Ellison Talks Up 'American Values' / MA Muslims Hear the Call to Chaplaincy

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful


AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 3/7/07

* Verse: Benefits of Perseverance
* NC: Al-Arian to be Force-Fed (AP)
* CAIR: Rep. Ellison Talks Up 'American Values' (AP)
* MA: Muslims Hear the Call to Chaplaincy (Boston Globe)
* CAIR-CAN: Muslims Upset at Soccer Hijab Ban (Reuters)
* CAIR-MI Banquet to Feature Robert Fisk
- CAIR-CT Annual Banquet on April 7
* CAIR Board Member Speaks at Brown University Event
* CAIR-CT: School Calls for Middle East Studies Next Year
* CAIR: Anti-Islam Talk at NC High School Prompts Action
- VA: We Should All Learn the Basics of Islam
* Turkey Hosts US Muslim Leader

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VERSE OF THE DAY: BENEFITS OF PERSEVERANCE - TOP

“O ye who believe! Seek help with patient perseverance and prayer. For God is with those who patiently persevere.”

Holy Quran, Surah 2, Verse 153

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NC: FASTING INMATE TOLD OFFICIALS WILL SOON START FORCE-FEEDING - TOP
Mike Baker, Associated Press, 3/7/07
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/local/16853122.htm

A former university professor on a hunger strike for the past 44 days to protest the circumstances of his imprisonment could soon be force fed, his lawyer said Wednesday.

Sami al-Arian, a Palestinian who taught computer science at the University of South Florida, stopped eating on Jan. 22 to protest a judge's decision to hold him indefinitely after he refused to testify before a Virginia grand jury.

Nahla al-Arian said her husband has lost more than 40 pounds on the water-only diet and is so weak that he needs a wheelchair.

"His health is really deteriorating," she said. "We are really worried that there will be permanent damage."

Because of that, officials at the Federal Medical Facility in Butner have told al-Arian that they will begin force feeding if his condition worsens, said his lawyer, Peter Erlinder.

"It's an invasive procedure, and there's some danger of injury," Erlinder said. "We're hopeful that that there can be resolution before that. (U.S. Attorney General Alberto) Gonzales could end this all with a stroke of a pen."

Supporters of al-Arian have asked Gonzales to deport al-Arian before his scheduled release from prison in April. Prosecutors and al-Arian had agreed to deportation as a part of the plea deal. Erlinder declined to say where al-Arian would be deported.

During a six-month trial in 2005, prosecutors labeled al-Arian a leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which the United States calls a foreign terrorist organization. The trial ended in an acquittal on some counts and a hung jury on others. (MORE)

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CAIR: ELLISON TALKS UP 'AMERICAN VALUES' IN STATE DEPARTMENT OUTREACH - TOP
Frederic J. Frommer, Associated Press, 3/7/07
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/politics/16854050.htm

WASHINGTON - The State Department is turning to Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, to help burnish the country's image in the Muslim world - despite Ellison's outspoken criticism of the Bush administration's foreign policy.

"I plan to talk to people in the State Department and anywhere I can to help try to improve America's image in the Muslim world, make friends for our country," Ellison, a freshman Minnesota Democrat, said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "I want to help win friends for our country and to isolate true enemies."

In articles which included translations into Arabic and other languages, Ellison has been profiled by the State Department's Bureau of International Information Programs, which is distributed in foreign countries. He has meetings scheduled at the end of the month with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and with Karen Hughes, the State Department's undersecretary for public diplomacy; Ellison spoke with Hughes by phone a few weeks ago.

The State Department did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.

Ellison, who has called for an immediate withdrawal of military forces from Iraq, said he didn't find it difficult to reconcile his criticism of the administration's foreign policy with his promotion of American values.

"Look, you know, administrations come and go," he said. "But the basic core message of this country - which is tolerance, human rights, opportunity - does not change, regardless of who happens to be the president."

"And just because sometimes administration policies don't clearly reflect that - as in the Iraq war - doesn't mean it's not still a core value of the American people," Ellison added.

