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Chronology of Islam in America (2004) Page II
April 2004
Congressman Matheson pledges to fight racial profiling of Muslims
April 3: Congressman Jim Matheson promised the Utah's diverse Islamic community to keep fighting the harshest aspects of the post-9-11 Patriot Act: unreasonable search provisions and racial profiling. Matheson said one of the more troubling side effects of the act is that "the Islamic community has been subject to the very unfortunate practice of profiling," or being considered a suspect or suspicious person based on racial, religious or ethnic characteristics. "Profiling sends a message of division, and that is not what this country is about."
Muslims want to be politically active
April 6: The vast majority of Muslims in metro Detroit say they should be politically active and work more to help non-Muslims, according to a survey to be released today. Many also favor practicing an Islamic that is flexible and moderation in Islam. The findings were among the results of a survey taken last summer of almost 1,300 Muslims in metro Detroit, conducted by the Clinton Township-based Institute for Social Policy and Understanding. While Muslims in metro Detroit are eager to take part in America's civic life, they say they are also concerned about their civil rights after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the survey shows. The study also showed that many are wary of what they see as the immorality of American culture.
Bush appointee forms 'Islamic' institute
April 7: Daniel Pipes, who last year was appointed by President George W. Bush to the board of directors of the U.S. Institute for Peace (USIP) amid protests by American Muslims, establishes the "Islamic Progress Institute" (IPI), which "can articulate a moderate, modern and pro-American viewpoint" on behalf of U.S. Muslims, according to a grant proposal by Pipes and two New York-based foundations obtained by the Inter Press Service news agency. Pipes recently declared that the "ultimate goal" of the war on terrorism had to be Islam's modernization, or, as he put it, "religion-building."
The Holy Land Foundation seeks release of its frozen funds
April 9: The Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development filed a request today to the Treasury Department's Office of Foreign Assets Control to unfreeze $50,000 to be sent to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund, which seeks to provide free medical care for Palestinian children in the Middle East. The Bush administration in 2001 accused Holy Land, a Texas-based group, of financing the militant Islamic group Hamas and ordered U.S. banks to freeze its assets. Holy Land says it has never donated money or provided services to Hamas, a group the government says is a foreign terrorist organization. The release of the funds of the Holy Land Foundation in accordance with the wishes of American Muslim donors will mark the beginning of a process that results in the legitimate distribution to those in need, said the Muslim Public Affairs Council which is following this matter with the Treasury Department. Unfortunately, the assets of the other American Muslim charitable organizations have been depleted by administrative and legal costs, according to the MPAC. “The remaining funds should not be diverted to groups or individuals who are currently using the legal system to achieve dubious political gains on behalf of special interest groups,” the MPAC added.
Evangelical Christians reach out to Muslims
April 10: Nearly a year ago, evangelical Christian leaders gathered in Washington to try to moderate their rhetoric toward Islam and begin a more respectful, positive dialogue with Muslims around the world, according to the Washington Post . This week, a handful of evangelical ministers announced the first fruit of that effort, a plan to put on a Christian music festival, establish humanitarian relief projects and hold a theological conference in Morocco. The goal, they said, is not to proselytize but to break down hostile images. "We have stereotypes of Muslims, and they certainly do of conservative Christians. They're both caricatures we need to dispense with," said the Rev. Richard Cizik, vice president for government affairs at the Washington-based National Association of Evangelicals. The meeting of about 40 evangelical leaders last May followed highly publicized statements by the Rev. Franklin Graham, son of evangelist Billy Graham, that Islam was an "evil" religion, and by the Rev. Jerry Vines, a past president of the Southern Baptist Convention, that Muhammad was a "pedophile." "We don't want the whole Islamic world to think that a couple of spokesmen, though well-intentioned perhaps, speak for everyone. We're taught to love people," said the Rev. Harry L. Thomas, a Medford, N.J., producer of Christian concerts. "I don't know anyone who has been won over by hate talk. We prefer to reach out and build some bridges."
American Muslims Demand Release of Zakat Funds
April 14: American Muslims have urged the U.S. Department of Treasury to release the seized Zakat funds to Muslim organizations and not to Israeli interest groups represented by lawyers. The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), and several other American Muslim organizations held a conference in Chicago to discuss the issue of the Zakat funds seized when a number of American Muslim charity organizations were banned in 2001. All the participants of the conference urged the administration not to re-direct the funds to lawyers representing Israeli interests, which is actually taking place in two lawsuits to acquire these funds, one initiated by a Washington-based lawyer, Nathan Lewin, and another by David J. Strachman. “If the zakat funds are given to these lawyers, the US government, which is now the trustee of these funds, will for the first time be an instrument of diverting funds from one religious group to other groups that represent special interests contrary to the will of the donors,” they said.
