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Chronology of Islam in America (2005)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
October 2005
Muslim group opens a mosque that's been 22 years in the making
Oct. 2: For 22 years, a group of Southland Muslims in Illinois have worshipped in a converted airplane hangar they dubbed "The Shed." After years of sacrifice from its roughly 300 members, the Sunni Muslim congregation opened a $2 million white-brick mosque next door. Construction on the mosque took two years to complete. In a way, the mosque's completion is a quintessential suburban success story. It began with some Muslim immigrant professionals moving their families to the South Suburbs in the 1970s. The group — mostly engineers, physicians and business owners — met in basements and then rented space, eventually settling in at a Frankfort school. In 1983, they bought 14 acres, including the hangar. There was no money left to build a mosque. (The Star)
Arab-Americans rank civil rights as key issue
Oct. 3: An Arab-American group said civil rights issues rank as its foremost concern in New Jersey's gubernatorial race. At a political forum here on Sunday, participants said they hope New Jersey's next governor will protect Arab-Americans from the specter of racial profiling - at a time when the nation is jittery over terrorism. Republican gubernatorial candidate Doug Forrester, who attended the Arab American Institute's forum, told the group he would not permit such practices if elected. "Racial profiling is something New Jersey has had a problem with," he said. If law enforcement agencies are using ethnicity or religious affiliation as the sole basis for selecting targets in terrorism probes, Forrester said, "we've got to end it now." (North Jersey.com)
Muslims feel vindicated by report finding profiling by New Jersey anti-terror cops
Oct. 7: Muslims say a federal report supporting charges that New Jersey counterterrorism officials were compiling reports on Muslims solely because of their religion confirms what they have been claiming for years. "This shouldn't surprise anyone," said Yaser El-Menshawy, chairman of the Majlis Ash-Shura of New Jersey, the state's council of mosques. "Although it's wrong and it's bad law enforcement, Muslims understand that we have fewer rights than anyone else right now. I'm sure people in law enforcement realize that and know they can get away with things with Muslims that they can't with any other group." The Institute for Intergovernmental Research, at the request of the U.S. Justice Department, reviewed a dispute in New Jersey over state counterterrorism investigators entering 140 reports into a law-enforcement database. Fearing they would be accused of racial profiling after being ordered by the federal government to halt the practice of targeting motorists based on race, New Jersey state police prohibited the state's Office of Counter-Terrorism from entering any more of their intelligence reports into the database. (Newsday)
European Commission calls for increased engagement with Muslim communities
Oct. 10: The Vice President of the European Commission has announced a "strategic decision intended to strengthen the trans-Atlantic partnership." At a Ramadan iftar hosted in Washington by Commission Head John Bruton, Franco Frattini stressed that Muslim communities in all nations should not be courted only for security or counterterrorism purposes, but to encourage the development of Muslim identities that are vested in Europe and the United States. Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) National Director Ahmed Younis, and Board Members Dr. Yahya Basha and Dr. Hassan Ibrahim attended the event, which was hosted by Ambassador John Bruton, Head of the Delegation of the European Commission to the United States, and his wife Mrs. Finola Bruton. U.S. government officials also in attendance as guests included Secretary Michael Chertoff of the Department of Homeland Security and Attorney General Alberto Gonzale who expressed his interest in understanding the "realities of this community," saying that he intends on engaging with the Muslim American community personally to further understand its concerns. Gonzales expressed his appreciation for the day-long talks he and Secretary Chertoff had with their European counterparts. (MPAC Bulletin)
Muslim Americans pledge $20 million for south Asian quake victims
Oct. 13: Leaders from member organizations of the American Muslim Taskforce for Disaster Relief (AMTFDR) gathered at a press conference in Washington to announce their pledge to raise $20 million in aid for victims of the South Asian earthquake. Ahmed Younis, director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, called the AMTFDR pledge effort a "cooperative attempt by the American Muslim community to provide relief in the most efficient and most abundant manner possible for the brothers and sisters of humanity that have suffered as the result of the significant earthquake in South Asia." The 7.6-magnitude earthquake swept across central Afghanistan to western Bangladesh on October 8, killing more than 40,000 people, injuring more than 50,000, and leaving approximately 3.5 million homeless. Its epicenter was in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-administered Kashmir. (Media Reports)
