Muslim American News Briefs, June 14, 2007
In the Name of God, the Compassionate,
the Merciful
* Verse: Protect Houses of
Worship
* CAIR Condemns Samarra Mosque
Bombing
- CAIR-MI:
Muslims to Hold Unity Rally (Free
Press)
* MI: Arab-American Booted from Bus
(Free Press)
* CAIR: Teacher Fights On in Flap
Over Anti-Islam Speaker
- Robertson:
'Islam is Not a Religion' (Media Matters)
* CAIR-MD/VA: Video - Muslim
Child Denied Entry to U.S.
- CAIR-MD/VA:
Toddler in Limbo Over U.S.
Immigration (AP)
* NJ: Call to Prayer or Public
'Nuisance'? (Herald News)
- NM:
Coach Offers to Settle Muslim Bias Suit
* DC: FBI in Public Appeal to
Muslims (Reuters)
- CA:
FBI More Interested in Terror Ties
(Chico E-R)
* CAIR-Chicago: MN Muslims
in Culture Clash at Airport (Reuters)
- MI:
ACLU Approves Foot Baths (Detroit News)
* CAIR-MO to Co-Sponsor Community
Civil Rights Forum
- CAIR-CA
to Co-Sponsor 'Growing Up X' Book Signing
-----
VERSE OF THE DAY: PROTECT HOUSES OF WORSHIP - TOP
"Who could be more wicked than those who bar the mention of God's name
from (any of) His houses of worship and strive for their ruin."
The Holy Quran, 2:114
-----
CAIR CONDEMNS SAMARRA MOSQUE BOMBING - TOP
Islamic leaders urged to call for calm
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 6/13/07) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR)
today condemned the most recent attack on Iraq's Askariya mosque in Samarra
and urged Islamic leaders in Iraq and worldwide to call for calm.
Attackers destroyed the minarets of the mosque early Wednesday. CAIR
condemned a similar attack on the mosque in 2006 that shattered its famous
golden dome and sparked an ongoing cycle of sectarian violence.
SEE: Golden
Dome Mosque is Bombed Again (AP)
SEE ALSO: U.S.
Muslims to Call for Unity After Attack on Iraqi Shrine (2006)
In its statement, CAIR said:
"We strongly condemn this obvious attempt to incite further sectarian
violence in Iraq and hope that those responsible will be apprehended and
punished. We also urge all Islamic leaders in Iraq and worldwide to ask
their followers to remain calm and to turn this tragic event into an
opportunity for intra-faith dialogue and reconciliation.
"As the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said in his final sermon:
'Regard the life and property of every Muslim as a sacred trust. . .Hurt no
one so that no one may hurt you.'"
Dawud Walid, the executive director of CAIR's Michigan office, told the
Detroit Free Press: "We want to affirm our unity as Shi'ites and
Sunnis. We should be an example of how all Muslims can work together."
SEE: Muslim
Leaders to Hold Unity Rally Today in Dearborn
The Washington-based council also condemned a bomb attack on a Lebanese
legislator in Beirut that left at least 10 people dead and urged Palestinian
factions to end the cycle of violence in the Gaza Strip.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 33 offices and
chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to promote justice,
enhance the understanding of Islam, and empower American Muslims.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim
Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com;
CAIR Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441,
E-Mail: rahmed@cair.com; CAIR
Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, E-Mail: arubin@cair.comSEE ALSO:
CAIR-MI: MUSLIM LEADERS TO HOLD UNITY RALLY TODAY IN DEARBORN - TOP
Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press, 6/13/07
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070613/NEWS02/70613030
Muslims are planning to gather in Dearborn this afternoon to call for unity in the aftermath of the bombing of one of the most important mosques for Shi'ite Muslims in Iraq.
Sunni and Shi'ite leaders are expected to hold a 4 p.m. news conference at the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center in Dearborn, a Shi'ite mosque headed by Imam Husham Al-Husainy.
"We want to affirm our unity as Shi'ites and Sunnis," said Dawud Walid, head of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "We should be an example of how all Muslims can work together."
-----
MI: ARAB-AMERICAN SAYS HE WAS BOOTED FROM BUS - TOP
Niraj Warikoo, Free Press, 6/12/07
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070612/NEWS01/70612036/0/PRINT
An Arab-American man from Dearborn claims he was kicked off a Greyhound bus by a driver who allegedly told him, "Get away Arab."
According to a lawsuit filed Monday in Detroit against Greyhound, Iraqi native Faroq Alfatlawi boarded a bus in Detroit for Washington, D.C., on Jan. 24, 2006.
