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Chronology of Islam in America (2008)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
November 2008
Muslims, Christians vow to jointly combat terror
Nov 6: Catholic and Muslim religious leaders at unprecedented Vatican meetings vowed today to work together to combat violence and terrorism, especially when carried out in God’s name. At the end of three days of meetings, the 58 scholars and leaders — 29 from each side — issued a 15-point joint declaration which also included an appeal for the defense of minority religions.The meetings came two years after the Pope gave a speech alleging Islam was violent and irrational, sparking angry protests in the Middle East. The Muslims formed their group to refute that speech and seek better mutual understanding. “We profess that Catholics and Muslims are called to be instruments of love and harmony among believers, and for humanity as a whole, renouncing any oppression, aggressive violence and terrorism, especially that committed in the name of religion, and upholding the principle of justice for all,” the declaration said. It also called for respect for religious minorities, adding that they should be “entitled to their own places of worship, and their founding figures and symbols they consider sacred should not be subjected to any form of mockery or ridicule”. The declaration’s words about avoiding mockery or ridicule appeared to be a reference to events in 2006, when a Danish newspaper printed cartoons of the Holy Prophet (PBUH), sparking violent protests in the Islamic world. (Reuters)
Muslim candidate elected to Michigan legislature
Nov 13: Lawyer and community activist Rashida Tlaib, the daughter of Palestinian immigrants who never attended high school, becomes the first Muslim woman ever to serve in the Michigan Legislature. Democrat Tlaib got 90 percent of the vote to 10 percent for Republican Darin Daigle. “We view her victory as a sign that Michigan Muslims are welcomed as a part of our state’s multi-faith and multiethnic society,” said Dawud Walid, Michigan director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Walid said it’s notable that Tlaib comes from a district with few Muslim or Arab residents, though southeastern Michigan has about 300,000 people with roots in the Arab world. The southwest Detroit district has large black and Hispanic communities, with a white minority. According to the American Muslim Alliance, only nine Muslims were serving in state legislatures nationwide before Tuesday’s elections, and only one of them is a woman. There are two Muslim members of Congress — Democrats Keith Ellison of Minnesota and Andre Carson of Indiana. The Michigan Legislature’s first known Muslim member was James Karoub. Born in Highland Park to an imam and his wife who came from what now is Lebanon, Karoub served three terms in the state House in the 1960s. (Muslim Media Network)
Palestinian students assaulted at UC Berkeley, CA
Nov 13: Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP) of UC Berkeley, CA expressed its deep concern about a violent attack on three Arab Palestinian students this evening and called upon campus administrators and authorities to immediately investigate the incident and bring those responsible to justice. According to dozens of witnesses on the scene, three organizers for the "Zionist Freedom Alliance" attacked one male and two female Arab students who stood nearby the event holding a Palestinian flag. The assailants were identified by the Daily Californian to include current ASUC student senator John Moghtader, Cal alumnus Gabe Weiner, and performer Yehuda De sa. The paper also reported that all three had been cited by the UC Police Department on several counts of battery. (SJP press release)
ACLU sues to free American citizen imprisoned in UAE on the U.S. government’s orders
Nov 19: The ACLU of Southern California today filed a lawsuit to force the release of an American citizen who has been imprisoned for 80 days without charge in the United Arab Emirates at the behest of the U.S. government. The lawsuit, filed in federal district court in Washington, D.C., alleges that Naji Hamdan was arrested August 29 by security agents for the United Arab Emirates (U.A.E.) who were acting at the behest of U.S. government officials. Because Hamdan is effectively in U.S. custody, and because U.S. officials have not charged him with any crime, they must abide by the Constitution and request his release, the lawsuit states. Hamdan, who was born in Lebanon, lived for two decades in the Los Angeles area, where he ran an auto-parts business and helped manage the Islamic Center of Hawthorne, a mosque and community center. In 2006 he decided to relocate his family and business to the U.A.E., but when the Hamdans tried to board a flight at Los Angeles International Airport, FBI agents separated him from his wife and children, detained him, and questioned him for hours. He was eventually released and allowed to travel, but when he returned to Los Angeles in early 2007 to check on his business, he was kept under close, constant surveillance by the FBI. The case of Naji Hamdan, coupled with FBI interrogations of at least one other U.S. citizen interrogated by the FBI while secretly detained without charges in East Africa, raises the question of whether the Bush administration has asked other nations to hold Americans suspected of terrorism links whom U.S. officials lack the evidence to charge. (ACLU Press release)
Muslim coalition releases critique of NYPD radicalization report
Nov 20: The New York Muslim American Civil Liberties Coalition today released its critique of a controversial report from the New York Police Department about the threat of domestic radicalization. Made up of prominent Muslim advocates, attorneys, and community leaders, the Coalition called on the NYPD to update its report on "Radicalization in the West: The Home Grown Threat" to address its civil liberties implications. The group also released a set of recommendations intended to increase cooperation and trust between the NYPD and Muslim community. MACLC was created after national and local Muslim American leaders agreed that the release of the NYPD 2007 report, if implemented, would entail a serious breach of First Amendment rights to religious freedom. The controversial report, which falsely alludes to the susceptibility of all Muslim males aged 16 to 45 to terrorist ideology, is methodologically weak and more confusing than illuminating. While not intending to profile Islam and Muslims, the report does exactly that. "Unquestionably, all criminal acts of violence are unacceptable and prevention requires a well-researched report to guide responsible policing," said Faiza Ali, CAIR-NY Community Affairs Director and co-author of MACLC's critique. "The study of violent extremism, however, should decouple religion from terror to safeguard civil liberties on free speech and equal protection grounds as a matter of strong public policy." (CAIR Bulletin)
Michael Jackson converts to Islam
Nov. 21: Pop star Michael Jackson has converted to Islam at a ceremony in Los Angeles attended by Yousef Islam, the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens. Jackson, whose once-amazing career has been eclipsed in recent years by reports of bizarre behavior, as well as legal and financial troubles, is said to have changed his name to Mikaeel and taken the shahada -- or made a declaration of belief -- as part of his conversion to Islam, according to Al-Arabiya TV.
