* Verse: Evil and Good Are Not Equal
* CAIR-OH: National Security Experts Address Banquet
* MI: Arab Americans Rally to Show Unity (Free Press)
            - IL: ‘Islam Is Not the Problem’
* Have Gitmo Judges Soured on War Tribunals? (Slate)
            - Video: Nexus of Politics and Terror (MSNBC)
* NJ: Group Wields a Big Stick for Israel (Record)
* UK: Muhammad is No. 2 in Boys Names (Times)
* Quran, Sunna, International Treaties Refuse FGM

-----

VERSE OF THE DAY: EVIL AND GOOD ARE NOT EQUAL - TOP

“The only duty of the Messenger is to pass on My Message. God knows all that you reveal and all that you conceal. Say: ‘Evil and good are not equal, even though the abundance of the evil may dazzle you. So be conscious of God, O people of understanding, that you may prosper.’”

The Holy Quran, 5:99-100

-----

CAIR-OH: NATIONAL SECURITY EXPERTS ADDRESS BANQUET - TOP

(CLEVELAND, OH, 6/6/07) – More than 350 people turned out Sunday when the Cleveland office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations Ohio chapter (CAIR-OH) held its fifth annual banquet and fundraiser, with the theme “American Muslims: Connecting & Sharing.”

The speakers included renowned experts Dr. Robert A. Pape and Dr. John Mueller, who spoke about America's national security strategy and policies in the post-9/11 era.

CAIR National Board Chairman Dr. Parvez Ahmed spoke on the challenges facing American Muslims and the need to stay connected and engaged. Imam Johari Abdul Malik of the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque encouraged Muslims to stand firmly to protect civil rights.

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

CONTACT: Julia A. Shearson, Tel: 216-830-2247 or 216-440-2247, E-Mail: jshearson@cair.com; Dr. Asma Mobin-Uddin, Tel: 614-560-0272, E-mail: asma@cair-ohio.com

-----

MI: ARAB AMERICANS TO RALLY WEDNESDAY IN DEARBORN - TOP
Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press, 6/5/07
http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070605/NEWS02/7060505

4/1027/FEATURES02

Arab Americans plan to rally Wednesday at Dearborn City Hall to show unity at a time of division in the Arab and Muslim worlds.

The event will start at 5:30 p.m. in front of City Hall, 13615 Michigan Ave., followed by a town hall meeting at 7 at the Lebanese American Heritage Club, 4337 Maple Road, according to a news release from organizers.

The rally will include metro Detroiters of Iraqi, Palestinian, and Lebanese descent. They said they are concerned about increasing divisions in the Arab world.

SEE ALSO:

IL: PROBLEM ISN'T MUSLIMS – IT'S RELIGIOUS FANATICS - TOP
Bloomington Pantagraph, 6/6/07
http://www.pantagraph.com/articles/2007/06/04/opinion/letters/126316.txt

This is in response to the letter by Anna Helmers (“We're engaged in war between good, evil,'” YourViews, May 29).

As a lifelong Christian who has actually read the Quran, I think her comments about Islam being the greatest threat to the United States are unrealistic.

Fanatics of any religion can be a threat to us, I will grant that, but that includes anyone who calls themselves Christian, Muslim, Taoist, whatever.

Islam is not the problem; militant religious fanatics are the problem.

And, according to the Quran, it is not desirable to die for Mohammed - peace be unto him. The Quran is very explicit, “If you murder someone, you forfeit your right to live.”

And Islam is not the only religion that has asked its followers to die for the faith. Does anyone remember a thing called the Crusades? I seem to remember something about the pope of the time saying that all knights would go to heaven for fighting in the Crusades.

And if the Muslim child were “totally indoctrinated to do the will of Islam,” they would be taught to treat others as they wished to be treated, give alms, pray five times daily and be a good person.

So I guess we should be watching out for Islamic children who are nice to us, help us when we're down by giving us a few dollars and pray for us to get back on our feet.

Chris Fulton
Streator

-----

LINE IN THE SAND - TOP
Have the Guantanamo judges soured on the president's war tribunals?
Dahlia Lithwick, Slate, 6/5/07
http://www.slate.com/id/2167691

What do John Ashcroft, Michael Luttig, Alberto Mora, David Petraeus, Robert Gates, Peter Brownback, and Keith Allred have in common? They are all lifelong conservatives and/or belt-and-suspenders, longtime military officers who were willing to both follow and, in their own ways, lead President Bush's "war on terror." Until, at least, each in his own way felt compelled to say, "Enough."

By far, the most stunning aspect of the dismissed charges against Omar Khadr and Salim Ahmed Hamdan­the only two Guantanamo detainees staring down the barrel of a military trial­was that the two military judges in the cases (not one but two, mind you) dismissed them sua sponte, that is to say, without significant briefing or argument from the defense. (It does appear that Hamdan made a motion to do so, but only immediately after Army Col. Peter Brownback had ruled in Khadr's case.) That two military officers­Brownback and Navy Capt. Keith Allred­devised their own rationales for dismissing the charges is an astonishing development. They could have readily allowed these two trials to go forward; it would not have been difficult for them to construe the Military Commissions Act to provide them jurisdiction, especially if they had simply deferred to President Bush's 2002 determination that all associates and agents of al-Qaida are automatically "unlawful" enemy combatants. Instead, the two judges took it upon themselves to tell the Pentagon to go back to the drawing board and prove that these defendants were not only combatants, but that they had acted unlawfully­or else the tribunal does not even have jurisdiction to go forward with their war-crimes trials.

