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Chronology of Islam in America (2011)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
April 2011 (Page Two)
Missouri house votes to ban Sharia law
April 21: A bill prohibiting state courts from using or recognizing Sharia law passed the Missouri House today on a 102-51 vote. The legislation, which was sponsored by state Rep. Paul Curtman, R-Pacific, bans Missouri courts from utilizing foreign law or legal code in any ruling. Although it never specifically mentions the words "Sharia" or "Islam," today’s debate focused almost exclusively on Sharia law, which is the religious law of Islam. "This bill is not all about Sharia Law," Curtman said. "It's Sharia Law, French law, Dutch law or anything else." Legislation similar to Curtman's was introduced in the Missouri Senate by Republican Brian Nieves but has yet to gain traction. The House bill picked up momentum earlier this session when House Speaker Steve Tilley threw his support behind it, saying "the laws of this country should trump any other laws regarding the citizens of our country within our borders."
Speaking in opposition to the measure, State Rep. Jamilah Nasheed, D-St. Louis, said she'd like to help educate Curtman on Sharia law. "I truly believe you think you're doing the right thing," she said while talking to Curtman on the House floor, later adding: "I don't think that you have ill intentions, so I would encourage you to become familiar with Sharia Law. I'd really like to sit down with you and we can study together and come to a better understanding of what Sharia Law is, how it works and what it does." (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Anti-Shariah bill introduced in North Carolina
April 21: The state House Judiciary Committee sent a bill to the House floor today, even though no one - not even the sponsor - could come up with any evidence that it's needed. House Bill 640, sponsored by Rep. George Cleveland, R-Onslow, would, according to the bill analysis, "prohibit the application or enforcement of a foreign law in a legal proceeding if doing so would violate a right granted by the North Carolina or United States constitutions." It would also nullify provisions in contracts or agreements "calling for the application of foreign law or choosing a foreign venue...if it violated a constitutional right of a party." Cleveland said the measure would protect North Carolinians from someone "going to a foreign law book." Democrats on the committee pointed out that the federal and state constitutions already supersede other laws, and that international law principles are well-established in courts and law schools. Rep. Jennifer Weiss, D-Wake, warned that the bill could cause serious problems for treaties and business contracts in NC. She asked for comment from the Department of Commerce and international business experts. Neither was there to testify. (WRAL)
Dearborn mayor says city not ruled by Islamic law
April 21: In an open letter today to Pastor Terry Jones, Dearborn Mayor Jack O'Reilly Jr. blasted claims that his city is under Islamic law, noting it has three strip clubs and a factory that makes pork products sitting across the street from a mosque."None of that should be allowed under Shari'a law," O'Reilly wrote, referring to a set of Islamic rules and customs. The impassioned letter was the city's latest attempt to convince the Quran-burning Christian pastor to stop his planned protest outside the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn. And it represents another effort by the city to counter attempts to label it as being under Islamic law because of its sizable Muslim population. Across the U.S., a growing number of politicians, Christians and bloggers have been claiming that Shari'a dominates Dearborn. But O'Reilly wrote in his letter: "If Dearborn practiced Shari'a law, would we have three adult entertainment bars and more alcohol-licensed bars and restaurants per capita than most other cities?" O'Reilly noted his city is home to Dearborn Sausage, which makes ham and is next to "the first mosque in Dearborn." "No one has ever objected," he said. (Dearborn Free Press)
Islamic law accusations set off legislative frenzy
April 21: From Newt Gingrich to Mike Huckabee to state legislators, a growing number of officials across the country are proclaiming that Dearborn and metro Detroit are under Shari'a law because of the sizable Muslim population. Urged on by an active network of conservative blogs and groups, they are filing lawsuits and legislation against what they perceive as a threat to the U.S. It's all based on a lie, local officials say -- but one that continues to stick in some minds because of the growing power of social media. During the past few months, the drumbeat against Dearborn has grown louder as politicians and elected officials increasingly cite the city as an example of how radical Islam has infiltrated the U.S. Several states are considering -- or have passed -- bills banning the use of Islamic law. Last year, Louisiana lawmakers passed an anti-Shari'a bill. In recent months, Texas legislators have cited Dearborn in considering a similar bill. Tennessee also is considering an anti-Shari'a bill. And this week, the Missouri House approved a bill that would ban Shari'a. Last year, Oklahoma voters approved a ballot measure that would have banned Shari'a law, but a judge later ruled it unconstitutional.
