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Chronology of Islam in America (2007)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
September 2007
Dean tells Muslims: Run for political office
Sept 2: Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean told American Muslims gathered in Chicago to think beyond voter registration drives. "You need to run for political office," Dean said. "The only way you can achieve your goals is to stand up and say who you are and be proud of it." Dean was one of several prominent Democrats to address annual Labor Day weekend gathering of the Islamic Society of North America, the nation's largest gathering of American Muslims. Republicans declined invitations, organizers said. (Chicago Sun-Times)
Abandon Stereotypes, Muslims in America Say
Sept 3: It is time for the United States to stop treating every American Muslim as somehow suspect, leaders of the faith said at their largest annual convention, which ended in Chicago today. Six years after the Sept. 11 attacks, Americans should distinguish between mainstream Muslims and the radical fringe, the leaders said. The image problems were among the topics most discussed by many of the 30,000 attendees. A fresh example cited was an open letter from two Republican House members, Peter Hoekstra of Michigan and Sue Myrick of North Carolina, that attacked the Justice Department for sending envoys to the convention because, the lawmakers said, the Islamic Society of North America was a group of "radical jihadists." The lone Muslim in Congress, Representative Keith Ellison, Democrat of Minnesota, the keynote speaker, dismissed the letter as ill informed and typical of bigoted attacks that other minorities have suffered. Leaders of American Muslim organizations attribute the growing intolerance to three main factors: global terrorist attacks in the name of Islam, disappointing reports from the Iraq war and the agenda of some supporters of Israel who try taint Islam to undermine the Palestinians. (New York Times)
The Khalil Gibran Academy opens in New York
Sept 4: Khalil Gibran International Academy (KGIA) opened in New York today as 55-students arrived for class amid increased security after heated controversy over the school. Since the school was first announced in February this year, the right wing New York media have been running a smear campaign with ignorant, bigoted, and hateful commentaries against it. The anti-Arabic campaign was spearheaded by Islamophobists Daniel Pipes and Alicia Colon in the New York Sun and the New York Post. The Gibran Khalid Academy takes it name from the Lebanese-born poet and philosopher who is best known for his classic work, The Prophet, written over 80 years ago and translated into over 20 languages. One of 40 new schools was the dual-language (Arabic and English) the KGIA is established not only in recognition of the growing number of Arab American children in New York City's schools, but also the need to understand the Arabic language and culture. It is open to students of all ethnic backgrounds. It will have a standard college preparatory curriculum that includes the history and contributions of the Arabs as a people, as well as Arabic language instruction. Interestingly, while the KGIA has been attacked for indirectly teaching Islam in a public institution, it is hardly mentioned that Khalil Gibran himself was not even a Muslim. He was a Christian Arab. (AMP Report)
Imam delivers invocation for LA county supervisors
Sept 4: The Islamic Center of Hawthorne's Assistant Imam Ammar Kahf was invited today to deliver the opening invocation at the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors meeting. In his invocation, Kahf said: "I pray for peace and comfort in our families, societies, leaders and law enforcement, our neighborhoods and our world." (CAIR Bulletin)
NIAC protests dispatch cartoon depicting Iranians as cockroaches
Sept 4: The Columbus Dispatch published a cartoon today depicting Iran as a sewer on a map of the Middle East with cockroaches crawling out of it. By publishing this racist cartoon, the editors of the Dispatch have insulted and propagated hate against the Iranian American community. National Iranian American Council (NIAC) Board member Dokhi Fassihian sent a letter to the Editors of the Dispatch protesting their action. She wrote: "The bigotry demonstrated by the publication of this cartoon not only betrays the mission to inform your readers, it endangers our country at an extremely sensitive time in our nation's history by serving to further divide us at home and thrust us toward further conflict abroad." (National Iranian American Council)
Prosecutors rely on FBI and Israeli testimony to make their case against Holy Land
Sept 5: The defense in the Holy Land Foundation charity trial began today presenting of its evidence as the Justice Department decided not to call additional witnesses in its prosecution of the charity for alleged ties to terrorism suggests it is resting its case on the strength of contested documents and the testimony of FBI agents and Israeli security officials. Countering government witnesses who say the charity committees are filled with Hamas operatives, Edward Abington, former US consul general in Jerusalem, described them as being staffed by "pious Muslims." He said that they gather religious contributions, known as zakat, and help the needy in various ways, including "buying a cow, setting up a small business or giving money so that people can buy food." More than a quarter of the 3.5 million Palestinian refugees under Israeli military occupation are in need of food assistance, he testified. (LA Times/The Dallas Morning News)
Federal judge strikes down part of Patriot Act
Sept 6: The Bush administration suffered another legal setback today when a federal judge struck down parts of the revised USA Patriot Act. U.S. District Judge Victor Marrero ruled that investigators eventually must obtain a court's approval when ordering Internet providers and phone companies to turn over records without telling customers. The ruling suggests that despite Congress' attempts to put the Patriot Act on firmer constitutional ground, it still faces significant legal challenges. If upheld on appeal, Marrero's decision could mean major new oversight of the FBI's use of a controversial investigative technique. Since Sept. 11, 2001, the bureau has issued thousands of so-called national security letters to help build counterterrorism and counterintelligence cases. The letters have become a popular tool at the bureau because they do not require court approval, and recipients have been prohibited from telling their customers that the data have been requested by authorities. (Baltimore Sun)
Terrorism watch list is faulted for errors