During a rest stop in Toledo, Alfatlawi got off the bus to have a cigarette, according to the lawsuit.
When he tried to board the bus, the driver told him he couldn't get on "because you smoked in the bus," the suit said. Alfatlawi said he never smoked on the bus.
The driver then allegedly said, "Get away Arab," and denied him entry.
Alfatlawi said he asked if he could get his luggage, but the bus drove off, and he never got his belongings back, according to the suit.
A Greyhound spokeswoman was not immediately available to comment.
The suit was filed by attorney Shereef Akeel in U.S. District Court in Detroit.
-----
CAIR: TEACHER FIGHTS ON IN FLAP OVER ANTI-ISLAM SPEAKER - TOP
Yonat Shimron, News Observer, 6/13/07
http://www.newsobserver.com/news/story/602017.html
The former Enloe High School history teacher who invited a Christian evangelist to speak to his students is not taking his reprimand quietly.
Social studies teacher Robert Escamilla said the Wake County school system squelched free speech and academic freedom -- and he is finding a growing group of supporters.
In the days since he was reassigned to Mary E. Phillips High School, 100 of his former students have signed a petition to have him reinstated at Enloe. The chairwoman of the social studies department at Enloe wrote a forceful letter to the school board calling him a "sacrificial lamb." A Web site (www.freeesco.com) is being built and bank account has been set up to help with his legal bills.
Escamilla maintains he did nothing wrong when he invited Kamil Solomon, an Egyptian-born Christian who lives in Raleigh, to speak to 300 or so Enloe students about his persecution at the hands of the Egyptian government. On the contrary, Escamilla said, he thought the visit by the evangelist was an educational exercise that exposed his students to different opinions and challenged them to form their own views.
The question is this, he said: "Are we going to be open to a variety of different perspectives versus are we going to limit and censor and shut down the educational experience and environment to keep out people with certain views?"
Escamilla, who readily avows his own Christian faith, acknowledges that Solomon was not neutral toward Muslims. But he insists that his guest did not denigrate Islam or attempt to convert students to Christianity during the visit. . .
After the students brought home the pamphlets, several parents complained to the principal. One of them, a native of Pakistan, got in touch with the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national Muslim advocacy group, which demanded an explanation from the school. Sensing a rising chorus of outrage, the school system investigated. (MORE)
SEE ALSO:
ROBERTSON: 'ISLAM IS NOT A RELIGION. IT IS A WORLDWIDE POLITICAL MOVEMENT MEANT ON DOMINATION' - TOP
Media Matters, 6/12/07
http://mediamatters.org/items/200706120009?f=h_topic
On the June 12 edition of the Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club, following a report on Muslims in Minneapolis seeking religious accommodations at school and work, host Pat Robertson stated, "Ladies and gentlemen, we have to recognize that Islam is not a religion. It is a worldwide political movement meant on domination of the world. And it is meant to subjugate all people under Islamic law." He characterized the American Muslim community as "Islam light" and went on to say Muslims "want to take over and we want to impose Sharia on you. And before long, ladies are going to be dressed in burqas and whatever garments they would put on them, and next thing you know, men are going to be allowed to have wife-beating and you'll be beheading adulterers and so on and so forth."
As Media Matters for America noted, during the September 25 edition of The 700 Club, following a report on a summit between Pope Benedict XVI and Muslim envoys to address tensions over controversial remarks the pope made about Islam, Robertson stated: "It's amazing how the Muslims deal with history and the truth with violence. They don't understand what reasoned dialogue is." Media Matters has documented other attacks by Robertson on Muslims.
From the June 12 edition of the Christian Broadcasting Network's The 700 Club:
ROBERTSON: The question would be, ladies and gentlemen, if a million Christians want to go to Saudi Arabia and say, "We want to pray," you can't pray in Saudi Arabia. You can't have religious literature in Saudi Arabia. You can't get together in Bible study groups in Saudi Arabia. As far as having special places for foot-washing and all that, no way. You will abide by Sharia law because they're in control.
Ladies and gentlemen, we have to recognize that Islam is not a religion. It is a worldwide political movement meant on domination of the world. And it is meant to subjugate all people under Islamic law. In the Quran, it says it very clearly. There are two spheres. One is the Dar al-Harb, which is the realm of war. The other is Dar al-Islam, which is that part that's under submission to Islam. There is no middle ground. You're either at war or you're under submission. Now, that's the way they think. (MORE)
-----
CAIR-MD/VA: MUSLIM CHILD DENIED ENTRY TO U.S. TO BE WITH PARENTS - TOP
Boy's Application Delayed
Julie Carey, NBC4, 6/12/07
http://www.nbc4.com/news/13491623/detail.html
The Council on American-Islamic Relations wants to know why a 3-year-old Muslim child whose father is a U.S. citizen and whose mother is a permanent resident is not being allowed in the country, News4's Julie Carey reported.