Justice Department should apologize to Arabs, Muslims: ACLU
April 15: The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) has sharply criticized the Justice Department for its failure to apologize for “the wholesale detention of Arab and Muslim immigrants” after 9/11. In a statement, Anthony D. Romero, ACLU Executive Director, welcomed the release by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) of new guidelines requiring independent review of other agencies’ legal representations and case-by-case review of closed hearings and bond recommendations and decisions. While welcoming the new DHS rules, the ACLU said that the agency needed to take additional steps to protect due process, including guaranteeing access to counsel for individuals facing deportation. The policy shift comes two years after a decision by Attorney General John Ashcroft directed immigration judges to uniformly close special deportation proceedings to the public and the press. In some cases, the existence of these hearings was not even mentioned on the docket. This practice was abandoned recently to forestall a Supreme Court challenge brought by the ACLU.
Bush Letter Cites 'Crusade' Against Terrorism
April 18: Years after President Bush set off alarm bells in the Muslim world by referring to his war against terrorism as a "crusade," the word that Arabs equate with Christian brutality has resurfaced in a Bush campaign fund-raising letter, officials acknowledged today. The March 3 letter, which Bush-Cheney Campaign Chairman Marc Racicot sent to new campaign charter members in Florida, lauded the Republican president for "leading a global crusade against terrorism" while citing evidence of Bush's "strong, steady leadership during difficult times."However, the word "crusade" recalls a historical trauma for the Muslim world, which was besieged by Christian crusaders from Europe during the Middle Ages, the Boston Globe reported. In the weeks following the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks on New York and Washington, Bush caused an uproar by telling reporters: "This crusade, this war on terrorism, is going to take awhile." Faced with worldwide consternation over the remark, the White House later said Bush regretted his use of the term.
Boston radio host says kill all Muslims
April 24: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called for the termination of a Boston-area radio talk show host who allegedly said, "Let's kill all Muslims." CAIR made that demand after receiving a complaint from a concerned Muslim who heard WTKK-FM (www.969fmtalk.com) host Jay Severin's April 22 program. WTKK-FM General Manager Matt Mills told CAIR that in a discussion about how Severin claims Muslims want to take over America, even if it takes centuries, Severin said, "I've got an idea, let's kill all Muslims."Yet, Mills also acknowledged to CAIR that if Severin had said the same thing about African-Americans that he would no longer be on the air. The alarming increase of hate crimes against the Muslim community required CAIR today to issue a security advisory for American Muslims. The "Muslim Community Safety Kit" booklet, designed to help local Islamic leaders protect institutions and individuals.
Prayer organizers disinvite Muslim in Oregon
April 24: Organizers of the annual Mayors' Prayer Breakfast of Washington County in Oregon voted to bar a local Muslim leader from offering a prayer at the event, leading Beaverton Mayor Rob Drake and other city officials to say they'll skip the May 5 event. "It's just broken my heart," Drake said of the organizing group's decision this week to renege on an invitation for Shahriar Ahmed, president of the Bilal Mosque Association in Beaverton, to sit on the dais and give the concluding prayer as previously scheduled. "I thought we had found openness and the ability to honor diversity," said Drake, mayor since 1993. He explained that because of a controversy about the event's inclusiveness last year, he had invited Ahmed and Rabbi David Rosenberg of Portland's Congregation Shaarie Torah to help diversify the 19th annual prayer breakfast.
May 2004
Muslim detainees in Brooklyn jail tortured
May 3: The Urban Justice Center, an organization of advocate lawyers, filed a case against 20 people for their inhumane behavior at the federal detention center in Brooklyn. Among those sued is Attorney General John Ashcroft, the former warden and guards at the Brooklyn facility. The case was filed on behalf of Ehab Elmaghraby from Egypt and Javaid Iqdal from Pakistan, who said they were abused by officers while they were detained at the Metropolitan Detention Center after the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks. After one year of torture and interrogation, the FBI concluded that the two men were not involved in any terrorist activities. However, even this did not secure their release. Instead, because the men did not have valid immigration documents, they were deported from the United States. Both men were married to U.S. citizens and one had a son born in the States.
