position on certain people seized as "enemy combatants" in the campaign against terrorism. The Bush administration position that it has the right to hold Mr. Padilla without formal charges as an enemy combatant, despite his citizenship, was upheld two months ago by the United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit in Richmond, which threw out a lower court ruling to the contrary. But some lawyers continued to insist that keeping an American citizen in a Navy brig with only limited access to legal counsel was a violation of civil rights and the spirit of the Constitution. Scott Silliman, a Duke University law professor, who specializes in national security, theorized that the government had secured the indictment against Mr. Padilla so that it could sidestep a Supreme Court showdown over when and for how long American citizens could be held in military prisons. "That's an issue the administration did not want to face," Mr. Silliman said. (New York Times)
Abu Ali found guilty in Bush Qaeda plot
Nov. 22: A U.S. man was found guilty of conspiring with and aiding al Qaeda and plotting to assassinate President George W. Bush. A 12-member federal jury at the U.S. District Court in Alexandria, Virginia, found Ahmed Abu Ali, 24, guilty of all charges in a nine-count indictment. He had been charged with conspiring to support and supporting al Qaeda, conspiracy to kill Bush and conspiracy to commit aircraft hijacking. Abu Ali was arrested in June 2003 while studying at a Saudi university. He signed confessions and made statements admitting to the plot against Bush and to having ties to an al Qaeda cell. He was held in Saudi Arabia for 20 months before being sent back to the United States earlier this year to face trial. Abu Ali said he made up the confessions in order to stop members of the Saudi domestic security police from torturing him. (Reuters)
New Jersey Sports Authority sets aside prayer spaces at stadium for Muslims
Nov. 22: The New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority says it will provide a special area for anyone who wants a place to pray while at Giants Stadium or the Continental Airlines Arena - a reaction to Muslim groups' outcries after several fans who prayed at a New York Giants game were detained and questioned by the FBI in September. Five Muslim men attending the Sept. 19 Giants game against the New Orleans Saints were detained and questioned for about a half hour by the FBI after they were observed praying at the stadium. The men claimed they were singled out because of their faith, but the FBI said the men were flagged by stadium security because they were in a sensitive area near the stadium's main air intake duct. The men were allowed to return to the stadium, but in different seats, and were escorted to their cars when they left. George Zoffinger, the sports authority president, said space will be set aside at the stadium and the arena for anyone of any faith who wishes to pray, he said. (Newsday)
CAIR calls for release of UK 'bomb Al-jazeera' memo
Nov. 27: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on British authorities to release the full contents of a memo that allegedly revealed plans last year by President Bush to bomb the Arabic television station al-Jazeera in Qatar. According to media reports, the memo contains detailed information about an April 2004 White House meeting during which British Prime Minister Tony Blair attempted to persuade President Bush not to bomb al-Jazeera. "This disturbing allegation damages our nation's image and undermines America's promotion of democracy and press freedom in the Middle East," said CAIR Board Chairman Parvez Ahmed. "One of the best ways to put this issue to rest is to release the memo so that everyone can decide for themselves whether the allegation is credible or part of a conspiracy theory." (CAIR News Bulletin)
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