Sept 6: The government's master watch list of known or suspected terrorists continues to be marred by errors and inconsistencies that can obstruct the capture of terrorists or cause innocent people to be detained by U.S. authorities, the Justice Department's inspector general said today. As one of the most powerful intelligence tools created by the Bush administration after the 2001 attacks, the watch list is used to screen about 270 million people a month and its content can determine whether people are allowed to fly on airplanes or detained after routine traffic stops. Its size has more than quadrupled since its creation in 2004, to the point that it contained more than 720,000 records as of April, according to the new report. It is growing at the rate of more than 20,000 records a month. But Inspector General Glenn A. Fine said its management by the Terrorist Screening Center (TSC) "continues to have significant weaknesses," producing a high error rate and a slow response to complaints from citizens. In an examination of 105 records, for example, the auditors found that 38 percent of the records contained errors or inconsistencies that the TSC's own quality-assurance efforts had not found. (Washington Post)
ADC joins coalition letter opposing warrantless spying
Sept 7: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC), along with other leaders in the civil liberties community, today sent a letter to Congress relaying concerns about a new law that could potentially allow the warrantless surveillance of any international communication by persons in the US or international communications coming through the US. The coalition's letter was sent to Democratic leaders House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-CA) and Senator Harry Reid (D-NV). Under heavy pressure from the Administration to close what it termed as a "surveillance gap," and in the last days before the August recess, Congress passed S. 1927, the Protect America Act. Signed into law by President Bush, the law amends the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act of 1978 by removing legal impediments to the interception of foreign communications that pass through the United States. It also redefined the terms of FISA to permit increased surveillance of communications involving persons in the US while curtailing judicial supervision. (ADC Bulletin)
Bush restricting travel rights of over 100,000 US citizens
Sept 7: The freedom to travel of more than 100,000 Americans placed on “watch” and “no fly” lists is being restricted by the Bush-Cheney regime. Citizens who have done no more than criticize the president are being banned from airline flights, harassed at airports’, strip searched, roughed up and even imprisoned, feminist author and political activist Naomi Wolf reports in her new book, “The End of America.”(Chelsea Green Publishing). Some of this hassling has made headlines, such as when Senator Edward Kennedy was detained five times in East Coast airports in March, 2004, suggesting no person, however prominent, is safe from Bush nastiness. Rep. John Lewis of Georgia has also been mistreated. Nicolas Maduro, Venezuela’s foreign minister, said he was detained at Kennedy airport by officers who “threatened and shoved” him. Maher Arar, a Canadian software consultant was detained at Kennedy and “rendered” to Syria where he was imprisoned for more than a year by goons that beat him with a heavy metal cable. (Political Affairs magazine)
Muslims parade in New York, condemn 9/11 terror attacks
Sept. 9: Hundreds of Muslims chanted and waved flags from around the globe as they marched in New York today in the 22nd annual American Muslim Day Parade. About 20 protesters shouted anti-Muslim slogans from behind police barricades along Manhattan's Madison Avenue and sought to link the marchers to the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Police kept the marchers separate from the protesters, who shouted "God bless America" and "No more 9/11s!" Mayor Michael Bloomberg did not attend the parade, but a statement of support from him was read from a podium. (Newsday)
US Muslims wary of giving charity
Sept 9: As Ramadan approaches, many US Muslims are worried about how they will manage to fulfill their charitable obligations without raising the ire or attention of federal authorities. The start of Ramadan next week (9/13/2007) almost coincides with the 6th anniversary of the September 11, 2001 attacks which prompted anti-terrorism crackdowns that many say unfairly target Muslims. Six major Muslim charities operating in the United States have been shut down after being designated as fund raisers for terrorist organizations and several others have been raided or closed. “These are indirect ways of having Islamic charities close down without due process,” said Dawud Walid, director of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “It scares away the donors and even some employees.” (AFP)
Lodi Muslim community shocked at Hayat’s sentence
Sept 10: Muslim community in the town of Lodi received with shock the news of 24 years prison sentence for Hamid Hayat, 25, for providing material support to terrorists and lying to the FBI. In Sacramento, U.S. District Judge Garland E. Burrell Jr. on September 10, 2007 sentenced Hamid Hayat, a US born American of Pakistani origin and resident of Lodi (CA), for 24 years although he had faced a maximum of 39 years in federal prison. Burrell Jr. noted his lack of criminal record at the reduced sentence. His father, Umer Hayat, said his son is innocent. "It's a sad day for us but we are confident he's going to get out on appeal," he said. The case now goes to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, where the myriad issues raised by the defense in an unsuccessful motion for a new trial will be hotly contested. Hayat’s case was built mainly on the witness of a FBI mole, Naseem Khan, who befriended the Hayat family after he went to Lodi specifically to infiltrate its Muslim community. The informer was paid $ 250,000 for his nearly three years’ job. Naseem Khan befriended Hayat and began secretly taping their conversations. In hours of FBI interviews, which were videotaped and later played for the jury, Hayat denied his involvement in terrorism but ultimately gave a number of various camp descriptions. Aside from those statements and satellite photos of what could be a military-style camp in Pakistan, the lead FBI agent on the case testified that there was no other proof that Hayat actually attended a camp. Instead, prosecutors focused on Hayat's own words, a potentially radical scrapbook he made as a teenager and conversations with the paid informant who encouraged Hayat to attend a training camp. The Muslim community has expressed strong skepticism of the government's methods. If nothing else, the government "sent a clear message to the Muslim community that you do not speak to the FBI without a lawyer present," said Basim Elkarra, executive director for the Central Valley branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Lodi Mosque President Mohammed Shoaib, said 24 years seemed harsh. "I don't think he was doing something," he said. "He was caught in the talking and not in the acting." Taj Khan, a prominent figure in Lodi's Muslim community, maintained Hayat's innocence. He described the sentence a great injustice. Khan said Hayat was arrested and tried without doing anything illegal. (AMP Report)
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