Muslim Charities Re-emerge for Quake Victims
Oct. 14: All across America, Muslim charities, many of which have shunned the spotlight since 9/11 lest they attract unwanted law enforcement attention, are now stepping up their efforts to raise money for the victims of the earthquake that crumbled the northernmost corner of Pakistan. In many cases, they have been more successful than their mainstream charitable counterparts, many of which have said that donors are not responding to their appeals for contributions for Pakistan. Islamic Relief, one of the largest Muslim charities in the United States, had raised almost $1 million online alone through Oct. 12, or about 10 times the amount raised by Save the Children. Other organizations reported similar success. After the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, 2001, the F.B.I. cracked down on several Muslim charities in the United States, contending that they served as financial conduits for terrorist operations. The Justice Department froze the assets of several Muslim organizations, and at least two prominent Muslim donors who contributed to those organizations were arrested. Those actions caused great bitterness and wariness about giving among Muslims, whose leaders often note that the government has not publicly provided evidence for its suspicions. (New York Times)
Debate ensues over teaching Islam in schools
Oct. 19: Does teaching about Islam violate a child's right to be free from religion in a public school? One Contra Costa family thinks so. They claim their daughter's school lesson on Islam went too far. Their case was heard today before the ninth U.S District Court of Appeals. The California Department of Education says every public school has to teach world religion. Now the 9th U.S. Circuit court of appeals has to decide whether this school in Contra Costa County did just that -- teach Islam or did the school endorse it. Three years ago Excelsior Middle School in the Delta community of Byron began teaching about Islam. It started as a lesson in tolerance toward Muslims. The case has now ended up in the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. For 8 weeks, the 7th grade history class focused on Islam. The teacher encouraged students to pick Muslim names and dress up in Arabic-style clothes. The teacher even read a line from a prayer out of the Koran: "Remember Allah always and you shall prosper." At that point, the Eklund family accused the school and the Byron Union School District of trying to indoctrinate their daughter, Samantha. (ABC News)
Suspect in Bush plot says Saudis whipped him
Oct. 19: A U.S. citizen charged with plotting to kill President George W. Bush said on Wednesday Saudi officials chained him to the floor, blindfolded him and whipped him in order to make him talk. In his first comments since returning to the United States earlier this year to face a nine-count indictment, Ahmed Abu Ali said he was beaten and whipped shortly after being detained in Medina, Saudi Arabia, in June 2003. "They chained me to the ground, and I was blindfolded," said Abu Ali, dressed in a green prisoner jumpsuit. "My knees were on the ground ... my legs were shackled. They struck me many times. I had never felt any pain like it in my life." Abu Ali, 24, was testifying in a hearing (in Alexandria, Virginia) to determine whether confessions he signed in Saudi Arabia will be permitted to be used at trial. His lawyers say the confessions and other statements Abu Ali made should be thrown out because they were obtained by coercion, but the U.S. government says there is no proof he has been tortured. Abu Ali said he was arrested on June 8, 2003, while taking an exam at the Saudi university in Medina where he was studying. He said the Saudi officials took him to a jail where he was handcuffed, shackled and blindfolded. (Reuters)
Jail ends kosher and halal meals
Oct. 19: The Passaic County, New Jersey, Jail has stopped serving halal and kosher meals to inmates, breaching federal immigration detention regulations. An internal jail memo stated, "As of 10/17/05 there will be no more kosher meals. The religious diet tray will be a vegetarian diet tray." Four inmates, all federal immigration detainees, said the memo was passed out to them. The food memo prompted a hunger strike of about 20 inmates, the immigration detainees said in interviews Tuesday. The jail had been serving halal meals for only the past four months, the detainees said. For up to two years before that, the jail served no halal meals, said Peter Ali, a Muslim detainee from British Guyana. The Passaic County Jail, like all federal immigration detention centers, is required to provide food that is prepared according to religious customs, said Tim Counts, a spokesman for federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement, which falls under the Department of Homeland Security. (Herald News)