Justice Department warns about Muslim extremism in prisons
May 10: The Justice Department has issued a detailed report recommending the federal Bureau of Prisons make significant changes in its handling of providers of Muslim religious services to increase security and reduce possible extremism. "Our review found that while the BOP has not identified widespread problems with inmate radicalization and terrorist recruiting, chaplaincy services in the BOP remain vulnerable to infiltration by religious extremists, and supervision practices in BOP chapels need strengthening," the report concluded. The 60-page report includes 16 recommendations from the Office of the Inspector General related to how the prison system screens and recruits religious services providers, relies on Muslim chaplains and supervises religious activity. (www.bliefnet.com)
Muslim Americans Launch PR Campaign
May 12: Muslims and non-Muslims may have more in common than you think. That's the theme of an ad campaign sponsored by the Council on American Islamic Relations. One of the ads that's appeared in California newspapers appeals to Christians by explaining the role of Jesus in the Islamic tradition, but as Alexandra Cohen reports, it's received mixed reviews from religious leaders. The nationwide campaign called "Muslims in America" shows Muslims participating in many facets of American life. The Council on American Islamic Relations began the outreach effort last year, in response to increasing public misinformation about Islam and hostility toward Muslims.
Congress draft resolution denounces General Boykin’s remarks against Islam
May 12: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) urged members of the American Muslim community and other people of conscience to contact their elected representatives and ask that they co-sponsor H. Res. 419, the Boykin resolution, which condemns religiously intolerant remarks and calls on the President to clearly censure and reassign Lieutenant General Boykin for his religiously intolerant remarks against Muslims. Recently, it was revealed in Senate hearings that General Boykin may have recommended ways that military investigators could "soften up" detainees before interrogation. According to Reuters, "critics have suggested those recommendations amounted to a senior-level go-ahead for sexual and physical abuse of prisoners." H. Res. 419 was introduced by Rep. John Conyers and expresses the sense of the House of Representatives that-(a) General Boykin has made a number of intolerant remarks against Muslims during public addresses while wearing his military uniform; (b) Islam is a monotheistic faith whose followers are an integral part of the social fabric of America and many other countries; (c) General Boykin must interact routinely with Muslims all over the world with the position he currently holds; (d) General Boykin has failed to retract his controversial statements or issue a full apology; (e) General Boykin's remarks have impaired the image of the United States worldwide and threaten to endanger U.S. troops in Muslim-dominated countries; (f) General Boykin's remarks insult American Muslims, including those in the U.S. Armed Forces, and Muslim allies of the United States.
Raids on 17 Muslim businesses in Washington that send cash abroad
May 18: Federal agents have raided 17 money-transmitting Muslim businesses in the Washington area that allegedly sent millions of dollars abroad without obtaining licenses, part of a nationwide crackdown aimed at curbing the ability of terrorists to move cash, Washington Post reported. Authorities have seized $3.6 million in the local raids, which began after the USA Patriot Act took effect in October 2001, tightening regulations on money senders. Although authorities have released few details of the operations, they suspect that three of the firms have sent funds to countries accused by U.S. authorities of supporting terrorism. No terrorism-related charges have been filed. Some immigrants and crime specialists say the crackdown has targeted many mom-and-pop businesses that have nothing to do with financing terrorism. These informal money-senders are running afoul of the Patriot Act simply because they lack the resources to meet all of its licensing requirements, critics say. Informal money-transmitters have flourished in the United States, thanks to growing immigration and improved technology. For many immigrants, such services offer a quick, cheap way to send money to regions with inefficient banks -- or none at all. But after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, authorities grew increasingly concerned about such services and their hard-to-trace transactions. Under the Patriot Act, money transmitters must register with the Treasury Department and obtain state money-transfer licenses. The law also requires them to report suspicious transactions and run programs to prevent money laundering.
U.S. frees Muslim lawyer held in Madrid bombings
May 20: An Oregon lawyer arrested in connection with the March train bombings in Madrid was released after Spanish police identified fingerprints found on a bag of detonators as belonging to an Algerian. Police in Spain had expressed doubts early on about U.S. investigators' claims that one of the fingerprints on the bag belonged to Brandon Mayfield, a Muslim convert living in Portland. The longtime Oregon resident and former Army officer had been detained for two weeks under a material witness warrant in connection with the March 11 bombings that killed 191 people and injured 2,000. He had not been charged with a crime. On May 25, the FBI offered an apology to Mayfield and admitted mistakenly linking his fingerprint to one found near the scene of a terrorist bombing in Spain. The apology came hours after an Oregon judge dismissed the case against Brandon Mayfield, who had been held as a material witness in the Madrid bombings case.
