Robert Spencer Attacks on Islam: ISLAM IS A 'FALSE RELIGION'

ROBERT SPENCER: ISLAM IS A 'FALSE RELIGION'
http://watchjihadwatch.blogspot.com/2006/05/bias.html

In his book "Guide for Catholics," Spencer wrote:

"Islam itself is an incomplete, misleading, and often downright false revelation which, in many ways, directly contradicts what God has revealed through the prophets of the Old Testament and through his Son Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.. . .For several reasons. . .Islam constitutes a threat to the world at large."

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PAT ROBERTSON CALLS QURAN 'FRAUDULENT,' ROBERT SPENCER AGREES
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/44498.aspx
(Note: video may take time to load.)

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ROBERT SPENCER: 'ISLAM IS A SERIOUS THREAT' TO WESTERN WORLD
Julia Duin, Washington Times, 12/1/03
http://www.washtimes.com/culture/20031201-091332-2655r.htm

Catholics - as well as other Christians - need to know a lot more about Islam, say two authors of a book of 100 questions and answers on the topic. However, the outlook on Muslims from "Inside Islam: A Guide for Catholics" is hardly favorable.

One of the authors, Daniel Ali of Burke, the founder of Christian-Islamic Forum, is a Kurdish convert from Islam to Christianity. Co-author Robert Spencer is a Catholic researcher who also wrote "Onward Muslim Soldiers," a history of jihad.

"We wanted Catholics to become informed about Islam because not only is Islam the church's chief rival in terms of religion but Islam is a serious threat to the peace and well-being of the Western world in general," Mr. Spencer said. (MORE)

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CA SYNAGOGUE THAT HOSTED ISLAMOPHOBE URGED TO INVITE MUSLIM SPEAKER
Hate-filled comments on speaker's website compare Muslims to animals and Nazis

( ANAHEIM, CA, 11/8/2005) - The Southern California office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today urged a Los Angeles synagogue that recently hosted the operator of a virulently anti-Muslim website to invite a Muslim representative who can offer a balancing perspective on Islam.

CAIR-LA has learned that Robert Spencer, who operates the "Jihad Watch" Internet hate site, spoke at Temple Shalom for the Arts during a Yom Kippur event. Spencer's website is notorious for its depiction of Islam as an inherently violent faith that is a threat to world peace.

Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald recently wrote on that site:

"To be sure, plenty of Believers in exotic creeds alien or new to the West have managed to fit in perfectly well, and be friendly neighbors and loyal citizens. . .Only one group, only one belief-system, distinguishes itself by appearing incapable of fitting in. And that is Muslims, and Islam. . . if one really knew what Islam contained . . .then how could any decent person remain a Muslim?"

He went on to recommend that western nations be "Islam-proofed the way a house is child-proofed," compared Muslims to Nazis and urged that they be boycotted: "[I]t should not be hard to find ways to limit the spread or practice of Islam. And if in addition to whatever local, state and federal government officials do, private parties simply conduct their own boycott of goods and services offered by Muslims, in the same way that they would have refused to buy, in 1938, a German Voigtlander camera. . ."

SEE: http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/2005/11/008827print.html

Comments posted on the site are bone-chilling in the raw hatred they espouse. For example, one poster described Muslims as being like animals, writing: "If they want students to learn about Islamic culture, what's wrong with a simple field trip to the city zoo?"

Other anti-Muslim comments on Robert Spencer's Jihad Watch website include:

* "Islam strips its followers of all aspects of their identity and in short converts them into killer-Zombies."

* "Islam, the preferred religion of criminals."

* "If Mohammad were alive today and spouting his 'new' message from God in today's media he would be identified and branded as the lunatic that he was and be jailed or hospitalized." (MORE)

FBI Invite to Islamophobe Upsets Muslims / SC Mosque Helps Fight Crime / TX Muslim Country Musician Overturns Stereotypes

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful

AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 3/18/07

* IN: FBI Invite to Islamophobe Upsets Muslims (Indy Star)
- Robert Spencer: Islam is a 'False Religion'
- Robert Spencer: Quran 'Certainly Fraudulent'
- Robert Spencer: 'Islam is a Serious Threat' to Western World
- Jihad Watch: 'How Could Any Decent Person Remain a Muslim?'
- Jihad Watch: 'I Hate Is-Lame with an Incandescent Intensity'
* Author: CAIR Represents Views of Mainstream Muslims (Wash Post)
- CAIR-FL Rep Takes Part in Interfaith Forum (Sun-Sentinel)
* CAIR: At Muslim Cemetery, 5 New Child-Size Graves (NY Times)
* Dr. Al-Arian Lost 50 Pounds in Hunger Strike (Democracy Now)
* CT: Muslim Prison Chaplain Claims Hate Directed at Him (AP)
* SC: Mosque Helps Fight Neighborhood Crimes
- NY: Butcher Meets Muslim Dietary Needs (Times Herald-Record)
- Audio: TX Muslim Country Musician Overturns Stereotypes

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IN: INVITATION TO AUTHOR UPSETS MUSLIMS - TOP
Islamic group says writer's planned talk to an FBI task force would add to distrust
Robert King, Indianapolis Star, 3/18/07
http://www.indystar.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070318/LOCAL/703180426/-1/ZONES04

The decision by the FBI's Indianapolis office to bring in author Robert Spencer to talk to its anti-terrorism task force has a Plainfield-based Muslim organization concerned that the bureau is listening to an "Islamophobe" who distorts its faith.

The FBI had planned to bring in Spencer this week to speak to Indiana's Joint Terrorism Task Force. His appearance was postponed because he had a scheduling conflict. Both Spencer and the FBI hope to reschedule.

Louay Safi, director of leadership development with the Plainfield-based Islamic Society of North America, said bringing Spencer in to talk of Islam is akin to bringing an anti-Semite to talk about Jews or a Ku Klux Klan member to talk about race.

"Many people in our community will not be happy with it," Safi said.

Spencer is the author of "The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam" and "The Truth About Muhammad: Founder of the World's Most Intolerant Religion." He is also a director of Jihad Watch, a Web site that calls attention to the activity of Islamic jihadists.

The site includes his take on various writings by Islamic scholars and groups as well as the news of the day in the Middle East. In fact, he announced he was coming to Indianapolis to meet with FBI officials.

Safi said Spencer's writings take selected passages from Islamic writings out of context in an effort to prove the religion condones terrorism. He said the FBI's use of Spencer could reinforce views some Muslims hold that the bureau treats them unfairly.

"When they bring in someone like that, it makes it difficult even for us to explain to the Muslim community that (the FBI) is neutral and is not listening to extremists who really hate Muslims," Safi said. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

ROBERT SPENCER: ISLAM IS A 'FALSE RELIGION' - TOP
http://watchjihadwatch.blogspot.com/2006/05/bias.html

In his book "Guide for Catholics," Spencer wrote:

"Islam itself is an incomplete, misleading, and often downright false revelation which, in many ways, directly contradicts what God has revealed through the prophets of the Old Testament and through his Son Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.. . .For several reasons. . .Islam constitutes a threat to the world at large."

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PAT ROBERTSON CALLS QURAN 'FRAUDULENT,' ROBERT SPENCER AGREES - TOP
http://www.cbn.com/cbnnews/44498.aspx
(Note: video may take time to load.)

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ROBERT SPENCER: 'ISLAM IS A SERIOUS THREAT' TO WESTERN WORLD - TOP
Julia Duin, Washington Times, 12/1/03
http://www.washtimes.com/culture/20031201-091332-2655r.htm

Catholics - as well as other Christians - need to know a lot more about Islam, say two authors of a book of 100 questions and answers on the topic. However, the outlook on Muslims from "Inside Islam: A Guide for Catholics" is hardly favorable.

One of the authors, Daniel Ali of Burke, the founder of Christian-Islamic Forum, is a Kurdish convert from Islam to Christianity. Co-author Robert Spencer is a Catholic researcher who also wrote "Onward Muslim Soldiers," a history of jihad.

"We wanted Catholics to become informed about Islam because not only is Islam the church's chief rival in terms of religion but Islam is a serious threat to the peace and well-being of the Western world in general," Mr. Spencer said. (MORE)

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BACKGROUNDER: CA SYNAGOGUE THAT HOSTED ISLAMOPHOBE URGED TO INVITE MUSLIM SPEAKER - TOP
Hate-filled comments on speaker's website compare Muslims to animals and Nazis

( ANAHEIM, CA, 11/8/2005) - The Southern California office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) today urged a Los Angeles synagogue that recently hosted the operator of a virulently anti-Muslim website to invite a Muslim representative who can offer a balancing perspective on Islam.

CAIR-LA has learned that Robert Spencer, who operates the "Jihad Watch" Internet hate site, spoke at Temple Shalom for the Arts during a Yom Kippur event. Spencer's website is notorious for its depiction of Islam as an inherently violent faith that is a threat to world peace.

Jihad Watch Board Vice President Hugh Fitzgerald recently wrote on that site:

"To be sure, plenty of Believers in exotic creeds alien or new to the West have managed to fit in perfectly well, and be friendly neighbors and loyal citizens. . .Only one group, only one belief-system, distinguishes itself by appearing incapable of fitting in. And that is Muslims, and Islam. . . if one really knew what Islam contained . . .then how could any decent person remain a Muslim?"

He went on to recommend that western nations be "Islam-proofed the way a house is child-proofed," compared Muslims to Nazis and urged that they be boycotted: "[I]t should not be hard to find ways to limit the spread or practice of Islam. And if in addition to whatever local, state and federal government officials do, private parties simply conduct their own boycott of goods and services offered by Muslims, in the same way that they would have refused to buy, in 1938, a German Voigtlander camera. . ."

SEE: http://www.jihadwatch.org/dhimmiwatch/archives/2005/11/008827print.html

Comments posted on the site are bone-chilling in the raw hatred they espouse. For example, one poster described Muslims as being like animals, writing: "If they want students to learn about Islamic culture, what's wrong with a simple field trip to the city zoo?"

Other anti-Muslim comments on the Jihad Watch website include:

* "Islam strips its followers of all aspects of their identity and in short converts them into killer-Zombies."

* "Islam, the preferred religion of criminals."

* "If Mohammad were alive today and spouting his 'new' message from God in today's media he would be identified and branded as the lunatic that he was and be jailed or hospitalized." (MORE)

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MUSLIMS SEE A GROWING MEDIA BIAS - TOP
Jim Ritter, Chicago Sun-Times, 9/4/2006
http://www.cair.com/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=40750&theType=NB

On a typical workday, Ibrahim Hooper of the Council on American-Islamic Relations talks to a dozen or so print and broadcast reporters.

"The vast majority does a pretty good job and they need to be congratulated," he said.

It's another story when Hooper watches cable TV commentators, listens to talk radio or surfs hundreds of anti-Islamic Web sites. "The level of anti-Muslim rhetoric is growing in quantum leaps since 9/11," he said.

Hooper and other experts addressed "Islamaphobia" in the media during a panel discussion Sunday at the Islamic Society of North America's annual convention at the Donald E. Stevens Convention Center in Rosemont.

