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Chronology of Islam in America (2014)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
October 2014
Hajj banner was removed from Muslim American Society building
Oct 1: The uproar that resulted in the removal of a Hajj banner at the Muslim American Society of Staten Island in Dongan Hills is a sign of the "near hysteria'' nationwide over anything related to Islam, a spokesman for a national advocacy group said. "This is unfortunately just one symptom of growing anti-Muslim sentiment in our society, in which any reference to anything to do with Islam or Muslims becomes 'controversial,'" said Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). "I understand their motivation, they want to be good neighbors," Hooper said of the MAS decision to remove the sign. But Hooper added, "I don't think they should have had to take the sign down. There is nothing intrinsically wrong with the sign." The red sign that was hung outside of the building at 180 Burgher Ave. contained a picture of a white Saudi Arabian aircraft with Islamic writing. The sign was in celebration of Hajj which is the annual Muslim pilgrimage now underway to Mecca in Saudi Arabia. Scott LoBaido, a local artist and community activist, deemed the sign offensive and said it was insensitive of the MAS to display the image so close to the anniversary of 9/11. "Is there some buffer period when nothing related to Islam can occur around 9/11?" Hooper said. "American Muslims are part of this society just like any other faith." [Silive.com]
Arkansas gun range owner declares her business a 'Muslim-free zone'
Oct 1: An Arkansas gun range owner has declared her shooting range a "Muslim-free zone," saying she refuses to cater to customers whose religion "commands" its followers to kill people. Gun Cave Indoor Shooting Range owner Jan Morgan said in an online post that she was banning Muslims out of fear that one of them might slaughter other customers. "This is not a coffee and donut shop. This is a live fire indoor shooting range," Morgan wrote in the bizarre missive, posted Sundayﾠ and reported by the Arkansas Times. "The Koran (which I have read and studied thoroughly) … contains 109 verses commanding hate, murder and terror against all human beings who refuse to submit or convert to Islam," she said. On the site, Morgan identifies herself as a "nationally recognized 2nd Amendment Advocate," NRA certified firearms instructor, journalist, Tea Partier and gun-rights lecturer. Her shooting range is in Hot Springs, about an hour south of Little Rock. [New York Daily News]
Defense contractors urged to drop funding for Islamophobe Frank Gaffney
Oct 1: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, today called on defense contractors Boeing, General Dynamics, Lockheed Martin, Northrop Grumman, Raytheon, and General Electric to stop funding an organization headed by notorious Islamophobe Frank Gaffney. In an expose published today by Salon, Eli Clifton wrote: "Frank Gaffney has emerged as one of the DC-beltway's most outspoken critics of American Muslims, purveying conspiracy theories about the infiltration of the Muslim Brotherhood into the highest levels of the U.S. government and birther accusations about Barack Obama's eligibility to serve as president. But even while drawing criticism from civil rights organizations, Gaffney. . .has continued to find sources of funding for his organization, the Center for Security Policy, managing a budget of over $3.5 million in 2013." A copy of the Center for Security Policy's donor roll obtained by Salon lists six of America's largest aerospace and defense contractors as supporters of Gaffney's organization. According to Salon: "The document, which details contributions to the Center for Security Policy during the 2013 tax year, includes donations from: Boeing ($25,000); General Dynamics ($15,000); Lockheed Martin ($15,000); Northrop Grumman ($5,000); Raytheon ($20,000); and General Electric ($5,000)." [CAIR]
Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice supports Muslim Community