The Falls Church couple told Carey they do not know when they'll see their son again, even after a year of calls, letters and visits to immigration officials. They said their application to bring Ahmed Yasinne to northern Virginia has been delayed by U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. In the meantime, the boy is living with his aunt in Morocco.
"Each time I call I get a different answer," said his father, Abdel Boujrad.
Boujrad came to the United States from Morocco in 1997 and became a citizen in 2005. His wife, Leila, received permanent residence status in 2006. By that time, she had given birth to Ahmed Yassine. When she came the United States, she was told she couldn't bring her son but was assured he would be reunited with her in six to seven months, Carey reported.
Officials with CAIR said his name is similar to a Palestinian leader assassinated by Israel, which may be the cause for the delay.
"His case is pending because it is under administrative review," said Morris Days, of CAIR. "Administrative review means that either there is something wrong with your case -- there is very little that a 3-year-old could have done, he has no criminal background, nothing to be reviewed."
Immigration officials could not be reached for comment.
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-MD/VA: TODDLER IN LIMBO OVER U.S. IMMIGRATION - TOP
Matthew Barakat, Associated Press, 6/13/07
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/1110AP_Immigration_Toddler.html
It never occurred to Abdeloihab Boujrad that the U.S. government may be confusing his 3-year-old son with the former leader of an Islamic militant group.
But that's exactly what a civil rights group believes is blocking Boujrad, a U.S. citizen, from bringing the toddler from Morocco to live with him and his wife, a legal permanent resident.
Boujrad has fought unsuccessfully for more than two years to have his son join him, and the U.S. government has never explained why it has not taken action on his son's immigration application.
The boy's first name, Ahmedyassine, resembles the name of Sheik Ahmed Yassin, the founder of the militant Palestinian group Hamas, who was assassinated by Israel in 2004.
Morris Days, a legal director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said many Muslims have faced unexplained delays and denials on immigration and citizenship applications since the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001. Confusion over names is not uncommon.
But the delays in processing the application for a toddler to join his parents are unfathomable unless one assumes that Ahmedyassine's name is tripping alarms, Days said.
"He's been advised that the case is currently undergoing administrative review," he said. "What kind of administrative review can they subject a baby to?"
Boujrad, 38, of Alexandria won an immigration lottery to come to the U.S. in 1997 and obtained citizenship in 2005. During that time, he traveled to Morocco a few months a year to be with his wife, Leila, to whom he has been married since 1999 and engaged since 1997 when he won the immigration lottery.
Leila did not get her green card until 2005, after her husband became a citizen. Ahmedyassine was born May 24, 2004. When Leila Boujrad's visa allowing her to travel to the United States was about to expire in 2005, she reluctantly decided to leave the boy with her sister while the immigration issues were sorted out. . .
Boujrad cannot appeal to immigration court because no decision has been made, Days said. His only option would be to sue in federal court to compel action on his application. Days said that is a possibility but he's hoping to deal with it on an administrative level. (MORE)
-----
NJ: PRAYER OR PUBLIC 'NUISANCE'? - TOP
Paul Brubaker, Herald News, 6/13/07
A resident who sued a local mosque after it tested a loudspeaker system for its Arabic call to prayer said his lawsuit was made moot when the City Council allowed such broadcasts under its noise ordinance. But he may go back to court if he hears the amplified chants again.
"They have not disturbed my peace yet," said Joseph Dorman, a retired UPS worker who lives a block away from the Albanian-American Islamic Center on Monroe Street.
Dorman's suit, filed on March 30 in state Superior Court in Hackensack, argued that the mosque's intent to use loudspeakers to call its congregants to prayer on Muslim high holy days would violate a city ordinance that prohibited amplification audible beyond a property line. It also said that city government's lack of enforcement of the noise ordinance gave the mosque an implicit exemption, which was unconstitutional.
But on May 8, the City Council amended its ordinance, exempting houses of worship from the loudspeaker prohibition. City Manager Thomas J. Duch said that he found many of the "bells" heard from the churches' belfries were prerecorded.
"Most of the churches use loudspeakers," Duch said Tuesday.