Web sites are especially virulent, Hooper said. Consider these comments recently posted on the blog of Robert Spencer, director of Jihad Watch and author of The Politically Incorrect Guide to Islam (and the Crusades).

* "If I happen to wax hateful and angry from time to time when it comes to the subject of Islam, that is the fault of Islam and its thriving terrorist establishment. . . .It is good to hate your enemies: We are going to have to kill them."

* "Islam is not only a cult, it's a political movement. As such it contravenes the constitution and espouses treason."

* "I hate is-lame with an incandescent intensity." (MORE)

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CAIR: A MORE ISLAMIC ISLAM - TOP
Geneive Abdo, Washington Post, 3/17/07
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031601941.html

FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A small group of self-proclaimed secular Muslims from North America and elsewhere gathered in St. Petersburg recently for what they billed as a new global movement to correct the assumed wrongs of Islam and call for an Islamic Reformation.

Across the state in Fort Lauderdale, Muslim leaders from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Washington-based advocacy group whose members the "secular" Muslims claim are radicals, denounced any notion of a Reformation as another attempt by the West to impose its history and philosophy on the Islamic world.

The self-proclaimed secularists represent only a small minority of Muslims. The views among religious Muslims from CAIR more closely reflect the views of the majority, not only in the United States but worldwide. Yet Western media, governments and neoconservative pundits pay more attention to the secular minority.

The St. Petersburg convention is but one example: It was carried live on Glenn Beck's conservative CNN show. Some of the organizers and speakers at the convention are well known thanks to the media spotlight: Irshad Manji, author of "The Trouble With Islam," and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the former Dutch parliamentarian and author of "Infidel," were but a few there claiming to have suffered personally at the hands of "radical" Islam. One participant, Wafa Sultan, declared on Glenn Beck's show that she doesn't "see any difference between radical Islam and regular Islam."

The secular Muslim agenda is promoted because these ideas reflect a Western vision for the future of Islam. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, everyone from high-ranking officials in the Bush administration to the author Salman Rushdie has prescribed a preferred remedy for Islam: Reform the faith so it is imbued with Western values -- the privatization of religion, the flourishing of Western-style democracy -- and rulers who are secular, not religious, Muslims. The problem with this prescription is that it is divorced from reality. It is built upon the principle that if Muslims are fed a steady diet of Western influence, they, too, will embrace modernity, secularism and everything else the West has to offer. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

CAIR-FL REP TAKES PART IN INTERFAITH FORUM - TOP
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 3/17/07

Religions of Peace: An Interfaith Forum is planned for 6 p.m. Sunday at Royal Palm Christian Church, 9600 Royal Palm Blvd., Coral Springs. Various perspectives will be discussed:

Muslim: Altaf Ali, Florida executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Jewish: Rabbi Mark Gross, Temple Beth Orr.

Christian: Rev. Craig Watts, Royal Palm Christian Church.

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CAIR: AT MUSLIM RESTING PLACE, 5 NEW CHILD-SIZE GRAVES - TOP
By ROJA HEYDARPOUR, 3/18/07
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/18/nyregion/18cemetery.html

Anthony Sparno's days are usually filled with silent hours tending his gateless 12-acre cemetery. He picks up garbage, fills the water tank, digs graves, does the books from his car or a diner and takes calls from imams and funeral homes.

That solitary life was disrupted last week when hundreds of mourners - and a news media swarm - descended on Mr. Sparno's Makbarat As-Salaam cemetery in Millstone, N.J., to bury five small bodies Monday afternoon.

Mr. Sparno, a convert to Islam who owns the all-Muslim cemetery, was among the first to be called in the aftermath of the house fire in the Bronx on March 7 that killed a woman and nine children from two families from Mali.

Monday morning, he spent two hours digging five graves for the Magassa family: 1-year-old Bilaly and 3-year-old Djama; Abudubary, 5; Mahamadou, 8; and Bandiougou, 11.

"I had five kids, then one after that," an unrelated burial, Mr. Sparno said matter-of-factly of what must have been his highest-profile workday, if not his busiest. "Not a glorified life."

The other fire victims, members of the Soumare family - 7-month-old twins Harouma and Sisi; Djibril, 3; Hassing, 6; and Fatoumata, their mother, 42 - were flown to Mali for burial.

Makbarat As-Salaam, which opened in 1992, is one of few exclusively Muslim cemeteries in the country. No statistics are available because the phenomenon is still in its initial stages, said Ibrahim Hooper, the spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based civil rights and advocacy group. (MORE)

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JAILED PALESTINIAN PROFESSOR SAMI AL-ARIAN ENTERS 54TH DAY OF HUNGER STRIKE TO PROTEST INDEFINITE IMPRISONMENT - TOP
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2007/03/17/18377815.php

Democracy Now (reposted)
Saturday Mar 17th, 2007 9:15 AM

Sami Al-Arian is in dire condition. The jailed Palestinian professor has lost over 50 pounds as he enters the 54th day of a hunger strike to protest the circumstances of his continued imprisonment. We speak with his wife, Nahla Al-Arian.

Sami Al-Arian has spent the past four years in jail despite a jury's failure over a year ago to return a single guilty verdict on any of the 17 charges brought against him. He eventually signed a plea deal with the government in exchange for being released and deported.

This past January, with just three months left before his scheduled release, a judge found him in contempt after he refused to testify before a Virginia grand jury. The date of his release could now be extended by a year and a half. On January 22nd, Al-Arian - who is a diabetic - stopped eating in protest. Last month he was transferred to the Federal Medical facility in Butner Virginia as his health deteriorated. A week before his transfer, we spoke with Sami Al-Arian from prison in his first broadcast interview since his 2003 arrest. He explained why he was on hunger strike.

* Sami Al-Arian, speaking from prison on Democracy Now! [Click for full interview: http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/02/07/1546227&mode=thread&tid=25

His wife, Nahla Al-Arian, is going to Virginia today to visit him along with their five children. She joins me now from Tampa, Florida where she lives.

* Nahla Al-Arian, Sami Al-Arian's wife.

LISTEN ONLINE:
http://www.democracynow.org/article.pl?sid=07/03/16/1410255

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CT: MUSLIM PRISON CHAPLAIN CLAIMS MORE HATE DIRECTED AT HIM - TOP
Associated Press, 3/17/07
http://www.stamfordadvocate.com/news/local/state/hc-17114141.apds.m0738.bc-ct--chapmar17,0,6340828.story

EAST LYME, Conn. -- The state Department of Correction is investigating a claim of discrimination filed by the Muslim chaplain at the state prison for women involving a defaced photo.

A childhood picture of Bilal Asari, who is black, among a group of white children, that has been hanging in his office was defaced. Someone painted over Asari's black face with white correction fluid and scrawled a racial slur across the photo in red ink.

DOC spokesman Brian Garnett said Friday the agency was investigating what he calls "vile and bigoted behavior."

Asari said someone came into his locked office at J.B. Gates Correctional Institution in Niantic to deface the photo, which he said his mother had given him to remind him of how far he had come from the days when he was bused to an all-white school.

Asari said the incident is just the latest in a series of incidents of racial and religious discrimination he has faced from employees at the prison.

Asari told The Day of New London the incident is a part of more than two years of racial and religious discrimination he has faced from prison employees.

"They're doing what they can do to make my life hard," Asari said Friday. "They're calling my office and hanging up. They come in my worship service and step on my rug with their boots."

Asari said he recently filed a complaint with the state Commission on Human Rights and Opportunities after he received little or no response to more than 12 internal and affirmative action complaints he has made to the Department of Correction over the last two years. (MORE)

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SC: MOSQUE BOOSTS CITIZENS PATROL - TOP
NADINE PARKS, Post and Courier, 3/17/07
http://www.charleston.net/assets/webPages/departmental/news/default_pf.aspx?NEWSID=135055

Failure for the Citizen Patrol Against Drugs is not an option.

That's the message this week from a North Charleston mosque that has teamed up with residents of Charleston's East Side and North Charleston's Chicora-Cherokee neighborhood to get the civilian patrol group back on the streets. Also, a march is set for March 24 in Union Heights, with patrols beginning there on March 26.

"We all share in this commonality of trying to make our communities better," said Imam Rahim Karriem of Masjid Al-Jami Ar-Rashid. "We're all in this together. That's what the Citizen Patrol Against Drugs is all about."

Six or seven members of the North Charleston mosque have been there since the patrols began in the fall on Charleston's East Side. For weeks, they patrolled to report crime almost every night and to get the civic movement flowing in the drug-infested neighborhood that saw a rash of violence last summer. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

NY: BUTCHER SHOP TRIES TO 'MEAT' MUSLIM DIETARY NEEDS - TOP
Raja Abdulrahim, Times Herald-Record
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070318/BIZ/703180331

Middletown - For halal-observing Muslims here, the option has long been either get their meat from Paterson, N.J., or just eat salmon, vegetables and Kennedy Fried Chicken all the time.

At least that's how Qasim Muhammad describes the situation before the opening of Halalco Meat Market on East Main Street, of which he is part owner and butcher.

Halal, also called thabiha, meat, describes the method by which the animal is killed: a clean cut across the throat, killing the animal instantly, and allowing the blood to drain from the body. Seafood is exempt from this requirement.

If this was the gastro-religious analogy section of the SAT, the answer would be Muslim is to halal, as Jew is to kosher. (MORE)

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MUSLIM COUNTRY MUSICIAN TURNS STEREOTYPES UPSIDE DOWN - TOP
Austin American-Statesman, 3/17/07
http://www.statesman.com/travel/content/life/stories/faith/03/17/17flynn.html

It was the twang that threw me. I'm talking serious cowboy voice. The kind that can only come from out on the range. The kind that still startles my New England ears.

"Miss Fleeeeynn?" he said. "This is Kareem Salama. I understand you're trying to reach me."

OK, hold it. I happened to have this man's Web site up for a story I was researching. And I knew that Salama was a Muslim, a law student, and a country and western singer. And, of course, I had read his biography on his site, where he detailed his multicultural upbringing. His parents, who now live in Richmond, southwest of Houston, took him to Native American powwows and the county fairs and rodeos and made trips to Branson, Mo., and Opryland in Nashville, Tenn.

As I listened to him, I couldn't reconcile the twang with the chiseled Egyptian face on the Web site. Most of the Muslims I know have foreign accents. But why should I be so jolted by a thoroughly American Muslim?

Or should I say: A Muslim who, at least on the surface, seems to fit another American stereotype? More on that later.

Salama graciously answered all my questions and pulled back the curtain on an unexpectedly American portrait. It's probably safe to say your average Oklahoma boy isn't memorizing classical Arabic poetry and composing a melody for John Donne's "A Valediction Forbidding Mourning." And I'm guessing you don't see too many Muslims in 10-gallon hats at the Grand Ole Opry.

Salama acknowledged that "the vast majority of us (Muslims) don't fit the image of people have in their head."

"Although, I understand why people have that image in their head," he added. (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

Wash Post Writer: CAIR Views Reflect Majority Muslims

A More Islamic Islam

By Geneive Abdo
Saturday, March 17, 2007; A19



FORT LAUDERDALE, Fla. -- A small group of self-proclaimed secular Muslims from North America and elsewhere gathered in St. Petersburg recently for what they billed as a new global movement to correct the assumed wrongs of Islam and call for an Islamic Reformation.