The religious ceremony reportedly took place at the Hollywood Hills home of Toto keyboardist Steve Porcaro, who composed music for Jackson's iconic "Thriller" album. (UPI)
The Holy Land retrial ends with conviction of its five former officials
Nov 24: After a series of legal twists, secret evidence and questionable witness of Israeli intelligence agents, the Holy Land Foundation, once a leading American Muslim charitable organization and five of its former officials were convicted today on criminal charges related to humanitarian aid given to Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. The defendants said they were engaged in legitimate relief work, while the government claimed that work benefited terrorists. During the trial, defense attorneys accused the government of bending to Israeli pressure to prosecute the charity, and of relying on old evidence. But jurors agreed with the government's contention that at least $12 million raised in the U.S. had been illegally funneled to Hamas after that organization was banned as a terrorist group by the federal government in 1995. Prosecutors spent more time in the second trial explaining the complexities of the case and painting a clearer picture of the money trail. Following the mistrial, prosecutors streamlined their case and eliminated almost 100 charges against the remaining defendants. (AMP Report)
Holy Land Five convictions mark sad day for American justice system
Nov 30: On its face, the U.S. government won last week when a federal jury in Dallas convicted the Richardson-based charity Holy Land Foundation and five former leaders of providing financial aid to a foreign terrorist organization — Hamas. But a Fort Worth defense attorney who has been involved in the case since 2005 called the prosecution shameful and compared the 42-day trial to some of the darkest days in American history. Attorney Greg Westfall, one of eight lawyers on the case, sat in his downtown office Wednesday — two days after the guilty verdicts had been handed down on all 108 counts — and looked dejected. After years of silence because of a gag order in the case, Westfall was ready to talk. The case involving what I call "The Holy Land Five" was one in which the U.S. government spent years and millions of dollars to convict the charity leaders on conspiracy charges. The first trial ended in a mistrial last year, but prosecutors vowed to pursue it. This was a trial based on fear and prejudice," Westfall said, adding that President George W. Bush had "set the tone for this day by using words " like 'Islamic fascists.’
For example, he said, "In the 1940s we rounded up several thousand Japanese, just because they were Japanese. Ten years later, we had the 'Red Scare’ that ruined lives — that killed the Rosenbergs. And here we go again." While avoiding criticizing the jury, Westfall did not hesitate to condemn "the way the case was presented and allowed to be presented — by the judge and the government — to the jury." It was based mainly on guilt by association, he said, including associations with groups that have never been proven to be "terrorists" or supporters of terrorism. Westfall thought it out of line that the government published a list of about 300 unindicted co-conspirators, groups he said were considered by many to be mainstream organizations, like the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). "Any statements made by anybody on that list could be held against our clients," he said.
The attorney said the government also produced items from a search warrant of someone’s home in Virginia, and went so far as to present documents, seized in a military operation, that the defense was not allowed to see. "We were barred from seeing them or an index of what was there, and [the prosecution] introduced them through an unnamed Israeli soldier who was not present when the documents were seized," he said. In addition, there were other "unsigned and unauthored" documents retrieved in a raid of the Palestinian Liberation Organization and introduced as evidence, he said. "It was all tied together by an Israeli secret agent who didn’t have to give his name," Westfall said. "He testified as an expert — was allowed to testify at length without us knowing who he was. Do you realize what power that is? If you don’t have to give your real name, you can’t face perjury — you get a free pass." He added, "If the president of the United States had testified in this trial, he would have had to give his name. In this trial, we gave an Israeli secret agent more power than we would give the president of the United States." (Star-Telegram)
ICE Targets Immigrants from Muslim Majority Countries Prior to 2004 Presidential Election
Nov 26: The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) today made public documents released by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) of a secret government program dubbed “Operation Front Line.” The program, ostensibly designed to prevent “terrorist” activity around the 2004 Presidential election, instead primarily targeted men from Muslim-majority countries without links to any national security-related activity. Operation Front Line ran from October 2004 through the Presidential Inauguration in January 2005. The information was produced in partial settlement of a Freedom of Information Act suit by Yale Law School's National Litigation Project and follows previous litigation by the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC). Pursuant to the settlement, ICE released data from a statistically significant random sample of 300 cases investigated under Operation Front Line. Key findings include: (1) 79% of the foreign nationals targeted by Operation Front Line were from Muslim-majority countries. (2) Deportable foreign nationals from Muslim-majority countries were 1,280 times more likely to be targeted by Operation Front Line than were similar individuals from other countries. (3) Operation Front Line investigations included in the sample led to no charges (and no convictions) for national-security related crimes. (4) Only 18% of Operation Front Line targets were charged with any immigration violation, the most common being overstaying a visa (36% of all charges filed). (ADC press release)
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