Conservatives point to some cases where judges have cited Islamic law in making decisions. That includes a Florida case involving a dispute at a local mosque, where a judge ruled this year that to resolve one crucial issue in the case, he would consult Islamic law. Activists also are taking legal action. Earlier this year, the Ann Arbor-based Thomas More Law Center filed a lawsuit against Dearborn, claiming that city officials were influenced by Shari'a when police arrested Christian missionaries last year at an Arab festival.
Dearborn Mayor Jack O'Reilly Jr. frequently has appeared on national TV shows, such as MSNBC's "Hardball," in recent months, trying to deflect the notion that his city is under Shari'a. Today, he reiterated that in an open letter to Jones, noting that Dearborn has three strip clubs and a factory that makes pork products across the street from a mosque. "There is no Shari'a law in Dearborn, only constitutional law," O'Reilly said. In his letter, O'Reilly said, "Shari'a law is church or faith-based law that is applicable only to the followers of that faith." He compared it to Canon Law in Catholicism or Torah Law in Judaism. "It can't be carried out in America," he said in an interview with the Free Press. "No one is trying to do that. And we wouldn't let them if they would try."
The idea that Dearborn is under Shari'a grew in popularity after an incident in June 2009 at the Arab International Festival in Dearborn, the largest Arab-American festival in Michigan. At the event, some Christian evangelists yelled at passersby "that they were going to hell because they were Muslim," according to a Dearborn police report. But a video recorded by a Christian missionary group called Acts 17 Apologetics showed them being escorted out by security guards during the festival. Last year at the Arab festival, the same missionaries were arrested on charges of disturbing the peace, leading to another uproar. They were later acquitted by a jury and filed a lawsuit against the city.
These incidents have been used by conservatives to slam Dearborn. In July, Gingrich, the former House speaker, wrote: "This is a clear case of freedom of speech and the exercise of religious freedom being sacrificed in deference to Shari'a's intolerance against the preaching of religions other than Islam." Gingrich said the missionaries were handing out copies of Christian literature, which is "of course, forbidden by Shari'a's rules on proselytizing." The mayor, responding to these months of criticism, said in an interview: "These people are trying to suggest that Shari'a has overridden civil law. That doesn't happen here. We won't let it happen." (Dearborn Free Press)
Clergy unite to protest rally by Florida pastor
April 21: Some members of the interfaith clergy -- Muslims, Christians and Jews -- stood hand in hand, others were linked arm in arm, silently surrounding the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn in solidarity this afternoon. With them stood about 700 people, members of the InterFaith Leadership Council of Metropolitan Detroit, members of the clergies' congregations and supporters. Their mission was to protest Florida Pastor Terry Jones' plan to hold a rally today outside the Islamic Center mosque ... The vigil began at 5:15 p.m. and ended five minutes later. As it came to a close, Islamic Center Imam Hassan Al-Qazwini said the Muslim community was "indebted to our Christian friends who have showed us absolute support." "Terry Jones, he is not representative of the Christian community ... Terry Jones is speaking for himself only," Al-Qazwini said. "This is bigotry, and we condemn his bigotry." Al-Qazwini and other Islamic Center officials also directed the Muslim community to attend a peaceful protest at 4 p.m. today at the Dearborn Civic Center, away from the mosque "so as to avoid any confrontation." Before the vigil, the InterFaith Leadership Council hosted a nearly one-hour "Vigil for the Beloved Community" program inside the Islamic Center. ... Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said Jones has brought the various faith communities together for a purpose. "Now that the bridges are built, we need to cross those bridges," he said. (Detroit Free Press)
Utah church rejects hate, distributes Qurans
April 21: Leaders of a Presbyterian congregation in Salt Lake City have an answer to the Florida pastor with a penchant for burning the Quran. Wasatch Presbyterian Church is giving Islam's holy book away for free. "Sometimes, it's hard to know how to push back against the lunatic fringe," said Russell Fericks, a member of the session, or governing board, of the 350-member church on the city's east side. So when the new pastor, the Rev. Scott Dalgarno, asked the board last week to join him in opening their wallets, the reaction was swift. The leaders put up $600 before the meeting was over and ordered dozens of copies of an Oxford Press edition of the Quran several days ago. The books will be available as early as Monday at King's English Bookshop, each with a bookmark bearing these words: "This book was donated by the leaders of Wasatch Presbyterian Church, who are not afraid of truth wherever it can be found." (The Salt Lake Tribune)
