Muslim American News Briefs, July 19, 2007

*Hadith: Always Remember God
* CAIR-FL: Muslim Alleges Workplace Bias at Wackenhut
* CAIR-TX: Vandalism Suspected as Hate Crime (Express-News)
            - Video: TX Muslim Family Victim of Hate Crime
* CAIR-MO: County Vows to Resolve Mosque Issue (Post-Disp)
            - CAIR-Seattle Annual Banquet a Success
* Islamophobia: Implications for Relations with Muslim World
            - 'Fundamentalist' Muslims Reject All Terrorism (WSJ)
* CT: Muslim Prison Chaplain Reports Harassment (Courant)
            - CT: A Chance to See Beyond Veil of Bias (Courant)

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HADITH OF THE DAY: ALWAYS REMEMBER GOD - TOP

A man once complained to the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) that he had a hard time following the laws of Islam. He asked the Prophet for one thing that he should do. The Prophet told him: "Let your tongue be always busy with the remembrance of God."

Fiqh-us-Sunnah, Volume 4, Number 99

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FL MUSLIM ALLEGES WORKPLACE BIAS AT WACKENHUT - TOP
Employee says he was harassed, fired after reporting abuse

(MIAMI, FL, 7/18/07) - On July 19, the South Florida office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-FL) will hold a news conference in West Palm Beach to address allegations by a former employee of Wackenhut Corporation that he was harassed by co-workers because of his faith and national origin and then fired when he complained about the abuse. The case is currently under investigation by the Florida Commission on Human Relations.

SEE: http://www.g4s.com/usw/usw-about_wackenhut.htm
SEE ALSO: http://fchr.state.fl.us/

WHAT: CAIR-FL News Conference on Allegations of Workplace Bias at Wackenhut
WHEN: Thursday, July 19, 11 a.m.
WHERE: On the Sidewalk Outside Wackenhut Corporation, 4200 Wackenhut Drive, Palm Beach Gardens, Florida
CONTACT: CAIR South Florida Executive Director Altaf Ali, 954-272-0490 or 954-298-8214, E-Mail: aali@cair.com

The alleged victim of the workplace discrimination will attend the news conference.

CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 33 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: CAIR South Florida Executive Director Altaf Ali, 954-272-0490 or 954-298-8214, E-Mail: aali@cair.com

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CAIR-TX: VANDALISM SUSPECTED AS HATE CRIME - TOP
Guillermo Contreras, San Antonio Express-News, 7/18/07
http://www.mysanantonio.com/news/metro/stories/MYSA071807.

1B.hate.case.322152e.html

San Antonio police are investigating vandalism to a local Muslim family's vehicles as a hate crime, while the FBI also plans to look into the matter.

During a news conference at their Northwest Side home Tuesday, Said and Amel Motawea said they were alerted by a neighbor on Friday morning that their vehicles had been vandalized with a profanity and a message to leave the neighborhood.

The Motaweas, who are originally from Egypt, have lived in the United States for half their lives and have four U.S.-born children.

Flanked by supporters, neighbors and activists of the Muslim community, the Motaweas said they lived peacefully in their neighborhood for eight years.

Then, during the past week, they found someone had thrown beer bottles and eggs at their home and cars. They said they shrugged off the incidents, but became concerned when their vehicles were damaged.

On their minivan, someone wrote - with permanent marker - a profanity and a message exhorting the family to "move out da hood," according to the police report San Antonio police officers took from the family. Another car had scratches and graffiti to the rear, and police confirm that the Motaweas have been targeted, apparently because of their religion and ethnicity.

"It is classified as a hate crime," San Antonio police spokeswoman Sandy Gutierrez said.

"The message was clear," Said Motawea, 51, said. "We were targeted."

The Motaweas and Sarwat Husain, president of the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said authorities should pay more attention to hate crimes. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

VIDEO: SAN ANTONIO MUSLIM FAMILY VICTIM OF SUSPECTED HATE CRIME
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2h-V6sm4KF0

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CAIR-MO: DOOLEY VOWS TO RESOLVE ISLAMIC CENTER ISSUE - TOP
Phil Sutin, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 7/18/07
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/stlouiscitycounty/stor

y/682DF826AB10727A8625731C001248C1?OpenDocument

St. Louis County "will work something out" to resolve a zoning dispute and allow the Islamic Community Center organization to build at a site in south St. Louis County, County Executive Charlie Dooley says.

After Tuesday's County Council meeting, Dooley walked up to four people who had spoken out against the council's denial of a rezoning for the Islamic center. He told them "we'll work it out."

The group, whose members mainly are Bosnian, wants to build a structure of 25,000 square feet on 4.72 acres on the northwest side of Lemay Ferry Road, 75 feet northeast of Buckley Road near Mehlville High School. The four speakers were outside the council chamber when Dooley approached them.