Philadelphia tells Muslim police to trim beards or lose jobs
Oct. 19: Philadelphia police officer Kenneth Wallace, a nine-year veteran of the force, is serving his second month-long suspension for refusing to shave. Wallace, a 31-year-old Muslim, has asked for an arbitration hearing to challenge the department's 1/4-inch limit on the length of beards. Muslim city workers sued Philadelphia, the fifth-largest U.S. city, beginning in February to challenge grooming and dress codes they claim violate their rights to religious expression. ``The Philadelphia community has a very large and visible Islamic core,'' said Craig Thorpe, a lawyer for one of the plaintiffs. ``It's kind of an anomaly that the police department and the fire department seem to be out of step.'' Muslims account for about 2 percent of Philadelphia's 1.5 million population, almost equal to the 2.4 percent, or 7 million, for the entire U.S. The city's Muslim population is the 18th largest in the nation. (Bloomberg)
Muslim program upsets parents
Oct. 20: A presentation about Muslim culture last month to students at Porter Lakes Elementary School in Indiana upset parents and sparked an argument about the role of religion in public schools. On Sept. 30, a second-grade class and the entire third grade listened to a cultural presentation by the family of some Muslim students who are new to the school. In addition to talking about Muslim traditions, the children were read the book "Ramadan" by Carol Gnojewski. "The presentation was intended to share information, hopefully to answer some of the questions children had," Porter Township School Corp. Superintendent Nick Brown said. The presentation involved a lot of religious content because religion is heavily intertwined with the Muslim culture, Brown said. The religious aspect of the assembly angered parents, who say that religion has no role in the public school setting. (North West
Anti-Islam books distributed to students
Oct. 21: Another church has been vying for the attention of students in the Tracy Unified School District. On Wednesday afternoon in front of West High School, members of the Pleasant Valley Baptist Church in Tracy, California, handed out "comic books" to students leaving school. The small publication warned of the dangers of Islam, homosexuality and the teaching of evolution, while hailing the importance of traditional Baptist Christian values. Pastor Gregory Bowser said he was not targeting Tracy Unified specifically with the message, but rather a national school system that promotes "anti-Christian propaganda" and its own "cultural agenda." "There is too much anti-scholarly information being disseminated in schools across the country," said Bowser, noting that his church's presence was an informational effort and "not a protest." (Oakland Tribune)
Ex-chaplain, once jailed by army, defends his patriotism
Oct. 23: He was a West Point graduate from a proud military family, a third-generation American of Chinese descent who joined the Boy Scouts, played snare drum in his school band and passionately collected baseball cards like any other kid in his New Jersey suburban neighborhood. Along the way, James Yee converted to Islam. He became one of the U.S. Army's first Muslim chaplains and was assigned three years ago to minister to inmates at the Guantanamo Bay detention center in Cuba. Taking to heart American values of religious freedom and tolerance, Yee reported to superiors what he said was systematic abuse by his fellow soldiers against the mostly Muslim detainees: degrading treatment, routine desecration of their Korans, interference with their Islamic prayers. Those actions, Yee asserted in a Los Angeles talk, explain in part why he found himself accused of espionage by his military superiors in September 2003. (Los Angeles Times)
U.S. operatives killed detainees during interrogations in Afghanistan and Iraq
Oct. 24: The American Civil Liberties Union today made public an analysis of new and previously released autopsy and death reports of detainees held in U.S. facilities in Iraq and Afghanistan, many of whom died while being interrogated. The documents show that detainees were hooded, gagged, strangled, beaten with blunt objects, subjected to sleep deprivation and to hot and cold environmental conditions. “There is no question that U.S. interrogations have resulted in deaths,” said Anthony D. Romero, Executive Director of the ACLU. “High-ranking officials who knew about the torture and sat on their hands and those who created and endorsed these policies must be held accountable. America must stop putting its head in the sand and deal with the torture scandal that has rocked our military.” The documents released today include 44 autopsies and death reports as well as a summary of autopsy reports of individuals apprehended in Iraq and Afghanistan. The documents show that detainees died during or after interrogations by Navy Seals, Military Intelligence and “OGA” (Other Governmental Agency) -- a term, according to the ACLU, that is commonly used to refer to the CIA. (UCLA)
O'Reilly: Closing public schools for Muslim holiday "absurd in a Judeo-Christian country"