Ellison's outreach with the State Department was first reported by McClatchy News Service.

Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an Islamic civil rights group, said that anything that can help the U.S. image in Muslim countries should be tried.

"I think Keith Ellison is in a unique position to demonstrate the true nature of religious diversity in the United States to the Muslim world," Hooper said. "I don't think the State Department will ask him to endorse foreign policy - it will be a more generic, pro-American endeavor."

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MA: MORE MUSLIMS HEAR THE CALL TO CHAPLAINCY AS A WAY TO SHARE THEIR FAITH YET MINISTER TO ALL - TOP
Vanessa E. Jones, Boston Globe, 3/7/07
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/03/07/a_study_in_comfort/

Imam Salih Yucel sits beside the hospital bed of Fazal Mabud, a 66-year-old native of Pakistan who lives in Brighton, and begins offering him spiritual guidance. Mabud had heart surgery six months before, but it was unsuccessful. The next morning he would go under the knife again.

"You are in good hands," Yucel, a Muslim chaplain at Brigham and Women's Hospital, reassures Mabud. Yucel counsels Mabud to say a prayer of supplication and repeat an Arabic word for God 100 times in preparation for the operation. Then the pair bend their heads, turn their open palms toward their faces, and begin to pray.

Mabud is one of about 11 patients Yucel will visit at the hospital on this day. His weekly schedule includes working two days at Brigham and Women's and two days at Children's Hospital Boston. He's also on call at the North Shore Medical Center.

One reason for his popularity could be this: Yucel is the only Muslim chaplain in the Boston area with clinical pastoral education, an interfaith training program that teaches spiritual leaders how to care for people in crisis, says Mary Robinson, director of Children's Hospital's Chaplaincy program. Because of this training, says Robinson, "if he were doing a preoperative visit, he's skilled in caring for a Roman Catholic or a Jew or a Protestant who would like to have prayer before their surgery."

CPE, as it's called, is one of the qualifications employers seek when they hire chaplains, but it's a rarity among imams, Robinson says. In fact, Robinson remembers that when the hospital hired its first Muslim chaplain 13 years ago it couldn't find an applicant with the CPE certification.

That situation is changing with the help of Connecticut's Hartford Seminary , which seven years ago established what remains the only degree program in the nation for Muslim chaplains -- religious leaders who do their work inside institutions such as prisons, colleges/universities, corporations, the military or, in Yucel's case, hospitals. Hartford Seminary offers a 48-credit master of arts degree in Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations, which takes two years to complete. There's also a one-year, 24-credit graduate certificate. Together the two degrees equal a master's of divinity, the basic requirement for many chaplaincy jobs. (MORE)

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CAIR-CAN: MUSLIMS GRUMBLE AT CANADA FOOTBALL HIJAB BAN - TOP
Scott Valentine, Reuters, 3/7/07
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=365822007

TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian Muslims may launch a human rights complaint against football's governing body after a Quebec referee ordered an 11-year-old girl to quit a tournament for refusing to remove her hijab.

The Canadian Council on American-Islam Relations said the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was sending a mixed message on its rules, given that its own Web site includes pictures of women wearing the hijab, a scarf that covers the head and neck.

"If FIFA does not provide a clear position on the right of women to wear the hijab in competition we will look at the possibility of filing a human rights complaint on behalf of Muslim women who want to play football, and not be persecuted for practising their beliefs," said executive director Karl Nickner.

The 11-year-old girl, Asmahan Mansour, was ordered off the field by a Muslim referee during an indoor football tournament in the Montreal suburb of Laval, Quebec, on February 25 after refusing to remove her hijab.

FIFA spokesman Pekka Odriozola said it was up to regional and national associations to decide how to interpret football's Law 4, which says a player must not "use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself/herself or another player".

"But each match official must decide how to apply the rules," he added.

The law, as displayed on FIFA's Web site, also says "modern protective equipment such as headgear, facemasks, knee and arm protectors made of soft, lightweight, padded material are not considered to be dangerous and are therefore permitted,"

Odriozola could explain why the Web site included photos of players wearing the hijab.