Prison Scandal: Brooklyn's Version of Abu Ghraib?
May 24: Even as the Pentagon seeks to quell the furor over Abu Ghraib, the Justice Department is trying to make sure a similar scandal doesn't erupt closer to home, The Newsweek reported today. At issue: more than 300 hours of secret videotapes from a U.S. prison facility in Brooklyn, N.Y., where many Arab and Muslim detainees were incarcerated in the months after 9/11. On the tapes, according to a report by federal investigators, prison guards slam inmates into walls, twist their arms and wrists and subject them to humiliating strip searches in which, in some cases, male prisoners were forced to stand naked in the presence of female guards; in others, prison guards "laughed, exchanged suggestive looks and made funny noises." The existence of the tapes was first disclosed late last year in a blistering report on conditions at the Metropolitan Detention Center in Brooklyn by the Justice Department's inspector general. But the tapes got little attention at the time, in part because only a handful of blurry stills from the videos were released. But now attorneys in two lawsuits filed against top Justice officials on behalf of former inmates tell NEWSWEEK they plan to push for full release of the videos, arguing that, as with Abu Ghraib, the visual evidence can make the case far more powerfully than mere allegations from prisoners.
MPAC launches national campaign to fight terrorism
May 28: The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) held a large press conference at the Islamic Center of Southern California to announce MPAC's National Campaign to Prevent Terrorism, a five step plan that was released last week to mosques throughout the United States. Dr. Maher Hathout, Senior Advisor to the MPAC, told the press conference, "We have zero tolerance to the notion that Muslims are not doing their job. We're not going to allow that. Things are being said about Muslims that nobody could say about any other religion in America and get away with it," he said.
June 2004
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) marks 10 years of advocacy
June 1: the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today marked ten years of its establishment. Since its founding 10 years ago on June 1, 1994, the Washington-based CAIR has become the leading Muslim civil liberties and advocacy group in the nation. With 26 regional offices in Florida, New Jersey, California, Arizona, Kentucky, Texas, Ohio and other states, and a D.C-based staff of 25, the group is in a unique position to track discrimination against Arabs and Muslims, and educate the American public about the world's second-largest religion. When a major event happens that involves the Muslim community, from terrorism to an impingement on religious freedom, the 40,000-member CAIR is there with action alerts, media releases, public service announcements and a public-relations style that aims to get the word out.
US Treasury appoints adviser on Islamic finance
June 2: The Department of Treasury today appointed Mahmoud El-Gamal, an economics professor at Rice University in Texas, as the principal adviser on Islamic finance to senior Treasury officials to boost understanding of Islamic banking. The appointment of Mahmoud El-Gamal, follows concerns after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks that terrorist financiers could be using Islamic institutions such as banks, charities or informal money brokers to move, store or launder funds destined for militant attacks. "With the recent growth of the Islamic finance industry, deeper understanding of Islamic finance is a priority for this administration," Undersecretary for International Affairs John Taylor said in a statement. The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) Executive Director, Salam Al-Marayati said he hoped Gamal's appointment would help iron out some of the problems faced by Islamic groups in the post-Sept. 11 era. "We welcome the appointment. This is a positive response to our call for the Bush administration to appoint American Muslims to policy-making positions in government," he said.
'Crusade' edited out in Bush's speech
June 2: President George W. Bush today quoted the famous D-Day words of General Dwight Eisenhower - all but one of them, "crusade". In a speech in which he likened the war on terror to the Allied struggle against the Nazis in World War II, Bush cited Eisenhower's message to US troops 60 years ago but skipped a word that would have been sure to spark controversy in the Muslim world. Entitled the Great Crusade, Eisenhower's message urged on the troops as they prepared to storm the Normandy coast in the first Allied landing in Nazi-occupied France. The original version went: "Soldiers, Sailors and Airmen of the Allied Expeditionary Forces: You are about to embark upon the Great Crusade, toward which we have striven these many months. The eyes of the world are upon you. The hopes and prayers of a liberty-loving people everywhere march with you." Speaking at the US Air Force Academy commencement in Colorado, Bush quoted the initial salutation and the second and third sentences but left out the part about embarking on a great crusade. Days after the 9/11 attacks on America, Bush described the US intent to retaliate as a "crusade" - a reference that deeply offended Muslims who associate it with the Christian crusades against Islam in the Middle Ages.