Oct 27: Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly calls the idea of closing public schools for the observance of Muslim holidays "absurd in a Judeo-Christian country." O'Reilly made this remark during a discussion with Hillsborough County, Florida, commissioner Brian Blair, who opposed the Hillsborough County school board's decision to keep public schools open on Yom Kippur and Good Friday during the 2006-2007 school year, a departure from the school district's earlier practice of closing schools on those days. (Media Matters)
Professor Al Arian presents no defense in terrorism-support trial
Oct. 27: After hearing from government witnesses for nearly five months, an attorney for a fired college professor charged with aiding Palestinian terrorists rested his case today without calling a single witness. After summoning more than 70 witnesses, federal prosecutors rested their case this morning against Sami Al-Arian and three other defendants accused of raising money and supporting the murderous mission of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad or PIJ. Al-Arian's attorney, William Moffitt, stunned most in the courtroom when he told U.S. District Judge James S. Moody Jr. in Tampa, Florida, that he also would rest. When asked about the decision, Moffitt would say only that Al-Arian has done nothing wrong and the U.S. Constitution protects his right to speak. "The government has not proven Dr. Al-Arian has done anything but speak," Moffitt said. (The Ledger)
Muslim woman wins settlement in suit
Oct. 27: A Muslim woman fired at a Columbia store in Maryland shortly after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001 has won a settlement from the company that terminated her employment. Shabana Ahmed, a Columbia resident, will receive $16,000 in an agreement reached with School & Pre-School Supply Center Inc., of Baltimore County, the owner of Learning How, in Columbia, according to the settlement. In November 2001, Ahmed filed a complaint with the Maryland Commission on Human Relations alleging religious discrimination in the company's decision to fire her the month before. The $16,000 represents the amount of salary the company would have paid Ahmed prior to the time she found new employment after being fired, said Lee Hoshall, an attorney with the Commission on Human Relations, which represented Ahmed in the matter. (Howard County Times, Maryland)
MAS: Muslims’ green card and citizenship delay unfair
Oct. 27: Muslim American Society’s Freedom Foundation announced a national campaign to speed up immigration process for Muslims because of delay in issuing Green Cards and processing of their citizenship applications. It is dubbed as “Project BFAIR: Better Fair American Immigration Rules” The MAS Freedom Foundation said that despite approval, many Muslims have waited years to receive their green card or citizenship. “This unfair practice has created undue hardship on families and the social and economic life of thousands of law-abiding Muslims who make America their home. Additionally, while traveling, many Muslims are detained at airports for hours without probable or legal cause.” Project BFAIR will (1) Collect a nationwide database - at mosques, public events and online - of American Muslims affected by unreasonable delays in receiving their green cards and citizenship. (2) Legally challenge all unwarranted or unnecessary detention of Muslims at airports. (3) Convene a legal team to prepare to legally challenge and sue the government on behalf unfair immigration practices directed at Muslims concerning the lengthy time it takes for Muslims to receive their green cards and/or citizenship after they have been approved.
Prisoner says abuse of his Islamic books preceded beating in 2001
Oct. 30: Long before charges of Koran abuse at Guantánamo Bay were news, Charles Paige, one of the inmates in a lawsuit against New York City over practices in its jails, clashed with guards on Rikers Island after, he said, they mishandled his Islamic books. Mr. Paige, 46, was in the city jail in December 2001 awaiting transfer to state prison on a drug charge. Long a devout Muslim, Mr. Paige had been praying five times a day and going daily to Islamic study classes in the jail. On Dec. 4, guards ordered a general search in the cellblock. No stranger to incarceration, Mr. Paige knew no talking was permitted during the search. But the officer who came to search his cell, he said, stepped on his prayer rug. "I informed her she was standing on my rug," Mr. Paige, a slight man who weighs less than 130 pounds, recounted in an interview. He said the officer ordered him to be silent. A ward captain told the officer to step off the rug, Mr. Paige said. She did, but she began rummaging through his things, and he protested again. Other officers took him out of his cell for an hour until the search was over. When he returned, he said, "My cell was tossed." Two books of the Hadith, which has instructional stories from the life of the prophet Muhammad, were under water in the toilet……..(New York Times)
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