"(The International Football Association Board) determined last weekend that anything related to players equipment is covered under Law 4 of the rules of the game," he said. "In official matches the laws of the game have to be applied."

That seems like foul play to Nickner of the Canadian Muslim group.

"FIFA backed the decision to support the Quebec referee in prohibiting a player from wearing the hijab," he said. "Yet the FIFA Web site shows pictures of women players wearing a hijab."

This is not the first incident involving football players ejected from a game for wearing religious headgear in Canada. (MORE)

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CAIR-MI ANNUAL BANQUET TO FEATURE ROBERT FISK - TOP

(SOUTHFIELD, MI (3/7/07) – The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) will hold its annual fundraising banquet on Sunday, March 25, 2007 at the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn. The event will feature world-renowned journalist Robert Fisk as the keynote speaker, with a book signing to take place after the dinner.

CAIR, America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 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-MI at 248.559.2247 or Suehaila Amen at 313.615.1515.

SEE ALSO:

CAIR-CT ANNUAL BANQUET ON APRIL 7 - TOP

(NEW LONDON, CT, 3/7/07) - The Connecticut chapter the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CT) will host its second annual banquet on Saturday, April 7, 2007 at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Hartford, Connecticut.

The theme of the banquet is “Connecting and Sharing.” Registration will begin at 5 p.m. and the program will begin promptly at 6 p.m.

For more information or to purchase tickets call CAIR-CT at 860-442-2247 or email info@cair-ct.com. For more information please visit www.cair-ct.com.

CONTACT: Rabia Chaudry, Tel: 860-442-2247

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CAIR: WOMEN IN ISLAM - TOP
Brown Daily Herald, 3/7/07
http://media.www.browndailyherald.com/media/storage/paper472/news/2007/03/07/CampusNews/Women.In.Islam-2762061.shtml

Hadia Mubarak, the first female president of the national Muslim Students Association, spoke in Salomon 001 last night about "Women in Islam: Respect or Repression?" The event was presented by the Brown Muslim Students' Association as part of Islam Awareness Month.

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CAIR-CT: SCHOOL PANEL CALLS FOR MIDDLE EAST STUDIES NEXT YEAR - TOP
Luther Turmelle, New Haven Register, 3/07/07
http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18048186&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=517514&rfi=6

A Board of Education committee has given its approval to launch a Middle Eastern studies course at the two high schools this fall.

The board’s Instructional Committee unanimously approved the course Tuesday night. If it is approved at the school board’s March 19 meeting, it will be offered at Lyman Hall and Sheehan high schools this fall, Martin Taylor, the district’s assistant superintendent for instruction, said Wednesday.

Taylor said the course will examine the geography of the region as well as the history, politics and cultures. "We think it will tie in well to some other courses we offer," Taylor said.

The course will replace a comparative cultures course that includes a segment on the Middle East, Taylor told the board on Tuesday.

"We’re getting a lot of feedback from colleges that our course should go deeper (in terms of subject matter), not wider," he said.

The comparative cultures course did not deal with the Middle East in depth and had seen low student enrollments, Taylor said. . .

Hamza Collins, the civil rights director with the Connecticut chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the school board’s action is encouraging.

"It’s a great thing," Collins said. "Our group is trying to reach out to boards of education so that members of our organizations can talk with classes in schools about Islam."

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CAIR: ANTI-ISLAM TALK AT DUKE-AREA HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS ACLU ACTION - TOP
Naureen Khan, Duke Chronicle, 3/6/07
http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2007/03/06/News/AntiIslam.Talk.Prompts.Aclu.Wake.School.Action-2759708.shtml

As part of an ongoing investigation, a Christian evangelist's appearance at a Duke University-area high school has now sparked reaction from the American Civil Liberties Union.

During his Feb. 15 appearance at Enloe High School, Kamil Solomon denounced Islam and distributed pamphlets titled "Do Not Marry A Muslim Man, Part I" and "Jesus Not Muhammad, Part I" to teacher Robert Escamilla's social studies classes.