Across the state in Fort Lauderdale, Muslim leaders from the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), the Washington-based advocacy group whose members the "secular" Muslims claim are radicals, denounced any notion of a Reformation as another attempt by the West to impose its history and philosophy on the Islamic world.

The self-proclaimed secularists represent only a small minority of Muslims. The views among religious Muslims from CAIR more closely reflect the views of the majority, not only in the United States but worldwide. Yet Western media, governments and neoconservative pundits pay more attention to the secular minority.

The St. Petersburg convention is but one example: It was carried live on Glenn Beck's conservative CNN show. Some of the organizers and speakers at the convention are well known thanks to the media spotlight: Irshad Manji, author of "The Trouble With Islam," and Ayaan Hirsi Ali, the former Dutch parliamentarian and author of "Infidel," were but a few there claiming to have suffered personally at the hands of "radical" Islam. One participant, Wafa Sultan, declared on Glenn Beck's show that she doesn't "see any difference between radical Islam and regular Islam."

The secular Muslim agenda is promoted because these ideas reflect a Western vision for the future of Islam. Since the Sept. 11 attacks, everyone from high-ranking officials in the Bush administration to the author Salman Rushdie has prescribed a preferred remedy for Islam: Reform the faith so it is imbued with Western values -- the privatization of religion, the flourishing of Western-style democracy -- and rulers who are secular, not religious, Muslims. The problem with this prescription is that it is divorced from reality. It is built upon the principle that if Muslims are fed a steady diet of Western influence, they, too, will embrace modernity, secularism and everything else the West has to offer.

Consider the facts: Islamic revivalism has spread across the globe in the past 30 years from the Middle East to parts of Africa. In Egypt, it is hard to find a woman on the street who does not wear a headscarf. Islamic political groups and movements are on the rise -- from Hezbollah in Lebanon, to Hamas in the Gaza Strip and West Bank, to the Muslim Brotherhood in Egypt. Even in the United States, more and more American Muslims, particularly the young, are embracing Islam and religious symbolism in ways their more secular, immigrant parents did not.

I traveled to Florida to serve as the keynote speaker at an annual convention hosted by CAIR. On my way to the event, I spoke with Imam Siraj Wahaj, a charismatic intellectual from the Masjid Al-Taqwa in Brooklyn who has thousands of followers here and abroad. His words summarized the aspirations of mainstream Muslims in the United States and around the globe: "What we need to do is borrow those attributes from the West that we admire and reject those that we don't. That is the wave of the future."

Already, signs support Imam Wahaj's words. Muslims living in the West and those in the Islamic world are searching for this middle ground -- one that fuses aspects of globalization with the Islamic tradition. For example, Muslim women have far greater access to higher education today than ever before. In Iran, there are more women than men in universities, a first in the country's history. But as increasing numbers of Muslim women become more educated, majorities are becoming more religious while also taking part in what are called Islamic feminist movements, which stretch from Egypt to Turkey and Morocco.

These women, who often wear headscarves to express their religiosity, have found this gray area between modernity and traditionalism. They are fighting for more rights to participate in politics and greater equality in "personal status" laws -- the right to gain custody of children or to initiate divorce -- but also view Islam as their moral compass.

Similarly, the political future of the Arab world is likely to consist of Islamic parties that are far less tolerant of what has historically been the U.S. foreign policy agenda in the region and that domestically are far more committed to implementing sharia law in varying degrees.

In Europe and the United States, where Muslims have maximum exposure to Western culture, they are increasingly embracing Islamic values. In Britain, a growing number of Muslims advocate creating a court system based upon Islamic principles.

What all this means is that Western hopes for full integration by Muslims in the West are unlikely to be realized and that the future of the Islamic world will be much more Islamic than Western.

Instead of championing the loud voices of the secular minority who are capturing media attention with their conferences, manifestos and memoirs, the United States would be wise instead to pay more attention to the far less loquacious majority.

Geneive Abdo is the author of "Mecca and Main Street: Muslim Life in America After 9/11."

source: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/16/AR2007031601941.html

CAIR'S OPEN LETTER TO CONGRESS

CAIR'S OPEN LETTER TO CONGRESS 3/16/2007

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has a long history of positive social and political activism.

As a result, 32 CAIR chapters in 20 states have developed strong grass-roots relations with people of all faiths in the communities in which they work to promote social justice and interfaith tolerance.

Our recent event on Capitol Hill, a panel discussion titled "Global Attitudes on Islam-West Relations: US Policy Implications," was our fifth Hill event in the last two years. It was selected as a target of opportunity by some who seek to block participation in the political process of American citizens of the Islamic faith by defaming their representative institutions and organizations.

For the record, CAIR unequivocally condemns terror attacks targeting people of all faiths and in all areas of the world.

CAIR operates under the strict guidelines of its core values. These values include: support for freedom of religion and freedom of expression, and a commitment to supporting policies that promote dialogue, civil rights and diversity in America and worldwide.

In an effort designed to demonstrate the American Muslim community's repudiation of terrorism and religious extremism, CAIR launched an online petition drive called "Not in the Name of Islam." We also launched a nationwide television public service announcement campaign of the same name and coordinated a ground-breaking fatwa, or Islamic religious ruling, against terrorism.

CAIR offered pro-active and positive responses to the controversies over allegations of Quran desecration at Guantanamo Bay and the publication of cartoons in Denmark defaming Islam's Prophet Muhammad.

Our educational initiatives opened doors to dialogue and mutual understanding with Americans of all faiths.

It is our hope that fair-minded Americans will not be swayed by the extreme rhetoric of those opposed to allowing American Muslims to exercise their full rights as citizens. We were heartened to see confirmation of this hope in the support we received for our right to discuss global opinion polls and the impact they may have on U.S. policy.

We welcome this support in the spirit of a united America, with a vigorous debate about our nation's foreign policies.

This unfortunate episode was triggered by an article in the Washington Times in which the writer falsely claimed, "CAIR officials did not return a call seeking comment." The article's author had spoken to CAIR's Communications Director.

The rest of the article followed this trend.

The episode was exacerbated when the Republican Conference chose to issue statements that were reflective of "Google" searches of anti-Muslim Internet hate sites.

In fact, our detractors' allegations do not stand up to objective scrutiny.

As reported in the New York Times on page A1 on Wednesday, March 14, 2007:

"Government officials in Washington said they were not aware of any criminal investigation of the group. More than one described the standards used by critics to link CAIR to terrorism as akin to McCarthyism, essentially guilt by association.

"'Of all the groups, there is probably more suspicion about CAIR, but when you ask people for cold hard facts, you get blank stares,' said Michael Rolince, a retired F.B.I. official who directed counterterrorism in the Washington field office from 2002 to 2005."

"A small band of critics have made a determined but unsuccessful effort to link [CAIR] to Hamas and Hezbollah. . ."

We recognize that many of our positions on issues such as Iraq, last year's conflict in Lebanon, Iran-US relations and overzealous government intrusion into private life make us unpopular with some people.

However, to question the legality of our organization and our loyalty to the United States is simply unacceptable.

Attacks on our positions are the price of taking principled stands on the issues. But personal attacks are unfair and not representative of basic American decency.

The fact that we come under attack by anti-Muslim extremists is no surprise to anyone who works for positive social change. All proponents of social justice have faced similar attacks designed to silence their voices.

It is our view that the attacks against us are an indicator of the effectiveness of our advocacy.

CAIR is supported by many mainstream political, social and religious groups. We have active alliances with members of the Christian, Jewish, Sikh, Hispanic, African-American, and Asian communities. We attend each others events and we share the aspiration to make America's future brighter than its past.

In the end, we place our trust in God and pray that He guides us and gives us the strength to endure attempts to marginalize and silence the voice of a growing and contributing religious minority in America.

We invite you to visit our website at www.cair.com to familiarize yourself with the work we do.

Also visit www.cair.com/factsaboutcair.asp to find out more about our recent accomplishments.

We remain an open and transparent organization. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us by calling (202) 488-8787 or e-mailing csaylor@cair.com. We will be glad to answer your questions and address your concerns.

Action: Thank Rep. Pascrell for His Principled Stand

AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 3/16/07

* Verse: The Nature of God
* CAIR's Open Letter to Congress
- Action: Thank Rep. Pascrell for His Principled Stand
- CAIR: Editorial Decries 'Cheap Shot at Pascrell'
* CAIR-MI Rep Speaks About History of Islam in America
* CAIR-LA: Muslims to Visit Japanese-American Internment Camp
- CAIR-LA: Muslim Tenants Win Discrimination Lawsuit (AP)
* CAIR-MD/VA: Free Legal System Seminar - Part 2
- CAIR-CA: Community Empowerment Workshop
* VA: Donate to Sharifa Alkhateeb Memorial Scholarship Fund
* U.S. Officials Want More Outreach to Muslims (LA Times)
- OK: Meeting with Law Enforcement Officers, Muslims (AP)
* AR: Muslim Girl Wins State Spelling Bee (AP)
- GA: Muslim Palates Boost Demand for Goat Meat (AJC)
- CA: Muslim TV Station to Launch (Inside Bay Area)
* Islam an Unknown Factor in Obama Bid (Orlando Sentinel)
* Soros: On Israel, America & AIPAC (NY Review of Books)
- CA: Peace Starts with Understanding Palestinians
* Learn Arabic and Study Quran at Al-Azhar University

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VERSE OF THE DAY: THE NATURE OF GOD - TOP

"God is the Light of the heavens and the earth. The parable of His Light is as if there were a niche and within it a lamp, the lamp enclosed in glass, the glass shining like a radiant star: lit from a blessed tree - an olive tree neither of the East nor of the West - whose oil would almost give light (of itself) even though it had not been touched by fire. Light upon Light! God guides whom He will to His Light."

The Holy Quran, 24:35

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CAIR'S OPEN LETTER TO CONGRESS - TOP

The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) has a long history of positive social and political activism.

As a result, 32 CAIR chapters in 20 states have developed strong grass-roots relations with people of all faiths in the communities in which they work to promote social justice and interfaith tolerance.

Our recent event on Capitol Hill, a panel discussion titled "Global Attitudes on Islam-West Relations: US Policy Implications," was our fifth Hill event in the last two years. It was selected as a target of opportunity by some who seek to block participation in the political process of American citizens of the Islamic faith by defaming their representative institutions and organizations.

For the record, CAIR unequivocally condemns terror attacks targeting people of all faiths and in all areas of the world.

CAIR operates under the strict guidelines of its core values. These values include: support for freedom of religion and freedom of expression, and a commitment to supporting policies that promote dialogue, civil rights and diversity in America and worldwide.

In an effort designed to demonstrate the American Muslim community's repudiation of terrorism and religious extremism, CAIR launched an online petition drive called "Not in the Name of Islam." We also launched a nationwide television public service announcement campaign of the same name and coordinated a ground-breaking fatwa, or Islamic religious ruling, against terrorism.