Oct 2: Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice has issued a statement in support of Oklahoma Muslim Community which became target of hate mail, death threats and desecration of mosques after the beheading in Moore. OCCJ reads: As our community mourns the tragedy in Moore last week, we at the Oklahoma Center for Community and Justice respectfully ask that the House Counterterrorism Caucus temper their rhetoric and leave the investigation of this heinous crime to appropriate law enforcement officials. We agree with Gov. Mary Fallin and the caucus that citizens should always be on alert. After all, we live in dangerous times. However, we ask that state leaders not make sweeping assertions that link all Muslims to terrorist groups. Such associations are dangerous and only amplify a volatile environment. In the last three weeks, Muslims across the state have reported harassment, hate mail, death threats and the desecration of mosques. No peaceful, law-abiding citizen deserves this – especially in a state that prides itself on friendliness. The caucus’s statement that “people know” the crime in Moore was linked to terrorist groups, along with a call for “public discussion,” suggests a lynch mob. Law-abiding Muslims across our state and around the world have repeatedly denounced ISIS and should not be linked to their actions, nor should elected leaders be so careless with their words. Furthermore, the caucus’s suggestion that Sharia law played a role in the Moore tragedy underscores their disregard or misunderstanding of Sharia law, which teaches its adherents to be good citizens. We join the entire state – including thousands of peace-seeking Muslims – in voicing our outrage about the violence here and abroad. We fully support our law enforcement officers in their investigation. We simply ask that our citizens and leaders allow other innocent citizens to live here in peace, regardless of their religious affiliations
Russ Florence, Chairman, OCCJ [CAIR]
Coalition pushes Maryland school district to recognize Eid al-Adha
Oct 2: The Equality for Eid coalition, supported by community faith groups and public figures, has been pushing for two holidays to be recognized in Montgomery County Public Schools: Eid al-Adha, which this year is Oct. 4, and Eid al-Fitr, which falls at the end of Ramadan. Because Islam goes by the lunar calendar, the dates are different each year and often not on school days. But the group has ramped up its efforts as the Board of Education looks at the 2015-2016 calendar next month. Next year, Eid al-Adha is scheduled to fall on the same day as Yom Kippur (Sept. 23), which is already a school holiday. The coalition wants Eid to be listed alongside Yom Kippur as an equal explanation for the holiday. “It’s already designated to be off for students so granting this request wouldn’t be changing anything in terms of allotting an additional day off,” said Zainab Chaudry, Maryland outreach manager for the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). “It would help Muslim students, Muslim teachers, the Muslim community feel that they really are being treated equally to the Jewish and the Christian faiths. That’s what we ask.” The eventual goal would be to designate Eid as a day off from school when it falls on school days in the future. Chaudry said because of the rotating lunar calendar, there are only two times this would happen in the next several years. [The Sentinel]
American Insurgent' Sought to Spray Mosque with Bullets
October 3: A Houston-area man, who the FBI says was prepared to launch his nationwide “American Insurgent Movement” here by robbing an armored car, killing a trooper, and spraying a mosque with gunfire, pleaded guilty today. “We must rebel. Blood and bullets are the only two things that will change this world, short of divine action,” Robert Talbot Jr. wrote online in an effort to attract recruits to join him. Talbot, 38, admitted to his crimes during a hearing as he stood before U.S. District Judge Ewing Werlein Jr. Those include attempted interference with commerce by robbery and solicitation to commit a crime of violence. He faces up to 20 years when sentenced. “This case serves as a reminder that no area is immune to violence or the threat of violence,” said Perrye K. Turner, special agent in charge of the FBI’s Houston Division. “Resolving potential threats like this one before they occur is always our ultimate goal.” [Houston Chronicle]
CAIR Oklahoma receives vicious messages