Dorman's attorney was Christopher A. Ferrara, president and lead counsel of the American Catholic Lawyers Association Inc., of Fairfield. The religious nonprofit organization provides free legal services to Catholics "needing legal defense in matters of faith and conscience," according to its Web site.
On Tuesday, Ferrara said the amended ordinance rendered the lawsuit "largely moot" with one remaining open issue. "If the noise comes up and we have a Catholic plaintiff, it could be a public nuisance case," he said. "We'd be willing to take a look at it." (MORE)
SEE ALSO:
NM: MUMME OFFERS TO SETTLE SUIT - TOP
Jose L. Medina, Las Cruces Sun-News, 6/13/07
http://www.lcsun-news.com/news/ci_6126713
Less than two weeks before trial, a settlement offer has been made to four former New Mexico State University football players to drop a religious discrimination lawsuit against head coach Hal Mumme.
Mumme's attorney said the offer was strategic and was not an admission of wrongdoing by the coach.
The offer was made Monday, according to court filings in federal district court in Las Cruces. The amount of the offer was not disclosed.
"Basically, it's a strategic move to put pressure on the plaintiffs to basically consider settling the case," said Larry White of Las Cruces, Mumme's attorney.
According to federal rules, if the players decline the offer and obtain a judgment at trial that is less favorable than Mumme's offer, the players would have to pay Mumme's court costs, not including attorney's fees, incurred after the offer was turned down.
"It encourages them to realistically look at the value of the claim," White said, adding that he would be surprised if the players accepted the offer.
"It's made in good faith - I can't really get into the discussions we've had - at least it should possibly bring them to the bargaining table," White said. . .
The suit seeks unspecified damages and was filed last year by players Mu'Ammar Ali, Anthony and Vincent Thompson and Jacob Wallace who all say they were singled out by Mumme because they are Muslim, leading to their dismissal from the team. (MORE)
-----
DC: FBI IN PUBLIC APPEAL TO MUSLIMS, ARAB-AMERICANS - TOP
Andrea Shalal-Esa, Reuters, 6/13/07
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1330890120070613
The FBI has enlisted comedians in a drive to spruce up its image with Muslims and Arab-Americans damaged by a wave of arrests and searches since the September 11 attacks in 2001.
"It's so nice to be standing in front of the FBI and not be handcuffed," quipped Egyptian-American comedian Ahmed Ahmed, one of the performers at an FBI-sponsored comedy show during an American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee convention.
"Today's FBI. It's for you," said posters promoting the law-enforcement agency at the annual event attended by 1,000 people in a ballroom at a Washington, D.C., hotel on Saturday.
Sponsoring the show was also part of a campaign to recruit agents for a service that is seriously short of Muslims and Arab speakers at a time when U.S. security services fear attacks by Middle Eastern groups.
Ahmed, who arrived in the United States when he was a month old, said his life is complicated because he shares a name with a wanted man on nine FBI lists.
Ahmed, 37, helped launch the "Axis of Evil Comedy Tour" which has performed all over the United States and was featured in May on the U.S. Comedy Central cable channel.
Maz Jobrani, an Iranian-American actor and comedian, got thunderous applause when he arrived on stage and turned his digital camera on two tables reserved for FBI officials. "I just want to take a picture of you," he said.
Aron Kader, a Palestinian-American comedian, said he had no second thoughts about the FBI sponsorship. "I hope they tap my phone. I have a lot to say," Kader told Reuters.
Gwen Hubbard, chief recruiter for the FBI's National Recruiting/Testing Office, which paid $10,000 to sponsor the event, said it was the first time her office had appealed to Arab- and Muslim-Americans in this a way. (MORE)
SEE ALSO:
CA: FBI MORE INTERESTED IN TERRORIST TIES - TOP
Market owner testifies interrogation had little to do with arrest charges
Terry Vau Dell, Chico Enterprise-Record, 6/13/07
http://www.chicoer.com/newshome/ci_6127909
The Muslim owner of a neighborhood market in Chico testified in court Tuesday that when he and two employees were arrested as part of an undercover cigarette sales sting in 2005, the FBI interrogation focused almost entirely on whether they had any terrorist ties.
Butte County Superior Court Judge Steven Howell indicated he will rule next month on a motion to dismiss the criminal charges over the FBI's refusal to turn over to the defense information it claims it needs to prove the government discriminated against the trio based on their religion and nationality.
Bilal Yasin, 37, the owner of Chinca's market on Boucher Street in the Chapman neighborhood, claims he was unfairly targeted because he is the only Palestinian-born Muslim store owner in Butte County.