CAIR offered pro-active and positive responses to the controversies over allegations of Quran desecration at Guantanamo Bay and the publication of cartoons in Denmark defaming Islam's Prophet Muhammad.

Our educational initiatives opened doors to dialogue and mutual understanding with Americans of all faiths.

It is our hope that fair-minded Americans will not be swayed by the extreme rhetoric of those opposed to allowing American Muslims to exercise their full rights as citizens. We were heartened to see confirmation of this hope in the support we received for our right to discuss global opinion polls and the impact they may have on U.S. policy.

We welcome this support in the spirit of a united America, with a vigorous debate about our nation's foreign policies.

This unfortunate episode was triggered by an article in the Washington Times in which the writer falsely claimed, "CAIR officials did not return a call seeking comment." The article's author had spoken to CAIR's Communications Director.

The rest of the article followed this trend.

The episode was exacerbated when the Republican Conference chose to issue statements that were reflective of "Google" searches of anti-Muslim Internet hate sites.

In fact, our detractors' allegations do not stand up to objective scrutiny.

As reported in the New York Times on page A1 on Wednesday, March 14, 2007:

"Government officials in Washington said they were not aware of any criminal investigation of the group. More than one described the standards used by critics to link CAIR to terrorism as akin to McCarthyism, essentially guilt by association.

"'Of all the groups, there is probably more suspicion about CAIR, but when you ask people for cold hard facts, you get blank stares,' said Michael Rolince, a retired F.B.I. official who directed counterterrorism in the Washington field office from 2002 to 2005."

"A small band of critics have made a determined but unsuccessful effort to link [CAIR] to Hamas and Hezbollah. . ."

We recognize that many of our positions on issues such as Iraq, last year's conflict in Lebanon, Iran-US relations and overzealous government intrusion into private life make us unpopular with some people.

However, to question the legality of our organization and our loyalty to the United States is simply unacceptable.

Attacks on our positions are the price of taking principled stands on the issues. But personal attacks are unfair and not representative of basic American decency.

The fact that we come under attack by anti-Muslim extremists is no surprise to anyone who works for positive social change. All proponents of social justice have faced similar attacks designed to silence their voices.

It is our view that the attacks against us are an indicator of the effectiveness of our advocacy.

CAIR is supported by many mainstream political, social and religious groups. We have active alliances with members of the Christian, Jewish, Sikh, Hispanic, African-American, and Asian communities. We attend each others events and we share the aspiration to make America's future brighter than its past.

In the end, we place our trust in God and pray that He guides us and gives us the strength to endure attempts to marginalize and silence the voice of a growing and contributing religious minority in America.

We invite you to visit our website at www.cair.com to familiarize yourself with the work we do.

Also visit www.cair.com/factsaboutcair.asp to find out more about our recent accomplishments.

We remain an open and transparent organization. If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact us by calling (202) 488-8787 or e-mailing csaylor@cair.com. We will be glad to answer your questions and address your concerns.

SEE ALSO:

ACTION: THANK PASCRELL FOR HIS PRINCIPLED STAND - TOP

(TOTOWA, NJ, 3/16/07) - The New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NJ) today urged American Muslims and other people of conscience to voice appreciation to Congressman Bill Pascrell (D-Paterson) for standing up to those who seek to exclude American Muslims from the political process.

Congressman Pascrell recently reserved a room on Capitol Hill for a CAIR-sponsored panel discussion on "Global Attitudes on Islam-West Relations: US Policy Implications." He came under attack from groups that want to stifle America Muslim political participation.

While some sought to use smears and Islamophobia to silence the American Muslim perspective, an aide to Representative Pascrell stated the following: "It is important that Muslim-Americans feel they are part of our country."

"Religious and ethnic minorities have a friend in Congressman Pascrell, and it is important that we show him we appreciate that fact," said CAIR-NJ Communications Director Afsheen Shamsi.

ACTION REQUESTED

1) Send a fax, letter or e-mail to Rep. Pascrell thanking him for supporting the right of American Muslims to participate in the political process. (In this case personalized, written responses are best, followed by phone calls.)

The Honorable Bill Pascrell
200 Federal Plaza, #500
Paterson, NJ 07505
Phone: (973) 523-5152
Fax: (973) 523-0637

E-mails should be sent via the Congressman's web form: http://pascrell.house.gov/feedback.cfm?campaign=pascrell&type=Contact%20Bill

TALKING POINTS

(Be sure to provide your name and address, the office uses this to identify you and for no other purposes. If you are a constituent, mention it.)

1) Please thank Congressman Pascrell for standing on principle and resisting those who wish to exclude minorities, such as American Muslims, from the political process.

2) Thank him for his willingness to support religious and ethnic minorities.

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CAIR: CHEAP SHOT AT PASCRELL - TOP
New Jersey Star-Ledger, 3/16/07
http://www.nj.com/opinion/ledger/editorials/index.ssf?/base/news-1/1174024348241770.xml&coll=1

Rep. Bill Pascrell is a New Jersey Democrat whose 8th District includes Passaic and Paterson, cities with significant Islamic communities. The other day, Pascrell arranged for a national Islamic civil liberties group to use a room in the Capitol basement for a panel discussion on relations between Muslims and the West. The House Republican Conference went ballistic.

The conference provides policy research and other support services to GOP House members, and it said no way the new Democratic majority should be hosting meetings of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a group it called "apologists for suicide bombers."

Those are tough words, and they did fit a few individuals who have been associated with CAIR over the years, one of whom was convicted of conspiring to train terrorists in Virginia. But the federal government doesn't think that troubling description of a few bad apples accurately portrays the group in general.

The FBI and other agencies have repeatedly used CAIR to build bridges with the Muslim community, and the "apologist" tag certainly wasn't shared by the high-ranking Republican who met with the group at an Islamic center after 9/11: President Bush.

Members of Congress routinely give groups access to Capitol rooms, from environmental coalitions to organizations fighting drunken driving. Pascrell noted the building is "open to all Americans and should be available to encourage dialogue on the most relevant domestic and international issues of the day."

Exactly the proper attitude. The House Republican Conference could easily do its part to encourage a dialogue. The conference and members of Congress who feel strongly that CAIR is indeed an apologist for evil should reserve a room, invite CAIR and hold a debate. That would be much more productive than trying to score cheap political points.

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CAIR-MI REP SPEAKS ABOUT HISTORY OF ISLAM IN AMERICA - TOP

(FLINT, MI, 3/15/07) - CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid recently spoke at the University of Michigan-Flint, presenting an account of the history of Islam in America. The educational event was attended by faculty and students.

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 Executive Director Dawud Walid at dwalid@cair.com or 248-842-1418.

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CAIR-LA INVITES MUSLIMS TO JOIN ANNUAL MANZANAR PILGRIMAGE - TOP

38th Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage: A Visit to the largest Japanese American Internment Camp

WHAT: 38th Annual Manzanar Pilgrimage
WHEN: Saturday, April 28, 2007

The Manzanar Committee is dedicated to educating the public about the Japanese American internment camp experience by organizing the annual Manzanar Pilgrimage. This year, the Southern California office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) is working with the L.A. Manzanar Committee and the Japanese American Citizens League (JACL) to bring members of the California Muslim community to join for a one-day visit of Manzanar. (See History of Manzanar below)

This is a great opportunity for community leaders as well as college students to participate and share their experience with their respective communities.

Citing the significance of the trip, CAIR-LA Executive Director Hussam Ayloush said: "With the growing anti-Muslim sentiments and incidents across the country, it is important to relearn and remember part of our nation's history when we as a country committed great injustices against innocent Americans solely based on their heritage and background."

If you are interested or for more information, contact: Alia Aboul-Nasr, Programs and Development Manager, 714-776-1847, socal@cair.com

SEE ALSO:

CAIR-LA: MUSLIM TENANTS WIN DISCRIMINATION LAWSUIT IN ARBITRATION - TOP
Judge rules Anaheim housing complex denied repairs and units based on religion.
ERIK ORTIZ, Orange County Register, 3/16/07
http://www.ocregister.com/ocregister/news/local/anaheim/article_1621741.php

An arbiter has decided that the Chaumont Villas apartment complex wrongly discriminated against six Muslim tenants based on their religion.

The parties in the lawsuit, filed in September 2005, agreed to binding arbitration.

In his decision on March 9, Orange County Arbiter Jay Cordell Horton said the Unruh Civil Rights Act and the Fair Employment and Housing Act were violated.

Horton has ordered the owner of the West Broadway apartment complex to pay monetary damages to the tenants.

The initial lawsuit said that the apartment complex's manager, Bridgett Phillips, showed a pattern of discrimination, including refusing to make repairs, chasing away Muslim children from playing in common areas and forbidding a tenant from switching apartments claiming there were no vacancies.

"As Americans, all we want is respect and fair treatment," plaintiff Tawfieq Mousa said in a statement last week.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations lauded the arbiter's decision. (MORE)

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CAIR-MD/VA TO OFFER PART 2 OF INTRODUCTION TO U.S. LEGAL SYSTEM - TOP

HERNDON, VIRGINIA - On March 17, the Maryland and Virginia chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MD/VA) is conducting the second part of its free Introduction to the American Legal System seminar.

This overview of American Law is designed to provide the Muslim community with a basic understanding of the U.S. legal processes and institutions in order to empower our community to enact the legal protections afforded to us as American Muslims. It is known that any individual or community that utilizes the American legal system for this purpose makes a substantial investment in their future.

Attorney Morris Days, Civil Rights Manager of CAIR-MD/VA's Northern Virginia office, will be conducting the class. Using real case examples that are relevant to American Muslims and the immigrant community, Days will be discussing the basic structure and function of law making (local, state, and federal assemblies), governance (presidency), regulation (government agencies) and administration (the courts). If you were unable to attend the first session, you are still welcome to join us for Part II!

Topics include:
* The Stages of a Case before Trial
* The Trial
* The Role of Attorneys
* Changing the system
* Legal Terminology

Arabic, Urdu, Farsi, and Spanish interpreters will be available to assist the community. Please specify in your response if a language interpreter is required.

WHERE: CAIR-MD/VA Office, 585 N. Grove Street, Herndon, VA
WHEN: Saturday, March 17, 2007, 10:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

(Arrive early for refreshments and networking opportunity; a free lunch is provided after the seminar)

RSVP Required (please remember to specify if a language interpreter is required): Email: jamil_2good@yahoo.com or morrisdays@abanet.org, Tel: phone: 703.689.3100

CONTACT: Morris Days, Civil Rights Manager, CAIR MD/VA, 703.689.3100

SEE ALSO:

CAIR-CA: COMMUNITY EMPOWERMENT WORKSHOP - TOP

On Tuesday, March 20, CAIR-SFBA will kick off the Community Empowerment Workshop Series of 2007 with the first workshop in San Jose.

WHAT: An interfaith educational effort, composed of a 2 hour interactive program that includes expert speakers covering Islam, Muslims, post 9/11 legislations, and their effect on immigrant communities, followed by a panel discussion.