CAIR launches 'I am an American Muslim' campaign
June 16: The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today launched a nationwide television and radio public service announcement (PSA) campaign, called "I am an American Muslim," designed to help reduce anti-Muslim discrimination and stereotyping. CAIR's 30 and 60-second PSAs feature American Muslims of European, African-American, Hispanic, and Native American heritage. Each person in the spots states how they and their families have served America and ends by saying, "I am an American Muslim." "Our experience shows that Islamophobic stereotyping and bias are most often based on ignorance and unfamiliarity with the American Muslim community," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad. "Tolerance and mutual respect will flourish if Americans of all faiths get to know each other as real human beings, not as religious or ethnic stereotypes."
CAIR calls VA Paintball sentencing draconian: “Defendants faced selective prosecution”
June 16: The on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called the harsh sentencing in the Virginia "paintball Jihad" case "draconian" and said the Muslim defendants faced selective prosecution. On June 15, U.S. District Judge Leonie M. Brinkema sentenced one of three Muslim defendants to life in prison and imposed an 85-year term on another for conspiring to aid an Islamic group in conflict with India. Judge Brinkema told those in the courtroom that the sentences, mandated under federal sentencing guidelines, were "sticking in my craw" and that there are murderers who have "served far less time." In a statement, the CAIR said: "It is the near universal perception in the Islamic community that these men would never have been charged had they not been Muslims, and that once convicted, prosecutors would never have sought such draconian sentences. American Muslims reject terrorism or any other form of criminal activity, and wish to preserve the security of the United States and its citizens. But we cannot help but compare the prosecution and sentencing in this case to that in the case of a non-Muslim Florida terrorist who had bombs ready to attack 50 Islamic institutions and got just 12 years in prison, or that of a non-Muslim Illinois terrorist sentenced to probation and anger management classes for blowing up a Muslim family's van….Under the current administration, we are quickly approaching a state of affairs in which there is a two-tier prosecutorial system in America; one system for Muslims, and one for all other Americans. This disturbing trend should be of concern to everyone who values America's centuries-long tradition of equal justice under the law. We call on Congress to conduct hearings into the selective prosecution of Muslims since the 9/11 terror attacks."
ADL issues apology for 'shahada' comments
June 22: The Anti-Defamation League (ADL,) a prominent national Jewish advocacy group, has issued an apology for remarks in a news release that seemed to link the Islamic declaration of faith, or "shahada," with terrorism. In a press release, the ADL stated: "(The ADL) is respectful of the Shahada, the Muslim Declaration of Faith, which is expressed by millions of Muslims around the world…It was never our intent to offend anyone and we apologize to those who took offense." On June 19, the Southern California office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) demanded that the ADL apologize to Muslims for "hate-filled Islamophobic rhetoric" distributed by one of its California offices. A news release distributed by the ADL's Orange County/Long Beach Regional Office referred to the Islamic declaration of faith, or shahada, as an "expression of hate" that is "closely identified" with terrorism and is "offensive to Jewish Students."
Anti-Islam hatred at new high
June 26: The recent beheadings of two Americans businessmen in the Middle East have increased an already strong backlash against Arab-Americans and Muslims, who have been persecuted since the 9/11 attacks, the Newsday has reported. The murder of former New Jerseyan Paul Johnson has prompted hate mail, verbal attacks and anti-Islam signs and graffiti in New Jersey. Elsewhere in the country, Muslims have received death threats and mosques have been vandalized in the days after Johnson's killing, the paper said.
Poll shows Muslim support for Bush eroding fast
June 29: A new poll by the Council for American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a prominent civil rights group, suggests that support for President Bush among Muslim voters has eroded so swiftly that Muslim votes for Sen. John Kerry could swing the presidential election in key battleground states. Of the nearly 1,200 Muslim voters surveyed in June by CAIR, 55 percent said they had voted for Bush in 2000, but only 3 percent of those same voters would vote to re-elect him. A full 54 percent of those surveyed said they would vote for Sen. John Kerry, the presumptive Democratic nominee, and 26 percent said they would vote for independent Ralph Nader. The drop in Muslim support for the president is dramatic-exit polls in the 2000 election indicated that Bush carried between 70 percent and 80 percent of the Muslim vote.
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