Court backs Ohio Muslim leader stopped at border
April 22: A federal appeals court has sided with an Ohio Muslim leader who is trying to find out why she was detained at a border crossing five years ago. Julia Shearson is director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations office in Cleveland. She was stopped by U.S. border agents in Buffalo, N.Y., in 2006 as she returned with her daughter from a weekend in Canada. Shearson later sued for records about her case from the departments of Homeland Security and Customs and Border Protection. She also wanted to pursue claims against the government for alleged violations of privacy laws, a move rejected by a federal judge. The federal appeals court in Cincinnati overturned that decision Thursday and sent the case back to the lower court. (Associated Press)
Tenn. lawmaker defends scrutiny of Islam
April 22: Debate surrounding proposed state legislation that critics say unfairly targets Islam continues to spill beyond the halls of the state Capitol. In a fiery email response to a local Jewish man, state Rep. Rick Womick defended his confrontation with a Columbia Muslim after a House committee hearing this week. Womick, a Rockvale Republican who serves on the House Judiciary Committee, wrote an email to Aaron Nuell of Murfreesboro stating that he sat "respectfully and politely" and listened to four people, including Daoud Abudiab of Columbia, accuse him and fellow legislators of denying them their constitutional rights, inflaming intolerance, making false accusations and being hate-mongers, racists and white supremacists such as the KKK. "And you write me to scold me because I dare speak up and defend my character and confront a political-militaristic-religion responsible for 10 out of the last 11 terrorist attacks on Americans?" Womick wrote. His letter was in response to a note from Nuell, a second-grade teacher and son of the late MTSU professor Lon Nuell, who wrote, "Please stop attacking your Muslim constituents. Some live in your district, and you were elected to represent them, too. You don't get to pick who you represent; in contrast, you chose to represent a diverse community. Your behavior is extreme and your questioning is in bad faith."
When the House Judiciary took a recess shortly before noon, The DNJ reported that Womick confronted Abudiab, who spoke against legislation that initially targeted Islam and any Shariah-related support for terrorist groups. Womick asked him if he would publicly denounce Hezbollah and Hamas, two groups designated as terrorist organizations. Abudiab, a member of the Islamic Center of Columbia, which was torched in 2008, said he would denounce those groups and anyone who is "a threat to our security." Womick responded he was satisfied with Abudiab's answer but continued to press him, saying Islam is a religious, political and military organization and groups such as the Muslim Brotherhood and Muslim Student Association hold radical beliefs that Shariah law should replace U.S. constitutional law. (Daily News Journal)
Tennessee anti-Islam law could demonize innocents
April 24: Could you, one day in the near future, be subject to arrest in Tennessee simply because the faith you were born into and believe in contains principles that state officials disagree with? The answer, sadly, is yes -- if legislators and the governor approve Senate Bill 1028/House Bill 1353, formerly known as the "anti-Shariah law bill'' and newly worded to quash concerns over its potential to stir up discrimination against Muslims in Tennessee. The rewording did not work. This bill, now presented as an anti-terrorism measure, manages through its broadened vagueness to demonize not only Muslims -- its prime target -- but any group because of its ideology, even if its conduct is exemplary and its members break no laws. (Ted Rayburn, Tennessean)
Wisconsin commission rejects mosque plan
April 26: The Sun Prairie City’s Plan Commission is recommending that an Islamic mosque not be granted a permit to operate in the Nature’s Preserve Office Park, citing opposition from neighboring businesses over traffic and parking concerns. The 6-0 commission vote against the permit application came today at a meeting attended by about 40 members and supporters of the mosque. The mosque currently operates in a rented building at 2617 E. Washington Ave. in Madison and is called the Madison Muslim Dawa Circle. Members are hoping to relocate and rename themselves the Islamic Center of Sun Prairie. Mosque leaders say they have an accepted offer to purchase a business condo in the 23-building office park. (Wisconsin State Journal)