WHEN: Tuesday, March 20, 2007, 7 - 9 p.m.
WHERE: St. Martin of Tours Parish, 200 O'Conner Drive, San Jose, CA

CONTACT: Robert Yabes, 408-325-5279, Email: robert@ccsj.org or Shazia Jafri, 408-986-9874, Email: sjafri@cair.com

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S.I.S.T.E.R.S. & SAF RAISING $75,000 TO ENDOW THE SHARIFA ALKHATEEB MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP FUND TO SUPPORT 3 ANNUAL SCHOLARSHIPS FOR FCPS STUDENTS - TOP

(Falls Church, VA, March 7, 2007) - In recognition of Sharifa Alkhateeb's service to Fairfax County, Virginia, S.I.S.T.E.R.S and the Sharifa Alkhateeb Foundation collaborated with College Access Fairfax to establish a memorial scholarship in January of 2007.

We are seeking to raise a total of $75,000 to perpetually endow three annual scholarships of $1000 each for Fairfax County Public Schools graduating seniors. The management of the endowment and the administration of the scholarship will be conducted by College Access Fairfax.

The Sharifa Alkhateeb Memorial Fund Scholarship will be divided into three annual scholarships which will recognize Sharifa's work in establishing the Arabic Program in Fairfax County Public Schools, implementing diversity education within the public school system, and demonstrating an ongoing commitment to social service.

Sharifa Alkhateeb was an integral part of Fairfax County, and advised schools, police departments, corporate directors, government agencies, and publishers of school textbooks on Islam and Muslims.

Mrs. Alkhateeb served Fairfax County Public Schools (FCPS) as a diversity trainer, produced a television show from 1993 to 1997 entitled "Middle Eastern Parenting" and played a pivotal role in the establishment of Arabic as one of FCPS's foreign language programs. The creation of this memorial scholarship will encourage students in their pursuit of higher education, and at the same time recognize the contributions Sharifa Alkhateeb made to Fairfax County.

Contributions are being accepted by College Access Fairfax. Please write "Sharifa Alkhateeb" in the memo line of your check. For additional information on the Sharifa Alkhateeb Memorial Scholarship Fund contact SAMSFund@gmail.com.

CONTACT: College Access Fairfax, 8115 Gatehouse Road, Suite 1512, Falls Church, VA 22042; Email: SAMSFund@gmail.com

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U.S. OFFICIALS WANT MORE OUTREACH TO AMERICAN ARABS, MUSLIMS - TOP
Homeland Security aides note difficulty in recruiting interpreters and analysts
Adam Schreck, Los Angeles Times, 3/15/07
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-terror15mar15,1,4192362.story

Senior Homeland Security officials told a Senate panel Wednesday that they were having a hard time employing enough interpreters and analysts to counter domestic terrorist threats and that they needed to do more to reach out to American Arabs and Muslims.

They also warned that some American Muslims were at risk of becoming radicalized and might try to execute homegrown terrorist attacks of the sort carried out on London subways and buses in 2005.

And even though they said they were aware of the sensitivity of the situation, Secretary Michael Chertoff and other officials acknowledged that they did not fully understand the radicalization process or know the size of the problem.

In testimony before the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee, they said the department had taken steps to better communicate with Arab, Muslim and South Asian Americans but said more needed to be done to build trust and encourage them to enter public service.

"We believe that a critical element of our strategy for securing this country is to build a level of communication, trust and confidence that is unprecedented in our nation's history," said Daniel W. Sutherland, the department's officer for civil rights and civil liberties.

Chertoff said recruiting interpreters and analysts was "always a challenge" in part because of competition from the private sector and other government agencies.

"I want to make sure we continue to have a pool of recruits that is sufficient to let us satisfy our needs, and I think we're in a very competitive environment," he said.

Sutherland said department officials had developed relationships with members of the American Arab, Muslim, Sikh and South Asian communities in cities nationwide, including Los Angeles. But he emphasized that all levels of government "have to work hard to deepen the engagement" with American Muslims, noting that the majority of that group wants nothing to do with extremism.

Several senators agreed. Sen. Claire McCaskill (D-Mo.) said American Muslims were "deeply offended" by efforts to radicalize their faith.

"The signals that the top levels of our government send around the world about the way we view the Muslim faith may be the most powerful weapon we have against terrorism," she said.

SEE ALSO:

OK: MEETING HELD BETWEEN LAW ENFORCEMENT OFFICERS AND MUSLIMS - TOP
Associated Press, 3/16/07
http://www.fox23.com/news/state/story.aspx?content_id=1a5bba14-9c02-4462-b912-f50eb119a816

(OKLAHOMA CITY) March 16 - Law officers have met with Muslim leaders in Oklahoma in an effort to improve understanding and limit problems in what both sides say can be a tense relationship.

FBI agents, police chiefs and officers, mosque leaders and members of the Governor's Ethnic American Advisory Council met privately at the Memorial Institute for the Prevention of Terrorism.

FBI Special Agent in Charge Michael Ward says counterterrorism investigations routinely produce leads involving the Muslim community. He says those leads must be worked aggressively but there also must be a balance to ensure Muslims are treated fairly. (MORE)

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AR: WE HAVE A WINNER - TOP
Associated Press, 3/14/07
http://www.malvern-online.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=7186

When seventh-grader Samia Nawaz was given the word "plantain," she knew she had the Arkansas State Spelling Bee in the bag. "As soon as she heard that word, she smirked at me," said her mother, Fahmida Nawaz. That's because Samia's mother grew up eating plantains - a tropical, banana-like plant. Samia of Little Rock beat out 62 other spellers in the bee, held Saturday at the University of Arkansas.

SEE ALSO:

GA: GLOBAL PALATES BOOST DEMAND FOR GOAT MEAT - TOP
REBECCA Mccarthy, Atlanta Journal-Constitution, 3/16/07
http://www.ajc.com/search/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2007/03/15/0316metgoats.html

Angie Peevy has become accustomed to the cars that pass her family's Gwinnett farm, circle back and head to her house. The drivers all ask the same thing: Can they buy one of her pets - to eat?

"There's been a tremendous increase over the past five years in people wanting goat meat," said Peevy, who keeps a herd of dairy goats.

A large billy goat may sell for as much as $200 on the meat market, while kids may fetch $30.

"The number of Islamic people wanting goats, the halal market, is amazing. ... Sometimes I'll sell them a young buck or a male kid." (MORE)

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CA: MUSLIM TV STATION TO LAUNCH IN NEWARK - TOP
Angela Woodall, Inside Bay Area (California), 3/16/07
http://www.insidebayarea.com/argus/localnews/ci_5450344

NEWARK -- Speakers from Al-Jazeera and other Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian news outlets will be in Newark on Saturday for the launch of Global Forum TV, a network created by a Newark-based Muslim group.

The American Muslim Alliance launched the network to give Muslims a voice in the public debate about civil liberties, war, human rights and other issues, said the forum's host, Agha Saeed.

"This is a time when people need to hear all the sides of the story, such as the situation of U.S. Muslims," said Saeed, national chairman of the organization and a communications instructor at California State University, East Bay.

The forum will begin at 5 p.m. at Mehran Restaurant, 5774 Mowry School Road. A $20 fee includes dinner. The event was organized as a response to the explosion of TV channels in heavily Muslim countries such as Pakistan, Saeed said. (MORE)

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ISLAM AN UNKNOWN FACTOR IN OBAMA BID - TOP
Campaign downplays his connection during boyhood in Indonesia
Paul Watson, Los Angeles Times, 3/16/07
http://www.orlandosentinel.com/news/nationworld/bal-te.obama16mar16,0,3991023.story

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- As a boy in Indonesia, Barack Obama crisscrossed the religious divide. At the local primary school, he prayed in thanks to a Catholic saint. In the neighborhood mosque, he bowed to Allah.

Having a personal background in Christianity and Islam might seem useful for an aspiring U.S. president in an age when Islamic nations and radical groups are key national security and foreign policy issues. But a connection with Islam is untrod territory for presidential politics.

Obama's four years as a child in Indonesia underscore how dramatically his background differs from that of past presidential hopefuls, most of whom spent little, if any, time in other countries. No one knows how voters will react to a candidate with an early exposure to Islam, a religion that remains foreign to many Americans.

Obama's campaign aides have emphasized his strong Christian beliefs and downplayed any Islamic connection. The Illinois senator was raised "in a secular household in Indonesia by his stepfather and mother," his chief spokesman, Robert Gibbs, said in a statement in January after false reports began circulating that Obama had attended a radical madrasa, or Koranic school, as a child.

"To be clear, Senator Obama has never been a Muslim, was not raised a Muslim, and is a committed Christian who attends the United Church of Christ in Chicago," Gibbs' Jan. 24 statement said. In a statement to The Los Angeles Times on Wednesday, the campaign offered slightly different wording, saying: "Obama has never been a practicing Muslim." The statement added that as a child, Obama had spent time in the neighborhood's Islamic center.

His former Roman Catholic and Muslim teachers, along with two people who were identified by Obama's grade-school teacher as childhood friends, say Obama was registered by his family as a Muslim at both of the schools he attended.

That registration meant that during the third and fourth grades, Obama learned about Islam for two hours each week in religion class.

The childhood friends say Obama sometimes went to Friday prayers at the local mosque. "We prayed but not really seriously, just following actions done by older people in the mosque. But as kids, we loved to meet our friends and went to the mosque together and played," said Zulfin Adi, who describes himself as among Obama's closest childhood friends.

The campaign's national press secretary, Bill Burton, said Wednesday that the friends were recalling events "that are 40 years old and subject to four decades of other information." Obama's younger sister, Maya Soetoro, said in a statement released by the campaign that the family attended the mosque only "for big communal events," not every Friday.

The sensitivity of Islam as a political issue was on display earlier this year with the false report that Obama had attended a radical madrassa here. The report, which appeared initially on a conservative-oriented online magazine and then on a Fox News program, attributed the news to researchers for Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton. Both campaigns denied the story and accused conservative media outlets of trying to use the rumor to smear two Democratic presidential hopefuls simultaneously.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Islamic-majority country, has seen an upsurge of Islamic radicalism in the last few years. But during the 1960s, when Obama lived here, the country was known for a brand of Islam more open to the non-Islamic world than the austere versions preached in much of the Middle East. Even in the Mideast, political Islam was far less influential in the 1960s than it is today.

In his autobiography, Dreams From My Father, Obama briefly mentions Koranic study and describes his public school, which accepted students of all religions, as "a Muslim school." (MORE)

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ON ISRAEL, AMERICA & AIPAC - TOP
George Soros, New York Review of Books, 3/12/07
http://www.nybooks.com/articles/20030

The Bush administration is once again in the process of committing a major policy blunder in the Middle East, one that is liable to have disastrous consequences and is not receiving the attention it should. This time it concerns the Israeli-Palestinian relationship. The Bush administration is actively supporting the Israeli government in its refusal to recognize a Palestinian unity government that includes Hamas, which the US State Department considers a terrorist organization. This precludes any progress toward a peace settlement at a time when progress on the Palestinian problem could help avert a conflagration in the greater Middle East.

