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Chronology of Islam in America (2007)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
November 2007 Page III
Hateful host attacks Islam on US radio
Nov 22: Major U.S. corporations and civil organizations are launching a campaign to boycott channels that broadcast shows of controversial radio anchor Michael Savage after his hateful remarks about Islam. Giant companies like JC Penny department stores, Office Max stationary supplies and IT company Citrix Systems have pulled all their commercials from the show hosted by Savage. In his show that aired on October 29, Savage launched into a vicious tirade about Islam: "I'm not gonna put my wife in a hijab. And I'm not gonna put my daughter in a burqa. And I'm not getting' on my all-fours and braying to Mecca. And you could drop dead if you don't like it. You can shove it up your pipe. I don't wanna hear anymore about Islam. I don't wanna hear one more word about Islam. Take your religion and shove it up your behind. I'm sick of you." "Make no mistake about it, the Quran is not a document of freedom. The Quran is a document of slavery and chattel. It teaches you that you are a slave," continued Savage, whose real name is Michael Alan Weiner. (AlArabiya.net)
Christians, Jews, and Muslims give thanks together
Nov 22: Christians, Jews and Muslims gathered in worship together today in (New York) Rochester's annual interfaith Thanksgiving service. It was the 133rd time leaders and followers of different faiths have come together to celebrate Thanksgiving. Organizers believe makes it the oldest such continuous observance in the nation. This year's gathering was held at the Temple Beth El on Winton Road South. (Associated Press)
Border interrogation of American Muslims justified
Nov 26: A US appeals court in New York ruled that the government acted correctly when interrogating a group of American Muslims returning to the US from an Islamic conference in Toronto, Canada in December 2004. The New York Civil Liberties Union along with the Council on American-Islamic Relations had sued on behalf of five New York residents who attended the "Reviving the Islamic Spirit" conference in Toronto. The lawsuit sought a court order to prevent similar inspections, along with destruction of personal information collected during the border stops. Upholding a lower court decision a three-judge panel wrote: "We do not believe the extra hassle of being fingerprinted and photographed is a significant additional burden that turns an otherwise constitutional policy into one that is unconstitutional.” The suit had charged that the Muslim-Americans were taken aside after being asked if they attended the religious conference and were then subjected to unlawful treatment at a border crossing near Buffalo, New York, under a new Homeland Security policy. The court said the inspections were necessary because it was not possible for authorities to know who at the conference may have interacted and potentially exchanged identification or travel documents with people suspected of being terrorists. The court was told that the U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection had received intelligence giving it reason to believe people with terrorist ties would be attending certain Islamic conferences during the 2004 year-end holiday season. (AMP Report)
Romney rules out appointing Muslim to cabinet
Nov 27: Presidential hopeful Mitt Romney has ruled out to consider appointing a Muslim to his Cabinet if he is elected president. At a fundraiser earlier this month in Las Vegas, Pakistani financier Mansoor Ijaz asked Mitt Romney whether he would "consider including qualified Americans of the Islamic faith in his Cabinet as advisers on national security matters, given his position that 'jihadism' is the principal foreign policy threat facing America today." According to an opinion piece Ijaz wrote in The Christian Science Monitor, Romney replied, " . . . based on the numbers of American Muslims [as a percentage of] our population, I cannot see that a Cabinet position would be justified. But of course, I would imagine that Muslims could serve at lower levels of my administration." Commentators pointed out how often Romney claims religious discrimination against him due to his membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Muslims claim up to 7 million members of their faith in the U.S. compared with 5.5 million members claimed by the LDS Church. Using Romney's logic about Muslims, his own father should never have been named Secretary of Housing and Urban Development. In 1969, when George Romney joined Richard Nixon's cabinet, the LDS Church had only 2,807,456 members worldwide and fewer in the U.S. It would also have eliminated LDS apostle Ezra Taft Benson, who served as Dwight Eisenhower's Secretary of Agriculture from 1953 to 1961, at a time when Mormonism had fewer than 1.3 million adherents worldwide. (The Salt Lake Tribune)
Muslims, Sikhs concerned about FDNY 'warrantless searches'