Mosque backers in Bridgewater, NJ, file federal lawsuit
April 27: The backers of a mosque proposed for the site of the former Redwood Inn banquet hall(Bridgewater, NJ) have filed suit in federal court, alleging that the township discriminated against them on the basis of religion in passing a zoning law that derailed their plans. The suit names the township, its planning board, Mayor Patricia Flannery, and individual members of the Township Committee and Planning Board as defendants.The plaintiffs are Al Falah Center, the name used by the mosque's backers for the facility, and nine individuals. "After a years-long search to find a suitable location to establish a mosque and Islamic community center, Muslims from Bridgewater and surrounding communities finally identified an ideal location - a former banquet hall in Bridgewater,'' reads a press release from the Brennan Center for Justice at New York University's School of Law, which is participating in the suit. "For months the Al Falah Center worked with township officials to develop a suitable plan to renovate the building, which was located in a zone permitting houses of worship, into a mosque to serve the surrounding area as a house of worship, day care, religious school, and community center. But then - following an anti-Muslim internet campaign - hundreds of people showed up to protest the mosque project at a Planning Board meeting to consider the proposal, and the Township suddenly changed course.'' (Daily Record)
Govt misled court in dispute over Muslims' access to FBI files
April 27: A federal judge (in Santa Ana, CA) ruled today that a group of Muslim activists and organizations cannot review additional records of FBI inquiries into their activities but berated the government for misleading the court about the existence of the files. U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney said six Muslim groups and five individuals who sued in 2007 to gain access to records they believed the FBI was keeping do not have a right to much of the information because of national security concerns. The ruling came amid a nearly five-year battle by the American Civil Liberties Union and the Muslim activists to obtain files they believe would show the FBI has been unlawfully targeting Muslims in Southern California.
Carney reached his decision after privately reviewing more than 100 pages of documents to ensure the government had complied with the Freedom of Information Act in denying access to plaintiffs. In his 18-page ruling, Carney declined to reveal the number or nature of the records the FBI kept on the plaintiffs, citing national security concerns. He also reached the conclusion that federal government attorneys misled the court about the existence of the documents. "The government's representations were then, and remain today, blatantly false," Carney wrote. "The government cannot, under any circumstance, affirmatively mislead the court." Such "deception" could impede the court from performing its constitutional responsibilities, he added.
Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, was disappointed in the ruling. He said he feels the need to constantly look over his shoulder, especially now that the court has confirmed the government has been keeping files on the plaintiffs that will not be revealed. "I know that I am under surveillance, I just want to know the reasons for that and I want to know whether that is warranted or not, I want to know if it is legal or not," Syed said. Ahilan Arulanantham, deputy legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union in Southern California, said he was disappointed by the judge's ruling and concerned about the government's behavior. "We're deeply concerned that the government appears to believe that they can mislead the courts when the American public seeks information about the government's activities," he said.
The case is one of several that highlight widespread concern among Muslim-Americans that the FBI has been spying on them. Such concerns were heightened in 2009 when an FBI agent testified in court that an informant had been planted at an Islamic Center in Orange County. The informant provided information about the brother-in-law of Osama bin Laden's bodyguard, who was arrested on charges of lying on his citizenship application. The government later dropped the charges. In 2007, the Muslim activists and organizations, including the Islamic Shura Council and Council on American-Islamic Relations, sued the FBI alleging the agency failed to turn over records they had requested a year earlier related to their own activities. The FBI released some records to the plaintiffs but redacted large portions of the documents, claiming the material was beyond the scope of their Freedom of Information Act request.