In the coming weeks, we may well learn that Brownback and Allred drive Volkswagen buses and wear love beads. But I doubt it. More likely, we'll learn that they are among the many, many highly conservative legal and career military professionals once willing to follow this president wherever he led them, until suddenly one day when they were not. And just as John Ashcroft and James Comey have recently become the very unlikely poster boys for going toe-to-toe with this president, my guess is that Brownback and Allred were similarly using yesterday's proceedings to draw a line in the sand. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

VIDEO: NEXUS OF POLITICS AND TERROR - TOP
Keith Olberman, MSNBC, 6/5/07
http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=142508ab-3e04-4077-923a-

7cf30c3420ba&f=00&fg

From the mind-bending idea that four guys dressed as pizza delivery men were going to outgun all the soldiers at Fort Dix, N.J., to the not-too-thought-out plan to blow up JFK Airport -- time to update "The Nexus of Politics and Terror."

View video: http://video.msn.com/v/us/msnbc.htm?g=142508ab-3e04-

4077-923a-7cf30c3420ba&f=00&fg

-----

NJ: BERGEN GROUP WIELDS A BIG STICK FOR ISRAEL - TOP
John Chadwick, 6/6/07
http://www.northjersey.com/page.php?qstr=eXJpcnk3ZjczN2Y3dnFlZUV

FeXkzJmZnYmVsN2Y3dnFlZUVFeXk3MTQ3MDk3JnlyaXJ5N2Y3MT

dmN3ZxZWVFRXl5Mg==

An Englewood political action committee has emerged as one of the most powerful advocates for Israel, raising hundreds of thousands of dollars in campaign cash for U.S. congressional candidates.

NORPAC doesn't look like much at first glance. It operates from a private home and has only a few paid staffers.

What it does have is an abundance of money.

When Sen. Joseph Lieberman faced the political fight of his life last year, NORPAC stepped in with $140,000, the bulk of it in bundled contributions from individual donors, according to the Center for Responsive Politics, a non-partisan group that tracks campaign spending.

The reason for NORPAC's interest in a Connecticut race, in which Lieberman fended off a challenge from anti-war Democrat Ned Lamont, was simple.

"Lieberman was a friendly incumbent who was stellar on our issue," said Ben Chouake of Englewood, NORPAC's president.

The mostly volunteer group ventures far beyond the Northeast to back federal candidates, such as Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., whom it sees as supportive of the Jewish state. And it also helps defeat candidates, such as former Rep. Cynthia McKinney, D-Ga., whom it sees as hostile to Israel. (MORE)

-----

UK: MUHAMMAD IS NO 2 IN BOY'S NAMES - TOP
Helen Nugent and Nadia Menuhin, Times, 6/6/07
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/uk/article1890354.ece

Muhammad is now second only to Jack as the most popular name for baby boys in Britain and is likely to rise to No 1 by next year, a study by The Times has found. The name, if all 14 different spellings are included, was shared by 5,991 newborn boys last year, beating Thomas into third place, followed by Joshua and Oliver.

Scholars said that the name’s rise up the league table was driven partly by the growing number of young Muslims having families, coupled with the desire to name their child in honour of the Prophet.

Muhammad Anwar, Professor of Ethnic Relations at Warwick University, said: “Muslim parents like to have something that shows a link with their religion or with the Prophet.”

Although the official names register places the spelling Mohammed at No 23, an analysis of the top 3,000 names provided by the Office for National Statistics (ONS) puts Muhammad at No 2 once the 14 spellings are taken into account. If its popularity continues – it rose by 12 per cent last year – the name will take the top spot by the end of this year. It first entered the Top 30 in 2000.

The spelling Muhammad, like all transliterations, comes from replacing the Arabic script with what is deemed its closest Latin equivalent. There are many versions in Britain, depending on where the family are from and variations in pronounciation.

Muhammad, which means “one who is praiseworthy”, is often given to boys as an honorary prefix and is followed by the name by which they are commonly known. It is regularly cited as the most common name in the world, though there is no concrete evidence.

Mufti Abdul Barkatullah, a former imam at the Finchley mosque in northwest London, said: “Parents who name their son Muhammad believe that the name has an effect on their personality and future characteristics. They are saying that this boy will be of good character. (MORE)

-----

QURAN, SUNNA AND INTERNATIONAL TREATIES REFUSE FGM - TOP
News Yemen, 6/6/07
http://www.newsyemen.net/en/view_news.asp?sub_no=3_2007_06_03_6693

Participants in the regional consultative meeting on violence against girls held on May 30-31, held upon "clerics who encourage families to do girls circumcision claiming it is a religious purification" responsible for health complications of such "a physical violence".

The meeting, involved Egypt, Djibouti, Oman, Sudan, and Yemen, called clerics to make stand against "this bad habit", urging the lawmakers to design laws that prevent girls' circumcision and punish violators.

The participants said the girls' circumcision is not part of Islam and banned in all international treaties. (MORE)

-----

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