Nov 28: The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY), together with the Association of Muslim American Lawyers (AMAL) and the Sikh Coalition, today expressed deep concern about a federal testing program that uses firefighters to gather intelligence for security purposes. The program, initiated by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) last December, trains Fire Department of New York (FDNY) firefighters and inspectors to identify "suspicious" behavior or items that may indicate terrorist activity or planning. The American Civil Liberties Union said the strategy infringes on people's privacy rights. Firefighters shouldn't be tasked to gather information, the ACLU said. Civil right groups say the strategy has the potential of changing the image of firefighters from heroes to another branch of the police department. (CAIR Bulletin)
To Muslim girls, scouts offer a chance to fit in
Nov 28: Scattered Muslim communities across the United States are forming Girl Scout troops as a sort of assimilation tool to help girls who often feel alienated from the mainstream culture, and to give Muslims a neighborly aura. Boy Scout troops are organized with the same inspiration, but often the leap for girls is greater because many come from conservative cultures that frown upon their participating in public physical activity. By teaching girls to roast hot dogs or fix a flat bicycle tire, Farheen Hakeem, one troop leader in Minneapolis, strives to help them escape the perception of many non-Muslims that they are different. Scouting is a way of celebrating being American without being any less Muslim, Ms. Hakeem said. (New York Times)
Pope Benedict’s belated response to Muslim initiative
Nov 29: In a response to an open letter sent by 138 Muslim scholars to Benedict XVI and Christian leaders, the Pope affirmed the importance of dialogue and mutual respect and acceptance. The Muslims' letter, sent Oct. 13, was written on the occasion of the end of the month of Ramadan, and titled "A Common Word Between Us and You." The Holy Father's responding note, signed by his secretary of state, Cardinal Tarcisio Bertone, is addressed to Prince Ghazi bin Muhammad bin Talal, president of the Aal al-Bayt Institute for Islamic Thought, one of the signatories of the original letter. "The Pope has asked me to convey his gratitude to Your Royal Highness and to all who signed the letter," Cardinal Bertone wrote. "He also wishes to express his deep appreciation for this gesture, for the positive spirit which inspired the text and for the call for a common commitment to promoting peace in the world." (Zenit.org)
Islam in Europe & Australia
Islamophobia in Danish Elections
Nov 11: The far-right Danish People's Party (DPP) has stepped up its anti-immigrants campaign ahead of this week's legislative elections with more electioneering posters antagonizing Muslims, who make up the largest immigrant minority in Denmark. "There is every reason to tighten the screws (against Muslim immigrants), because Danish values are under pressure," said deputy head of the party Peter Skaarup, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP). The DPP election posters signified the party's xenophobic agenda with one poster showing a group of hijab-clad women under the headline: "Follow the Country's Traditions and Customs or Leave." Another one shows a hijab-wearing woman withdrawing money from a cash dispenser machine carrying the logo of the Welfare Benefits Office, with a caption reading: "Make Demands on the Foreigners. Now They Must Contribute!" A third poster went far, featuring a hand drawing portray of a man the party called Prophet Muhammad and captioned: "Freedom of Expression is Danish. Censorship is Not. Defend Danish Values." The poster was referring to the 2005 crisis sparked by the publication of 12 cartoons that lampooned the Prophet in Denmark's mass-circulation Jyallands Posten. (IslamOnline.net)
Aussie Muslim terror case dropped
Nov 12: A high-profile terrorism case against an Australian Muslim medical student was thrown out today, after a judge ruled that intelligence agents had preached law by falsely "kidnapping" and detaining the young man, reported the Sydney Herald Morning. Izhar ul-Haque, 24, was charged in April 2004 with receiving weapons training from the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which Australia lists as a terrorist group, during a visit to Pakistan in 2003. But Adams found that two the Australian Security Intelligence Organization (ASIO) officers had broken the law in deliberately trying to coerce Izhar ul-Haque into making false confessions. Investigations showed that the man was intimidated, blackmailed, came under unbearable pressures and threatened with serious consequences if he did not "cooperate." Federal police had further tried to recruit ul-Haque to be their informant among Sydney Muslims. Adams concluded that the officers' misconduct meant subsequent police records of interview with ul-Haque were inadmissible as evidence, forcing Australia's Federal Police (AFP) to withdraw its case against ul-Haque just before a trial jury was to be empanelled. (Islam online)
British teacher jailed in Sudan for insulting Islam
Nov 29: Gillian Gibbons, 54, a British teacher was found today guilty in Sudan of insulting religion after she allowed her primary school class to name a teddy bear Mohammad (after the name of Prophet Mohammad). She was sentenced to 15 days in prison and will then be deported. In September, Mrs Gibbons allowed her class of primary school pupils to name the teddy bear Mohammad as part of a study of animals and their habitats. The court heard that she was arrested this week after another member of staff at Unity High School complained to the Ministry of Education. (BBC)
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