In an interview a short time later, the county executive said he wanted to resolve the matter "before it gets out of hand."

He said he could not be more specific because of a lawsuit challenging the council's denial of the rezoning in April. But he indicated the county counselor's office was discussing the matter with the attorney for the center.

At the council meeting, Councilman John Campisi, R-south St. Louis County, shouted "I'm no bigot" after Rick Isserman called the denial of the rezoning an act of bigotry. . .

Isserman is a grandson of the late Rabbi Ferdinand Isserman of Temple Israel. Ferdinand Isserman was the rabbi in 1959 when the temple won a state Supreme Court ruling against Creve Coeur, which had blocked the temple's plans to move there.

Melissa Matos, executive director of the Missouri chapter of the Council of American Islamic Relations, told the council that federal law does not allow governments to impose a greater burden on religious institutions than they would on private ones. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

CAIR-SEATTLE BANQUET A SUCCESS - TOP

(SEATTLE, WA 7/18/07) - Almost 200 people turned out Saturday for the annual banquet of the Washington chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-WA). Representative Jim McDermott (D-WA), Former U.S. Ambassador to Iraq Edward Peck, and UC-Berkeley law professor Dr. Hatem Bazian spoke at the event, with the theme "American Muslims: Connecting & Sharing."

CAIR Chairman Dr. Parvez Ahmed and several prominent imams also spoke at the event, which was attended by imams, local elected officials, community activists, and members of the interfaith community.

CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 33 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.

CONTACT: CAIR-WA President Arsalan Bukhari, 206-931-3655, abukhari@cair.com

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PANEL HIGHLIGHTS: ATTACKING ISLAM: IMPLICATIONS FOR SOCIAL COHESION AND U.S. RELATIONS WITH THE MUSLIM WORLD - TOP
http://drparvezahmed.blogspot.com/2007/07/attacking-islam-implications-for-social.html

Presenters:
* David Keene, Chairman, American Conservative Union
* Parvez Ahmed, Chairman, Council on American-Islamic Relations

WHEN: Tuesday, July 17, 2007, 9:30 a.m. - 11 a.m.
WHERE: Holeman Lounge, National Press Club, Washington, D.C.

Excerpts from Remarks by Parvez Ahmed

As a nation, we are at a crossroad. One path is laden with fear and paranoia. The other path is sober and pragmatic. Following the tragic attacks on 9-11, US policies have been largely driven by fear. The fact that "fear" was a primary motivator in the immediate aftermath of 9-11 is understandable. But six years later the fact that our policies continue to be driven by fear is problematic.

It is problematic because policies driven by fear will be naturally irrational. Thus, to sustain such irrationality, the Bush administration, often through their surrogates have resorted to fear mongering. This has unleashed a vicious cycle. One in which fear leads to bad polices and bad policies lead to more fear. Caught in this vicious cycle are Muslims - whose faith has been blamed for everything from genocide to terrorism with bad governance in between.

Rather than focus on a narrow minority of fanatics that are behind the terrorist attacks or the handful of unelected rulers whose actions remain antithetical to their faith, the popular discourse in America today remains mired in stereotypical pronouncements about Islam.

As a result Muslims and their faith Islam remains misunderstood, feared and shunned - 4 in 10 Americans admit being prejudiced about Muslims. A country as diverse as America and one that stands on the principles of liberty and justice for all can ill afford to remain entrenched in such prejudices and paranoia.

Despite the fact that the American Muslim community has to live with consequences of a pervasive Islamophobia, the community shows remarkable optimism. A recent poll by the Pew Center shows that American Muslims are mostly mainstream and decidedly American in their outlook, values, and attitudes. American Muslims have a positive view towards the larger society and overwhelmingly reject extremism in all its forms. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

LETTER: 'FUNDAMENTALIST' MUSLIMS WHO REJECT ALL TERRORISM - TOP
Wall Street Journal, 7/18/07
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB118472246751069817.html?mod=googlenews_wsj

The most important point of R. James Woolsey and Nina Shea's commentary ("What About Muslim Moderates?" editorial page, July 10) is left implicit: It is not that Muslims differ a great deal from one another and that we should do like the U.K. and cultivate moderates and reject extremists; rather, the important point is in the authors' definition of what constitutes a moderate Muslim.

The Bush administration has been focusing on promoting those Muslims who endorse democracy and human rights -- which only small minorities do. However, survey after survey shows that the overwhelming number of Muslims in large Muslim nations such as Bangladesh and Indonesia -- as well as in North Africa, and even among the Palestinians -- are devout, "fundamentalist" Muslims who nevertheless reject suicide bombers, car bombs and, more generally, terrorism.