In 2009, Carney told the FBI to turn over the files to him so he could determine whether there was a valid reason for the redactions. He also ordered the agency to expand its records search for CAIR and its executive director for the greater Los Angeles area since only four pages of files had been produced. Carney reviewed those files and wrote an order that was going to be made public, but was blocked by a federal government appeal. The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled last month that Carney should rewrite his order to remove references considered sensitive by the federal government. (The Associated Press)
Ill. man admits anti-Muslim threats, fake-bomb standoff
April 27: A man whose threats sparked a seven-hour standoff with federal agents and police outside his home in Fairview Heights last year took responsibility for it today in U.S. District Court in East St. Louis. Roman Otto Conaway, 51, pleaded guilty to charges of making false threats to detonate an explosive device and threatening a federal official. There was no mention of the specifics of the crime in open court, but Conaway's public defender, Phillip J. Kavanaugh III, said the plea agreement mirrored Conaway's indictment. That document says that on Sept. 21, 2010, Conaway called a St. Louis-area mosque and said he was planning to burn a Quran and make a video of it.Conaway said he wanted to start a war between Christians and Muslims, kill President Barack Obama and other government officials, end the war in Afghanistan and 'start an Apocalypse," court documents say. When three federal agents arrived around 7 p.m. at his house in the 9000 block of Summit Drive, his front door slammed shut. He emerged a short time later wearing a fake explosives belt and claiming that a curling-iron detonator would set off two 55-gallon drums full of combustible chemicals in the front yard and another in the rear. (St. Louis Post-Dispatch)
Bullying targets Muslims, Arabs
April 29: Terrorist," "towel head," "camel jockey" – those are some of the taunts that bullies have used to put down Arab, Muslim and South Asian students in what some community leaders say is a growing epidemic. The students have become frequent targets of bullies since the 9/11 terrorist attacks, with reports of name-calling, intimidation and physical violence in schools, community and civil rights leaders said today at a forum about bullying in Wayne, NJ. With the rise of anti-Islamic sentiment, the problem has grown worse, they said. "When public officials and media commentators propagate these ideas, it gets into the main discourse, and schools are a ripe environment for these feelings," said Aref Assaf, president of the American Arab Forum, a Paterson-based think tank specializing in Arab and Muslim affairs.
For Shehnaz Abdeljaber, the telling moment was when her son came home with his yearbook, and it was plastered with notes from classmates – and a teacher – about blowing things up and bombs. Abdeljaber said she did not want to identify her son or hometown to protect him. "He put his head down and said, 'I know, I know.' It was like he was telling me what had been going on all this time," said Abdeljaber, who spoke at the forum at the Passaic County Technical Institute. The event was sponsored by the New Jersey chapter of the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee and focused on bullying against students from Arab, Muslim and South Asian backgrounds. She was not happy with the response at his middle school where the incident happened, saying the teacher only had a letter put into her file about the incident. But she said her son's high school was proactive when he was ridiculed by another student. School officials invited her to talk to faculty in her capacity as an outreach coordinator for the Center for Middle Eastern Studies at Rutgers. Activists said the vilification of Muslims and Arabs was a key factor in the rise of bullying, citing as examples anti-mosque activism, the burning of the Quran as a form of protest, and the recent congressional hearings on radicalization of American Muslims. "We need to find ways to engage public officials and educators," Assaf said. "It's not enough to have laws."
While community leaders were happy about New Jersey's new anti-bullying law – the toughest in the country – they expressed concern that it would not be effective unless educators took bullying seriously themselves. Philip Freeman, assistant director at the New Jersey Division on Civil Rights, said that bullying incidents were underreported, and he encouraged more families and educators to report incidents. Despite the stronger law and more outreach efforts extended to educators, some activists still feel like they have an uphill battle because of the strong tide of anti-Islamic sentiment. (The Record)
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