Oct 3: Security plans are in place after vicious messages were left for Oklahoma Muslims, telling them to get out of Oklahoma and threatening to behead them. CAIR, an organization that works to improve relations between Muslims and the rest of the community, received the disturbing messages. One caller said: “That woman did nothing to that guy, did nothing to him and you hide like cowards. I’m buying a Qur’an, I`m going to publicly p*** on your s***, no good, f****** religion.” Adam Soltani with CAIR says the caller was referring to the beheading that took place at Vaughn Foods in Moore. He says since that one random act, that had nothing to do with their religion, the calls and messages have been piling up. Another anonymous caller said, “Get your a** out of Oklahoma or we’re going to behead the whole God d*** Muslim zombie nation.” This shocking voicemail prompted them to contact the FBI. Soltani says these hate messages are targeting innocent peace-loving Muslims for one extremist’s actions. “This one man who committed this one crime, is truly a criminal and does not represent the 40,000 Muslims in Oklahoma.” said Soltani With a large portion of Oklahoma Muslims celebrating one of their biggest religious holidays this weekend, he says he’s taking these threats seriously. “We have reached out to local law enforcement and we do have some off duty officers that will be coming to help, to make sure that our gatherings are secure and nothing does happen.” said Soltani. [Kfor.com]
Dearborn businessman sues feds over ‘watch list’
Oct 3: An Arab-American businessman from Dearborn is suing federal officials over his alleged inclusion on a government “watch list” he said violated his constitutional rights. “We’re just fighting for our God-given rights that the constitution guarantees us … and to make sure government doesn’t become obtrusive and denies the rights of people without giving them the due process,” said Nasser Beydoun, a Muslim and former chairman and director of Arab American Chamber of Commerce. According to the complaint filed today in U.S. District Court, Beydoun has been listed on a “selectee list” under the FBI’s Terrorist Screening Center. That means he was “selected for secondary and additional screening at different domestic airports in the United States, and subjected to unwarranted and excessive delays at airports,” the document read. The suit names U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder, FBI director James Comey and TSC director Christopher Piehota as defendants. It seeks to have Beydoun removed from the list and the practices declared unconstitutional. In August, the Council on American-Islamic Relations Michigan Chapter said it had filed a federal lawsuit based on complaints the government unjustly put a disproportionate number of Muslim-Americans on the nation’s “terror watch” list. [The Detroit News]
Jerry Boykin: 'Americans need to have more babies' to counteract Muslim population
October 3: In a conference call this week with E.W. Jackson, Family Research Council vice president Jerry Boykin warned that to counteract the population growth of America’s Muslim minority, “Americans need to have more babies and populate this country with red-blooded patriotic Americans.” Fearing that America would soon go the way of a Europe that he claimed is “hopelessly lost” to Muslim population growth, Boykin insisted that “Americans” (among whom he evidently doesn’t include Muslim-Americans) must increase the average birth rate to supersede that of the country’s less-than-one-percent Muslim minority. “It is a very serious issue, which is why Americans need to have more babies and populate this country with red-blooded patriotic Americans,” he said. [Rightwing Watch]
Rabbi Calls for 'Holy Crusade' Against Islam
Oct 3: Last Thursday (Sept 25) Rabbi Shalom Lewis of Congregation Etz Chaim in the Atlanta suburb of Marietta, Georgia gave what can only be understood as a call to genocide in his Rosh Hashanah sermon to welcome in the Jewish new year. The sermon calls for a war on Islam and Muslims worldwide. Lewis says a “holy crusade” against Islam is needed to ”exterminate it utterly and absolutely.” Yet, this is not his first foray into racist and inciteful rhetoric. Three years ago Rabbi Lewis gave a very similar sermon on Rosh Hashanah, again attacking Muslims and comparing them to Nazis. In fact he fashions this speech as a sequel to the earlier one: It’s important to note that while Rabbi Lewis says only a small minority of Muslims worldwide should be considered “committed Islamists” he says nearly all Muslims are guilty. “Most Muslims are not terrorists – but it does not matter.” [Mondoweiss]
Wealth of Richest 400 Americans Surges to $2.29 Trillion