The United States and Israel seek to deal only with the president of the Palestinian Authority, Mahmoud Abbas, in the hope that new elections would deny Hamas the majority it now has in the Palestinian Legislative Council. This is a hopeless strategy because Hamas has said it would boycott early elections, and even if their outcome would result in Hamas's exclusion from the government, no peace agreement would hold without Hamas's support.

In the meantime Saudi Arabia is pursuing a different path. In a February summit in Mecca between Mahmoud Abbas and Hamas leader Khaled Mashaal, the Saudi government worked out an agreement between Hamas and Fatah, which have been clashing violently, to form a national unity government. According to the Mecca accord, Hamas has agreed "to respect international resolutions and the agreements [with Israel] signed by the Palestinian Liberation Organization," including the Oslo Accords. According to press reports on March 15, the new government, like the present one, will be headed by Ismail Haniya, the Hamas prime minister, but Hamas will get nine of the government's twenty-four ministries, as well as an additional minister without portfolio; President Abbas and his Fatah party will control six ministries, and independent representatives-some said to be under the control of Hamas or Fatah-and other political factions will fill the nine remaining ministries. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

CA: PEACE STARTS WITH UNDERSTANDING OF MUSLIM NEIGHBORS - TOP
Dr. Rushdi Abdul Cader, San Luis Obispo Tribune, 3/16/07
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispotribune/news/editorial/letters/16915456.htm

The invitation of Daniel Pipes to Cal Poly and the subsequent media response have roused many questions about Islam and Palestinian life.

I am a mainstream American Muslim, and as such, Pipes' claims stand contrary to my experience on these topics.

Pipes advocates breaking the spirit of the Palestinians by making them realize that "Palestinians can't win," that "negotiations don't work" and that "the Palestinians can have no more hope." His rationale is grounded in the notion that Palestinians will never, under any conditions, accept a state of Israel and thus the only response for Israel is to break their will.

Palestinians are a defiant people. I recall watching a procession of Orthodox Christians carrying palm leaves as they made their way along the Via Dolorosa to the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, in the heart of Jerusalem. The Palestinian Christian children bringing up the rear mocked and jeered at four Israel Defense Forces (IDF) soldiers as they passed by. The children flicked pebbles at them, one of which struck a soldier's boot. The soldier approached the smallest child, shouldered his rifle and held it against the 4-year-old's head. His index finger eased inside the trigger guard of his M-16. The other boys scattered, leaving their friend alone, unflinching and defiant. Standing just 15 feet away from this event, I froze so as not to spook the teenage IDF soldier. Seconds passed like eternity until the soldier released his trigger finger.

The child stuck his tongue out and ran after his friends. This is the Palestinians' resistance, and they will defy Israeli occupation down to the last child.

Yet this example does not mean that the Palestinians will never accept an Israeli state, as Pipes supposes. Freedom is their birthright, yet their first goal is to secure liberty, not destroy their neighbor. A truly independent and sovereign nation is the primary desire for the vast majority of Palestinians.

I visited the West Bank myself while an emergency medical officer for the International Medical Corps. I witnessed firsthand the degrading life of Palestinians under Israeli occupation. I saw the destruction of Palestinian homes and smelled the rotting corpses of Palestinian families under the rubble of Jenin.

In Nablus, I saw the remains of a bombed-out church and picked tufts of a child's hair from the concrete debris. I visited United Nations clinics where many Palestinians died while waiting for transport to hospitals that were blocked by the IDF. I never spoke publicly of what I saw. My pictures and video were confiscated by my interrogators when I was held in an Israeli holding cell and told that I would never see my family again. I came to appreciate the level of distrust and anger that can develop.

Even with these traumatic experiences, I never generalized these circumstances to be the fault of all Israelis, let alone all Jews.

Israelis, too, have suffered.

I did not visit the hospital beds of the victims of suicide bombers, nor Israelis who had lost loved ones. They, too, are victims of violence and desire peace and safety. My time in relief work has shaped my appreciation of the Jewish community as a whole. In the course of these experiences, the greatest charity that I have ever witnessed has been from Jewish hands to underserved Muslims.

Criticism of the occupation does not come out of disdain for the people of Israel or their religion. (MORE)

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LEARN ARABIC AND STUDY QURAN AT AL AZHAR UNIVERSITY - TOP

The Cordoba University School of Professional Studies (Ashburn VA), Al Azhar University and Al-Ameen Associates once again present an Intensive Arabic Immersion Program in Cairo, Egypt.

June 28 - July 31, 2007 (Dates may vary 1-3 days based on final travel arrangements)

Seats are still available - Apply NOW! DEADLINE IS MARCH 19
Required: Minimum age-18 Must Know Arabic alphabet & vowels

DETAILS/CONTACT INFO:

* $2200 Fee Includes: Rd trip airfare from NYC, ground transport, lodging, books and tuition. (ACCEPTED Applications received after deadline will be charged $2500 IF SPACE IS AVAILABLE)
* Classes for beginners, intermediate and advanced levels�
* Classes meet 5 days a week, 6 hours per day
* CEU's and college credit available through Cordoba University

Applications and further info available at the following link at the
Cordoba University website:

http://www.cordobauniversity.org/csps/Al-Azhar.asp

Phone: 203-865-9411, email al_ameenllc@yahoo.com

(Due to the low cost of this program-no scholarships are available)

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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

CAIR WELCOMES JUSTICE DEPT. SUPPORT FOR RELIGIOUS RIGHTS

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful


BREAKING NEWS:

CAIR-FL: TOUR-BUS DRIVER FIRED FOR MUSLIM JOKES ( Orlando Sentinel)

"And now they're telling us we're supposed to be nice to these Muslim terrorists who are trying to kill us all," Hilal Isler recalled him saying. "Here in America, we call them 'rag-heads' or 'towelheads,' but that's not right. What they wear on their heads is more like a sheet. We should be calling them sheetheads.". . .

Sabiha Khan, executive director of the Orlando office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said she receives two to three complaints a month about discrimination against Muslims in Central Florida. Mostly the incidents go unreported, she said. . .

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


CAIR WELCOMES JUSTICE DEPT. SUPPORT FOR RELIGIOUS RIGHTS

DOJ sues New York department of corrections over ban on religious symbols


(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/16/07) - The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) today welcomed a decision by the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) to sue that state's Department of Correctional Services in support of a prison guard who wears a Muslim "kufi," or skullcap.

The DOJ lawsuit alleges that the Department of Correctional Services rule barring officers from wearing visible symbols of their faith violates a federal law requiring employers to accommodate the reasonable religious practices of workers.

In response to the DOJ complaint, a spokeswoman for the Department of Correctional Services said policies have been amended to allow such symbols "on a case by case basis."

SEE: DOJ Sues New York Over Headgear Ban Affecting Muslim Prison Guard (AP)

"We welcome the Justice Department's support for reasonable religious accommodation in the workplace," said CAIR Civil Rights Director Maryam Sayar Akbar. "Workers of all faiths, and in all fields, should be granted the religious rights allowed under the law."

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.


- END -


CONTACT: CAIR-NY Communications Coordinator Faiza N. Ali, 212-870-2002, E-Mail: fali@cair.com; 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.com

-----

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

CAIR SAYS WASHINGTON TIMES 'HYPOCRITICAL' ON PRESS FREEDOM

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE


CAIR SAYS WASHINGTON TIMES 'HYPOCRITICAL' ON PRESS FREEDOM
Right-wing paper refuses to publish responses to biased coverage


(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/15/07) - A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today called the right-wing Washington Times newspaper "beyond hypocritical" for claiming to support a "robust media" while refusing to publish responses to alleged anti-Muslim bias in its reporting and commentary.

The newspaper made that claim in an editorial today attacking the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). In its editorial, the paper also falsely portrayed American Muslims as recent immigrants, despite the fact that the Islamic community has deep historical roots in this nation, beginning with the Muslim slaves who were brought to America from West Africa.

The Times editorial stated: "This is a lesson [about a robust media] our Muslim brothers will learn sooner or later as they become accustomed to life in America."

In a statement, CAIR said:

"It is beyond hypocritical for a newspaper long known for its Islamophobic content to claim to defend a 'robust media' while at the same time refusing to publish responses from those it smears."

As evidence of the Washington Times' refusal to publish editorial responses from Muslims, CAIR cited a letter to the editor it sent to the paper earlier this week. That letter, headlined "Washington Times Seeks to Silence American Muslims," has not appeared in that newspaper. It stated in part:

"It seems that Internet searches of extremist anti-Muslim blogs have replaced responsible journalism at the Washington Times. That can be the only explanation for the laundry list of recycled smears, distortions and outright falsehoods littered throughout S.A. Miller's hatchet job on the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), America's largest Islamic civil liberties group.

"CAIR is a grass-roots expression of American Muslims who resolved to rise to the challenges facing our society, namely to confront intolerance and promote justice. As the nation's largest Muslim civil rights group, CAIR's 32 chapters bring together Americans from every walk of life. The diversity represented by CAIR's staff, volunteers and supporters is a reflection of the diversity of America.

"We are the same group that launched an online petition drive, called 'Not in the Name of Islam,' designed to demonstrate Muslim repudiation of terrorism and religious extremism. CAIR is also the group that launched a television public service announcement campaign of that same name and coordinated a 'fatwa,' or Islamic religious ruling, against terrorism. . .

"Just a few of the falsehoods and distortions in Miller's article include: 1. Despite what Miller falsely claims, CAIR has no ties of any kind, whether financial or ideological, to terrorism. 2. Rabih Haddad was never a 'CAIR fundraiser.' He spoke at a single CAIR chapter event many years ago. 3. Ghassan Elashi was not a 'founding board member' of CAIR. 4. At least one CAIR official spoke to the reporter, despite the false claim in the article that 'CAIR officials did not return a call seeking comment.'. . ."

Another letter, as yet unpublished, sent from Lebanon to the Washington Times (and copied to CAIR) by the above-mentioned Rabih Haddad states:

"Allow me to express my extreme dismay and disappointment in the level of unprofessional and erroneous reporting exhibited in [the article smearing CAIR] in which the writer states: 'However, CAIR officials have been charged with -- and some convicted of -- offenses related to the support of terrorism, including CAIR fundraiser Rabih Haddad'. . .

"This is a total fabrication as far as I am concerned and I would strongly recommend that your reporters and writers do a little deeper research on their pieces than the average Google search to get their facts straight. I was never a CAIR official, not that I wouldn't have been proud to be included among them, and to this day I have not been charged with any thing save overstaying my visit visa which I was in the process of remedying when I was arrested. . ."

Haddad demanded an apology and a retraction.

"The Islamophobic articles and commentaries in the Washington Times are apparently designed to marginalize and disenfranchise American Muslims and their representative institutions by exploiting growing anti-Islam sentiment in our society," said CAIR Legislative Director Corey Saylor.

Saylor, the author of CAIR's letter to the Times, added: "The fact that CAIR comes under attack by anti-Muslim extremists should come as no surprise to anyone who works for positive social change. All proponents of justice, including leading organizations in America's civil rights movement, have faced similar attacks designed to silence their voices."