His lawyer contends the federal government improperly used the undercover sting to search Yasin's home and seize his computer, CD disks, Arabic language mail and some $19,000 in cash to try to uncover possible terrorist links.
The fact most of the seized property and money has since been returned to the market owner under a court order, shows that no such militant ties were found, his lawyer maintains.
Deputy district attorney Glenn Jennings argued in a written legal brief Tuesday the defense has failed to provide sufficient grounds at this point for dismissing the underlying criminal charges. (MORE)
-----
CAIR-CHICAGO: MINNESOTA MUSLIMS IN CULTURE CLASH AT AIRPORT - TOP
Todd Melby, Reuters
http://www.reuters.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN3035513520070612?pageNumber=1
For Mahamed Jama, a Minnesota taxi driver, the Islamic restriction on drinking alcohol is a seamless rule for life.
"He who carries alcohol, he who drinks and he who sells it are the same thing," he says.
That belief could affect his livelihood.
The commission that runs the Minneapolis airports in May began enforcing a new policy allowing it to revoke the licenses of drivers who refuse to ferry passengers carrying alcohol -- something that has happened to 4,854 travelers trying to get a cab at Minneapolis International Airport in the last five years.
"The increased penalties appear to have brought drivers into compliance," airport spokesman Patrick Hogan said of the policy -- a 30-day license suspension for a first infraction and a two-year license revocation for a second.
Although Hogan said the measure was implemented without incident, it has provoked outrage among some of the 900 cab drivers who work the airport. About three quarters of them are Somali, most of whom are Muslim.
"A few of them are really, really upset about it," said Omar Jamal, executive director of the Somali Justice Advocacy Center in neighboring St. Paul. "They believe they have been forced into something against their faith, something against their religion."
Nevertheless, Jamal's group does not support the stand taken by the drivers. "We don't understand why they do this," he said. The issue is really "a process of getting adjusted to new territory, new culture."
Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the drivers are using a "strict and rigid" interpretation of Islamic law. (MORE)
SEE ALSO:
DEARBORN: ACLU APPROVES FOOT BATHS - TOP
Detroit News, 6/13/07
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070613/METRO01/706130329/1006
The Detroit branch of the American Civil Liberties Union has concluded a plan by the University of Michigan-Dearborn to spend $25,000 on foot baths for Muslims poses no constitutional problems. The group deemed it a "reasonable accommodation" to solve an issue that arose when Muslims used public sinks for the cleansings, Kary Moss, the branch's executive director, said Tuesday. "There's no intent to promote religion," she said.
-----
CAIR-MO TO CO-SPONSOR COMMUNITY CIVIL RIGHTS FORUM - TOP
(ST. LOUIS, MO, 6/13/07) - On June 20, the St. Louis office of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR-St. Louis) and the Adult Education Committee of the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis will co-sponsor a community forum for understanding civil and legal rights with attorneys from the Immigration Law Project and Interfaith Legal Services for Immigrants.
The Immigration Law Project:
* Dan Horkheimer, Immigration Services
* Susan Alverson, Housing Unit
* Dan Clagett, Consumer Law
* Dan Underwood, Children's Advocacy
Interfaith Legal Services for Immigrants:
* Katie Hebert-Meyer
WHEN: Wednesday, June 20, 2007, 7 - 8:30 p.m.
WHERE: Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis, 517 Weidman Rd., Ballwin, MO
Join the community in getting answers to your civil rights questions and other important legal issues.
CONTACT: CAIR-St. Louis Executive Director Melissa Matos, Tel: 636.207.8882, Email: mmatos@cair.com
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-CA TO CO-SPONSOR 'GROWING UP X' BOOK SIGNING - TOP
Sponsored by CAIR & Project Islamic H.O.P.E
Please join the friends of Ilyasah Shabazz, daughter of Malcolm X and Dr. Betty Shabazz for a book signing and conversation on "Growing Up X."
WHEN: Sunday June 17, 2007 (Fathers day), Noon - 1:30 p.m.
WHERE: Bilal Islamic Center, 4016 S. Central Ave, Los Angeles CA. (King & Central Ave)
Cost of book which she will sign is only $15.00 dollars.
Sponsored by CAIR & Project Islamic HOPE. For more info e-mail islamichope@aol.com or call (323) 769-5267
-----
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
Fair Use Notice
This site contains copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of environmental, political, human rights, economic, democracy, scientific, and social justice issues, etc. We believe this constitutes a 'fair use' of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the US Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use', you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.
|
|
|
|
|
|
||
|
||||||