Escamilla, suspended with pay last week, awaits an internal review of the matter by the Wake County, N.C., Public School System.

The case attracted the attention of the ACLU of North Carolina Legal Foundation when the father of an Enloe student filed a complaint against the high school.

The ACLU said it believes the incident is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids any government action that advances any one set of religious beliefs over another.

In a Feb. 22 letter to Enloe principal Beth Cochran, Azadeh Shahshahani, Muslim/Middle Eastern community outreach coordinator for the ACLU-NCLF, outlined the constitutional basis for the complaint.

"I am writing to ask that you provide us with a written assurance that such speakers engaging in unconstitutional conduct will never be invited again to Enloe High School," Shahshahani wrote.

In a brief response the next day, Adelphos Burns, superintendent of the WCPSS, wrote "appropriate actions" would be taken following a review of the incident.

"We are deeply disappointed by the manner in which the school has thus far handled these serious allegations," said Jennifer Rudinger, executive director of the ACLU-NCLF, in a Feb. 27 press release. "In the face of overwhelming evidence that proselytizing took place in this public school, school officials have insisted on miscasting this as a free speech issue." . . .

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national Muslim advocacy group that received complaints following Solomon's appearance, said it was not satisfied with the school district's response, especially after allegations that proselytization has occurred at Enloe before.

"Now we're hearing this wasn't an isolated incident and that this teacher has been involved in controversies before," said Ibrahim Hooper, communications director of CAIR. "This kind of hate-filled bigotry demands a strong response." (MORE)

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VA: WE SHOULD ALL LEARN THE BASICS OF ISLAM, AND ALL WORLD RELIGIONS - TOP
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, 3/7/07
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/032007/03072007/263959

We should all learn the basics of Islam, and all world religions

I was appalled at the diatribe against Islam that Rep. Virgil Goode recently made on camera ["Goode goes bad," Jan. 4].

But worse, a survey taken showed that more than 60 percent of those asked agreed with him. This must end!

I know little about Islam, but I do know more than Mr. Goode.

Jesus is recognized as a prophet in the Quran. There is more about the Virgin Mary in the Quran than in the Bible.

I've read and heard talks by those who converted to Islam, including a young Catholic lady who explained why she converted. I also know that Jews were well treated in Spain when it was Muslim, and persecuted when it became Christian.

There is a critical need for us, especially our children, to learn the basics of Islam and other world faiths that are unfamiliar to most of us.

It should be mandatory in the schools. It must avoid any attempt to convert, but also must be thorough, and completely unbiased, focusing on tolerance and understanding.

There are extremists in every religion, but they are not typical of any, and their ideas are despised by most truly religious people.

If this were not true in every one of the major world religions, they would not have survived.

I believe unbiased and thorough teaching of world religions is absolutely essential to world peace.

Jim Parker
Madison

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TURKEY HOSTS U.S. MUSLIM LEADER - TOP
Turkish Daily News, 3/7/07
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=67717

Turkey is in search of cooperation with the U.S. Black Muslim leader Deen Mohammad to prevent the so-called clash of civilizations and to reinterpret Islam according to the needs of the 21st century while lobbying against Armenian genocide claims in the U.S. Congress.

Mohammad yesterday arrived to Ankara for a 3 days visit, as a guest of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). He started his visit at the Atatürk mausoleum. “I am not an imam. I am a businessman and I am also a community leader,” Mohammad told the Turkish Daily News yesterday.

He added that they are in search for cooperation with Turkey. Mohammed is known to be the leader of 2 million Muslims in United States.

In 1996 he met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican and participated in the National Prayer Service Celebrating the second inauguration of then U.S. President Bill Clinton. Mohammad will meet with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül and Minister of Trade and Industry Ali Co?kun today.

He will also have talks with the head of religious affairs directorate Ali Bardako?lu and the Mufti of ?stanbul, Mustafa ?a?r?c?, about Islam and the situation of 1.5 billion Muslims all over the world. (MORE)

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