A front-page article in yesterday's New York Times quoted government officials as saying CAIR's critics engage in McCarthyite tactics. The article stated:

"More than one [government official] described the standards used by critics to link CAIR to terrorism as akin to McCarthyism, essentially guilt by association. 'Of all the groups, there is probably more suspicion about CAIR, but when you ask people for cold hard facts, you get blank stares,' said Michael Rolince, a retired F.B.I. official who directed counterterrorism in the Washington field office from 2002 to 2005."

Saylor challenged the Washington Times to balance its Muslim-bashing content with commentaries solicited from credible sources in the mainstream American Muslim community. "Washington Times readers deserve more than agenda-driven hit pieces designed to silence Muslims and smear their institutions."

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.


- 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.com

-----

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

CAIR Says Washington Times 'Hypocritical' on Press Freedom

CAIR Says Washington Times 'Hypocritical' on Press Freedom
Right-wing paper refuses to publish responses to biased coverage

WASHINGTON, March 15 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- A prominent national
Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today called the right-wing
Washington Times newspaper "beyond hypocritical" for claiming to support a
"robust media" while refusing to publish responses to alleged anti-Muslim
bias in its reporting and commentary.
The newspaper made that claim in an editorial today attacking the
Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). In its
editorial, the paper also falsely portrayed American Muslims as recent
immigrants, despite the fact that the Islamic community has deep historical
roots in this nation, beginning with the Muslim slaves who were brought to
America from West Africa.
The Times editorial stated: "This is a lesson [about a robust media]
our Muslim brothers will learn sooner or later as they become accustomed to
life in America."
In a statement, CAIR said:
"It is beyond hypocritical for a newspaper long known for its
Islamophobic content to claim to defend a 'robust media' while at the same
time refusing to publish responses from those it smears."
As evidence of the Washington Times' refusal to publish editorial
responses from Muslims, CAIR cited a letter to the editor it sent to the
paper earlier this week. That letter, headlined "Washington Times Seeks to
Silence American Muslims," has not appeared in that newspaper. It stated in
part:
"It seems that Internet searches of extremist anti-Muslim blogs have
replaced responsible journalism at the Washington Times. That can be the
only explanation for the laundry list of recycled smears, distortions and
outright falsehoods littered throughout S.A. Miller's hatchet job on the
Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), America's largest Islamic
civil liberties group.
"CAIR is a grass-roots expression of American Muslims who resolved to
rise to the challenges facing our society, namely to confront intolerance
and promote justice. As the nation's largest Muslim civil rights group,
CAIR's 32 chapters bring together Americans from every walk of life. The
diversity represented by CAIR's staff, volunteers and supporters is a
reflection of the diversity of America.
"We are the same group that launched an online petition drive, called
'Not in the Name of Islam,' designed to demonstrate Muslim repudiation of
terrorism and religious extremism. CAIR is also the group that launched a
television public service announcement campaign of that same name and
coordinated a 'fatwa,' or Islamic religious ruling, against terrorism. . .
"Just a few of the falsehoods and distortions in Miller's article
include: 1. Despite what Miller falsely claims, CAIR has no ties of any
kind, whether financial or ideological, to terrorism. 2. Rabih Haddad was
never a 'CAIR fundraiser.' He spoke at a single CAIR chapter event many
years ago. 3. Ghassan Elashi was not a 'founding board member' of CAIR. 4.
At least one CAIR official spoke to the reporter, despite the false claim
in the article that 'CAIR officials did not return a call seeking
comment.'. . ."
Another letter, as yet unpublished, sent from Lebanon to the Washington
Times (and copied to CAIR) by the above-mentioned Rabih Haddad states:
"Allow me to express my extreme dismay and disappointment in the level
of unprofessional and erroneous reporting exhibited in [the article
smearing CAIR] in which the writer states: 'However, CAIR officials have
been charged with -- and some convicted of -- offenses related to the
support of terrorism, including CAIR fundraiser Rabih Haddad'. . .
"This is a total fabrication as far as I am concerned and I would
strongly recommend that your reporters and writers do a little deeper
research on their pieces than the average Google search to get their facts
straight. I was never a CAIR official, not that I wouldn't have been proud
to be included among them, and to this day I have not been charged with any
thing save overstaying my visit visa which I was in the process of
remedying when I was arrested. . ."
Haddad demanded an apology and a retraction.
"The Islamophobic articles and commentaries in the Washington Times are
apparently designed to marginalize and disenfranchise American Muslims and
their representative institutions by exploiting growing anti-Islam
sentiment in our society," said CAIR Legislative Director Corey Saylor.
Saylor, the author of CAIR's letter to the Times, added: "The fact that
CAIR comes under attack by anti-Muslim extremists should come as no
surprise to anyone who works for positive social change. All proponents of
justice, including leading organizations in America's civil rights
movement, have faced similar attacks designed to silence their voices."
A front-page article in yesterday's New York Times quoted government
officials as saying CAIR's critics engage in McCarthyite tactics. The
article stated:
"More than one [government official] described the standards used by
critics to link CAIR to terrorism as akin to McCarthyism, essentially guilt
by association. 'Of all the groups, there is probably more suspicion about
CAIR, but when you ask people for cold hard facts, you get blank stares,'
said Michael Rolince, a retired F.B.I. official who directed
counterterrorism in the Washington field office from 2002 to 2005."
Saylor challenged the Washington Times to balance its Muslim-bashing
content with commentaries solicited from credible sources in the mainstream
American Muslim community. "Washington Times readers deserve more than
agenda- driven hit pieces designed to silence Muslims and smear their
institutions."
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 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.com

Officials Say CAIR's Critics Guilty of 'McCarthyism' / Brother of VA Muslim Murdered in Iraq / CAIR Director Meets with Ethiopian President

In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful


AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 3/14/07

* Hadith: Do Not Create Hatred
* Action: Help Support CAIR's Important Work
* Brother of Virginia Muslim Scholar Murdered in Iraq
* CAIR Director Meets with Ethiopian President
* Officials: CAIR's Critics Guilty of 'McCarthyism' (NY Times)
* CAIR-FL Rep Appointed to ACLU State Board
- CAIR-FL Rep to Join Interfaith Discussion (Sun-Sentinel)
* CAIR-CAN Says Firing of Muslim Officer 'Entirely Unnecessary'
* CAIR-MI: Talk by 'Former Terrorist' Under Fire (Detroit News)
* CAIR: Customer Service and Faith Clash at Registers (Star Trib)
* ID Senate Passes Rights Resolution After Mosque Vandalism (AP)
- CA: Planned Mosque Causing Quite a Stir
- CA: Catholics Reciprocate Muslims' Outreach (OC Register)
* UN: Israeli Excavation in Jerusalem Should Stop (CBC)

-----

HADITH OF THE DAY: DO NOT CREATE HATRED - TOP

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Make things easy and convenient and don't make them harsh and difficult. Give cheer and glad tidings and do not create hatred."

Riyadh us-Saleheen Volume 1:637

-----

ACTION: HELP SUPPORT CAIR'S IMPORTANT WORK - TOP

Become a member: https://www.cair.com/asp/membership.asp
Donate: https://www.cair.com/asp/default.asp
Subscribe to CAIR-NET: http://cair.biglist.com/cair-net/

-----

BROTHER OF VIRGINIA MUSLIM SCHOLAR MURDERED IN IRAQ - TOP

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/14/07) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today offered its sincere condolences to the family of a prominent Muslim with relatives in the United States who was murdered in Iraq.

Family members reported to CAIR that Hamed Ali Al-Hanooti was kidnapped and murdered yesterday in Baghdad. Al-Hanooti was the brother of Sheikh Muhammad Al-Hanooti, a Muslim leader and scholar in the Washington, D.C. area.

Hamed Ali Al-Hanooti was the father of six children.

"To God we belong and to Him we return," said CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad. "We offer our sincere condolences to the family of Hamed Ali Al-Hanooti and ask God to grant them patience in this time of adversity."

-----

CAIR DIRECTOR MEETS WITH ETHIOPIAN PRESIDENT - TOP

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/14/07) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations Executive Director Nihad Awad yesterday took part in a private roundtable discussion with President Girma Wolde-Giorgis of Ethiopia. A representative of the Ethiopian Muslim community also took part in the meeting.

The meeting was hosted by the Institute on Religion and Public Policy in coordination with the United States Institute of Peace and the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding, and focused on inter-cultural, interreligious, and fundamental rights issues.

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 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.com

-----

FBI OFFICIAL: CAIR'S CRITICS GUILTY OF 'MCCARTHYISM' - TOP
Neil MacFarquhar, New York Times, 3/14/07
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/14/washington/14cair.html

A small band of critics have made a determined but unsuccessful effort to link [CAIR] to Hamas and Hezbollah. . .

CAIR and its supporters say its accusers are a small band of people who hate Muslims and deal in half-truths. Ms. Boxer's decision to revoke the Sacramento commendation provoked an outcry from organizations that vouch for the group's advocacy, including the American Civil Liberties Union and the California Council of Churches.

"They have been a leading organization that has advocated for civil rights and civil liberties in the face of fear and intolerance, in the face of religious and ethnic profiling," said Maya Harris, the executive director of the A.C.L.U. of Northern California.

Government officials in Washington said they were not aware of any criminal investigation of the group. More than one described the standards used by critics to link CAIR to terrorism as akin to McCarthyism, essentially guilt by association.

"Of all the groups, there is probably more suspicion about CAIR, but when you ask people for cold hard facts, you get blank stares," said Michael Rolince, a retired F.B.I. official who directed counterterrorism in the Washington field office from 2002 to 2005. . .

There were no charges linked to CAIR in any of the cases involved, and law enforcement officials said that in the current climate, any hint of suspicious behavior would have resulted in a racketeering charge.

Several federal officials said CAIR's Washington office frequently issued controversial statements that made it hard for senior government figures to be associated with the group, particularly since some pro-Israeli lobbyists have created what one official called a "cottage industry" of attacking the group and anyone dealing with it.

Last summer, the group urged a halt to weapons shipments to Israel as civilian casualties in Lebanon swelled. In September, it held a dinner for former President Mohamed Khatami of Iran at a time when much of official Washington had ostracized that Islamic republic. In November, the group sponsored a panel discussion by two prominent academics who argue that the pro-Israeli lobby exercises detrimental influence on United States policy on the Middle East.

"Traditionally within the government there is only one point of view that is acceptable, which is the pro-Israel line," said Nihad Awad, a founder of CAIR and its executive director. "Another enlightened perspective on the conflict is not there, and it causes some discomfort." . . .

Some Muslims, particularly the secular, find CAIR overly influenced by Saudi religious interpretations, criticizing it for stating in news releases, for example, that all Muslim women are required to veil their hair when the matter is openly debated.

But they still support its civil rights work and endorse the idea of anyone working to make American Islam a more integral part of society. One Arab-American advocate compared CAIR to "the tough cousin who curses at anyone who speaks badly about the family."

Some activists and academics view the controversy surrounding the group as typical of why Washington fails so often in the Middle East, while extremism mushrooms.

"How far are we going to keep going in this endless circle: 'You are a terrorist!' 'No, you are a terrorist!'?" said Souleiman Ghali, one of the founders of a moderate San Francisco mosque. "People are paying a price for that."