Oct 6: The wealthiest 400 people in the United States had their combined net worth grow thirteen percent to $2.29 trillion this year, amidst a surging stock market and record corporate profits. The figures come from the Forbes 400 list of the wealthiest Americans, compiled every year since 1982 by the American business magazine of the same name. As Forbes noted last week, the net worth of these 400 individuals is “about the same as the gross domestic product of Brazil, a country of 200 million people.” The average net worth of the Forbes 400 hit $5.7 billion, up by $700 million over the past year. The new figures of wealth in America were generally buried in the media. Neither the New York Times nor the Wall Street Journal published an article. Nor has it been a topic in political campaigns, one month before the midterm elections. Neither big-business party has an interest in calling attention to the extraordinary levels of social inequality in the US, with endless claims that there is no money for basic social services. Last week marked the sixth anniversary of the signing of the Emergency Economic Stabilization Act of 2008, which established the $700 billion Troubled Asset Relief Program, better known as the bank bailout. Since then, the wealth of the richest sections of society has soared while the annual income of the typical household has fallen by five percent. Since 2009, the combined net worth of the Forbes 400 has nearly doubled, from $1.27 trillion. The explosive growth of social inequality is the direct and intended product of policies carried out by the Bush and Obama administrations in the aftermath of the 2008 financial meltdown: the flooding of the financial system with cheap cash, coupled with a coordinated attack on wages and social programs. [ICH]
Charities say anti-terrorism laws cut off flow of aid to Syria
Oct 7: U.S.-based charities and churches have raised millions of dollars to help Syrians deal with the devastating effects of civil war, but their efforts to deliver aid have been hampered by unexplained bank account closings and canceled transactions as banks recoil from any risk of funding terrorist organizations. Charities from New Jersey to California have been affected as the banking industry rejects accounts and transfers linked to Syria and neighboring countries at a time of fear about terrorism in the region. As a result, critical aid to orphanages, refugee camps and hospitals has been delayed, blocked or put at risk, say charity workers. “Who is going to respond to those children? We will see more kids dying. Somebody has to take care of them,” said Mazen Tinawi, a board member of the Swasia Charity Foundation based in Clifton, which has raised about $1.6 million this year for aid projects. The financial problems are a side effect of the war on terror, which led to stricter regulations and scrutiny of bank transactions. That fight has gotten renewed attention because of the threats from extremist fighters from the so-called Islamic State group and reports that about 100 Americans sought to join those fighters. For financial institutions, concerns are also grounded in several high-profile cases against banks and charities, including a Brooklyn jury’s finding last month that a Jordanian bank was liable for supporting terrorism. Some civil rights activists and charity workers say banks are discriminating against them because of their religion or ethnicity, but they also blame the U.S. government for imposing regulations they say discourage banks from working with them. Experts say banks are turning away charities not suspected of wrongdoing because those regulations have become costly and time consuming and because the risk is too great. [New Jersey Record]
Oklahoma Republican: Muslims can’t be trusted if they practice Islam
Oct 8: In a town hall appearance in Muskogee, Republican Oklahoma State Rep. John Bennett told the assembled crowd that the expansion of rights for Muslim Americans is no different than the growth of the Nazi Party in Germany before World War II. Bennett argued that there are no distinctions between radical Islamists and everyday Muslims, that all of them are programmed by their faith to attack and destroy Christianity. “Mohammed’s teaching only teaches one thing,” he told the Muskogee Patriots this week. “And that’s the violence that we’re seeing today in ISIS and in the beheading in Moore and other places.” In September, a 30-year-old employee of Vaughan Foods attacked two women, killing and beheading one of them. The suspect, Alton Nolen, had recently converted to Islam and had reportedly tried to convert coworkers. However, police have not ascribed a religious motive to the murder, which is being prosecuted as an act of workplace violence. Rep. Bennett, however, sees the attack as evidence of a growing domestic jihad movement in this country. Audience member Tina Kelley accused Bennett of needlessly fomenting suspicion and fear of Islamic people, citing her friendships with Muslim families. “They don’t like having their government say that they’re no better than ISIS,” Kelley said, “and having their Oklahoma neighbors made afraid of them.” [Rawstory]
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