We tend to assume that a "true believer" is strongly religious and will favor imposing their views on others by the use of force. However, just as very few of the millions of Christian fundamentalists support bombing abortion clinics and chasing homosexuals out of town, likewise do most devout Muslims oppose the use of force -- even if they do not embrace our kind of democracy and the U.N. panoply of human rights.

We should ally ourselves with all those who reject terrorism and not make subscription to democracy our initial litmus test.

Amitai Etzioni, Professor of International Relations, George Washington University, Washington

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CT: SHAME ON PRISON OFFICIALS - TOP
Susan Campbell, Hartford Courant, 7/18/07
http://www.courant.com/features/lifestyle/hc-susan0718.artjul18,0,6613708.column

Islam's sacred text, the Quran, is full of scriptures that admonish against pride. In fact, most religious texts warn against arrogance.

Yet the sad plight of Muslim chaplain Bilal Ansari continues, and for that we can blame the arrogance of his employer, the state Department of Correction.

In February, someone went into Ansari's office at J.B. Gates Correctional Institution in Niantic to Wite-Out the face of a young Ansari in a photo, and to mark their work with a written racial epithet. Next month, someone reported that Ansari, an African American and a part-time chaplain, had stored on his computer an audio file that examined jihad and terrorism, and the vast difference between the two words. The content was not explored before Ansari's computer was confiscated and his office draped with yellow tape. The state police began investigating both incidents, but they only used the yellow tape for the computer investigation, not the earlier hate crime.

In the recent past, Ansari has been hospitalized several times with what doctors say is job-related stress. Other Muslim prison chaplains say there are too few imams - religious leaders - on the department's staff to lead important Friday prayers, known as Jumu'ah, in every prison, and sometimes Muslims worship under circumstances that don't respect the needs of their faith.

When he spoke recently with Department of Correction Commissioner Theresa C. Lantz on one of her weekly tours of prison facilities, Ansari showed her a picture of his wife and their four children. "I am a human being," he said, as he showed Lantz the photo. Lantz has issued department memos decrying bad behavior in any form, but in June, when the opportunity arose for Ansari to move from Gates, he went to Brooklyn Correctional Institution, where he serves a handful of Muslims, he said. This grandson of a Pentecostal minister and son of a Muslim imam would have preferred staying where he could serve more Muslims, but the pressure at Gates - bad performance reviews and the like - was affecting his health and his home life. "I felt unsafe there," he says simply. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

CT: A CHANCE TO SEE BEYOND THE VEIL OF BIAS - TOP
Jennifer Warner Cooper, Hartford Courant, 7/18/07
http://www.courant.com/news/opinion/op_ed/hc-cooper0718.artjul18,0,7673759.story

It was fear that drove me to attend the Muslim convention in Hartford on July 7.

In the days and weeks that followed 9/11, we were gripped with incomparable fear. Mothers on soccer sidelines whispered about gas masks on e-Bay. We questioned the efficacy of duct-taped plastic wrap as a household barrier against chemical warfare.

The hysteria has since been quelled, but the fear remains, simmering, and reminders of our vulnerability - a car bomb in Glasgow, Michael Chertoff's "gut feeling"- are too frequent.

But I fear more than potential acts of terrorism: I fear the angry swell of our own anti-Muslim backlash. I fear the ugly vitriol spewed forth on the Internet, where anonymous commentators unleash torrents of raw hatred. When The Courant reported on the Muslim convention, the reader responses on the paper's website were so hateful and profane that the editors shut the comment thread down.

I fear for the Pakistani and Indian boys and girls in Glastonbury, who hear other children hiss "terrorist!" as they brush past in school hallways. I fear for the West Hartford teenage Muslim who denies his faith to avoid being bullied. We've become a nation that sanctions hate against 1.2 billion fellow inhabitants of the planet - very frightening.

In an effort to confront my fears, I attended the annual convention, which offered a free symposium for non-Muslims.

The speakers were an eclectic mix: A burly Texan praised Allah in his Southern drawl and spat harsh criticism of hypocritical Christians, while Yvonne Ridley, a British journalist who was kidnapped by the Taliban in Afghanistan in 2001, spoke about women in Islam. A professor defined "jihad" and asserted that "Islamic terrorism" is as oxymoronic as would be "Christian Nazism." He denounced radicals who commit violent acts in the name of Allah, and lamented that no one is listening to this Muslim condemnation.

For lunch, non-Muslims were invited to join groups hosted by two Muslims. The unholy trinity of fear, uncertainty and doubt tapped on my shoulder, warning me of a recruitment effort, but I pushed my hesitation aside and got in line.

I joined three college women, a married Congregationalist couple and two middle-aged Catholic women. Our hosts, a Waterbury man and a New Jersey woman, were gracious as we sat down to curried chicken and lentils. The recruitment pitch never came.

What came instead was an inquisition from one of the Catholic women, who demanded of our male host, "You all seem nice, so why are so many of you terrorists?" (MORE)

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com

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