-----

CAIR-FL REP APPOINTED TO ACLU STATE BOARD - TOP

(MIAMI, FL, 3/14/07) - The Florida chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-FL) announced today that its South Florida executive director has been elected to the board of directors for the American Civil Liberties Union of in that state.

In his letter accepting the nomination to the state ACLU board, Altaf Ali wrote: "I strongly believe that we all have to support each other and work toward building a better America for our children and for the future generations to come."

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: Altaf Ali, Executive Director, Council on American-Islamic Relations-Florida, Tel: 954-272-0490, E-Mail: altaf@cair-florida.org

SEE ALSO:

CAIR-FL: INTERFAITH DISCUSSION'S TOPIC WILL BE 'RELIGIONS OF PEACE' - TOP
South Florida Sun-Sentinel, 3/14/07
http://www.sun-sentinel.com/news/local/florida/sfl-flbriefsb0314mar14,0,6212428.story

"Religions of Peace: An Interfaith Forum" is set for 6 p.m. Sunday at Royal Palm Christian Church, 9600 Royal Palm Blvd.

The forum will include presentations by Altaf Ali, executive director of the Florida chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations, Rabbi Mark Gross from Temple Beth Orr, and the Rev. Craig Watts of Royal Palm Christian Church.

A question-and-answer session will follow. The event is free and open to the public.

Call 954-753-2383.

-----

CAIR-CAN SAYS FIRING OF MUSLIM OFFICER 'ENTIRELY UNNECESSARY' - TOP
Muslim civil rights group suggests use of Velcro-fastened hijab to ensure safety

(Ottawa, Canada � March 14, 2007) - The Canadian Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CAN) today said the firing of a Muslim correctional officer in Bordeaux, Quebec, who wished to wear a religiously-mandated headscarf, or hijab, was "entirely unnecessary."

The woman passed all preliminary tests and had completed more than a week of training without incident, but was then told her headscarf posed a safety risk. She was fired despite the fact that the Canadian Armed Forces and police departments in other cities, including Vancouver and Victoria, allow women to wearing the hijab on the front lines and in active duty.

SEE: Hijab Wearing Woman Fired
http://www.940news.com/local.php?news=5391

"Any safety issue could have been addressed through the use of a Velcro-fastened hijab, which would be removed quite easily in case of emergency," said CAIR-CAN spokeswoman Sarah Elgazzar. "The entirely unnecessary action taken against this officer is a clear violation of the Quebec Charter of Human Rights and Freedoms, which prohibits religion-based discrimination in hiring."

Elgazzar questioned whether a correctional officer who wished to wear a headscarf because of hair loss due to chemotherapy would be treated in a similar manner.

CAIR-CAN Executive Director Karl Nickner said that CAIR-CAN is ready to meet with jail officials at Bordeaux jail and with Deputy Minister Jean Lartie to address the issue of hijab and safety.

CONTACT: Sarah Elgazzar, CAIR-CAN Spokeswoman at 514.776.6566, Sameer Zuberi, CAIR-CAN Communications Coordinator at 613.795.2012, or Karl Nickner, CAIR-CAN Executive Director at 613.254.9704 or 613.853.4111.

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CAIR-MI: TALK ON ISLAM UNDER FIRE - TOP
Speaker at Jewish center says he is former terrorist; he calls violent Islam 'a threat to our freedom.'
Gregg Krupa, Detroit News, 3/14/07
http://www.detnews.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070314/LIFESTYLE04/703140401/1041

Tawfik Hamid says he once was a terrorist. But some local Muslims wonder whether it is true.

If it is, they ask, why would anyone invite him to speak about Islam?

Hamid, a medical doctor, spoke at the Jewish Community Center on Tuesday under auspices of the Zionist Organization of America.

"The point is that his mission is just to tell people about Islam, about the dangers of the terrorists," said Maya Veprinsky, executive director of the Zionist Organization of America. "He understood the dangers and stepped out from them."

Hamid said Tuesday: "The most critical aspect of the phenomenon of violent Islam probably is not a terrorist act, it is the threat to our freedom, because if we let this teaching of violence and teaching of hatred grow and grow more than this, one day we will lose our freedom."

Hamid asserts that he once was a member of a banned terrorist organization, Al-Gama'a Al-Islamiyya -- The Islamic Group -- in Egypt and that he trained under Ayman al-Zawahiri, who now is considered the second-in-charge of al-Qaida.

Advocates for the civil rights of Muslims and Arab-Americans criticized giving Hamid a platform.

"The point is that it's not a question of Islam being reformed, as Dr. Hamid states," said Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on Islamic Relations in Michigan.

"It is a question of some Muslims who need to be reformed."

Hamid also lacks the training to "just take it upon himself as an entrepreneur to criticize our holy texts, as he sees fit," he said. (MORE)

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CAIR: CUSTOMER SERVICE AND FAITH CLASH AT REGISTERS - TOP
Some Muslim cashiers at Target refuse to handle pork, setting off another debate over the place of religion in society.
Chris Serres and Matt McKinney, Minneapolis Star Tribune, 3/14/07
http://www.startribune.com/535/story/1052945.html

Beryl Dsouza was late and in no mood for delays when she stopped at a Target store after work two weeks ago for milk, bread and bacon.

So Dsouza was taken aback when the cashier -- who had on the traditional headscarf, or hijab, worn by many Muslim women -- refused to swipe the bacon through the checkout scanner.

"She made me scan the bacon. Then she opened the bag and made me put it in the bag," said Dsouza, 53, of Minneapolis. "It made me wonder why this person took a job as a cashier."

In the latest example of religious beliefs creating tension in the workplace, some Muslims in the Twin Cities are adhering to a strict interpretation of the Qur'an that prohibits the handling of pork products.

Instead of swiping the items themselves, they are asking non-Muslim employees or shoppers to do it for them.

It has set off a firestorm of comments -- more than 400, as of Tuesday evening -- on the Star Tribune's community blog, www.buzz.mn. People called the newspaper from as far as Tokyo to voice their opinion.

It remains unclear how many Muslim cashiers in the Twin Cities are declining to ring up pork sales. . .

Under the Civil Rights Act of 1964, employers are required to make reasonable accommodations for a person's religious practices if it doesn't impose an undue hardship.

A customer's personal preferences is usually not a factor in deciding whether a religious practice is protected in the workplace, noted Khadija Athman, national civil rights manager for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington.

In most cases, a cashier should be able to call over another cashier who can scan a product and the shopper shouldn't be inconvenienced, Athman noted. "If the employee is rude and gasps at the sight of pork, then it's a different situation," she said. (MORE)

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ID SENATE PASSES RIGHTS RESOLUTION AFTER MOSQUE VANDALISM - TOP
Associated Press, 3/14/07

State senators have passed a symbolic measure highlighting Idaho's commitment to human rights, just days after an Islamic mosque in Boise was targeted by swastika stickers.

The chamber approved the measure by voice vote, after the House cleared it 59-9. It reaffirms the state's commitment to "freedom from discrimination because of race, color, religion, sex or national origin or disability."

Sen. Edgar Malepeai, D-Pocatello and sponsor, argued that passing the measure would send a message to racist or bigoted groups that Idaho doesn't tolerate hateful acts.

In the 1980s and '90s, meetings of the Aryan Nations in Hayden Lake in northern Idaho earned the state a reputation as a haven for racist groups. Now, police in Idaho's capital city are investigating the swastikas left last week on the Islamic Center of Boise, and Malepeai said he was concerned the incident could be a harbinger of renewed neo-Nazi activity.

"Idaho is beginning to feel that resurgence," Malepeai said. "We need to respond to this resurgence of hate, and a resolution is a necessary step."

Some House members had opposed the measure last month, arguing it was unnecessary and only brought back bad memories of the Aryan Nations that otherwise would disappear if people didn't always bring them up again. There was no similar debate in the Senate.

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CA: PLANNED MOSQUE CAUSING QUITE A STIR - TOP
Neighbors give chilly reception to blueprint for two-story domed building
Matt O'Brien, Daily Review, 3/14/07
http://www.insidebayarea.com/dailyreview/localnews/ci_5432719

The neighborhood surrounding Gading Road always has been known for its row of Christian churches, most of them built in the 1950s and 1960s to accommodate the rapid growth of nearby housing tracts.

But it has never seen the likes of a minaret before.

That could change now that a group of Fijian Muslims wants to build a domed mosque, capped with four minarets, on a narrow slice of land north of Glassbrook Elementary School.

Mohammed Khan, a longtime Hayward resident who owns the land and is president of the group, said he has spent years raising money and looking for the right spot to establish a local place to worship.

"We really need a place locally," said Khan, who regularly crosses the Bay with his family to attend a mosque in South San Francisco.

But neighbors are looking warily at the proposal, and several say they believe the mosque will decrease residential property values in their central Hayward neighborhood.

Khan introduced himself, his religious practices and his cultural and ethnic background Monday to a group of about 20 people who live near the property.

But he received a chilly reception when he began to show details of the planned 15,000-square-foot facility.

"Whoever drives down Ventura (Avenue) will see that," complained one resident, describing how visitors might react upon seeing the towering minarets. "This is going to be at the expense of a lot of us people who put a lot of equity in our homes."

The resident later declined to give his name, as did some others who are adamantly opposed to the mosque. A woman who answered the phone Tuesday at the Hayward-Seventh Day Adventist Church, next to Khan's property, said the mosque is "not going to happen" and hung up on the reporter who asked about it. (MORE)

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ABOUT 200 ORANGE COUNTY CATHOLICS WITH A HUNGER TO LEARN ABOUT ISLAM RECIPROCATE MUSLIMS' OUTREACH BY HOSTING A DINNER - TOP
Orange County Register, 3/11/07
http://blogs.ocregister.com/ocworld/2007/03/faith_and_food.html

Mark and Cori Ornelas went to dinner Saturday night with their five children to make friends. Muslim friends.

The couple from Tustin was among some 200 Catholics at Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in Newport Beach. They were joined by about 125 Muslims invited by the Catholic Diocese of Orange for the first such meal.

The overture by the diocese stemmed from a desire among Catholics to learn more about Muslims and as a continuation of the spirit of a 1965 Vatican declaration on relations with non-Christians, organizers said.

The document titled "Nostra Aetate," a Latin phrase that translates to "In our Time," pledged the modern Catholic Church's commitment to inter-religious dialogue and expanded relations with people of other faiths.

Cori Ornelas, who belongs to the parish at St. Cecilia Catholic Church in Tustin and knows few Muslims, signed up for the event the same day she heard about it.

"I would like to know about their culture and belief and just would like to have a friendly conversation and meet some new people," said Ornelas, 32, a homemaker. "I feel that there's a lot of stereotyping."

At the first opportunity before dinner, people began shaking hands and chatting.

Red cabbage, rice pilaf, chicken prepared by Catholic volunteers following strict Muslim dietary guidelines, French bread and cake were on the menu.

For Ilker Basaran (shown at left), a spokesman for the Irvine chapter of Global Cultural Connections, the meal symbolized an increased acceptance of Muslims by Catholics. The GCC is a largely Turkish group dedicated to fostering cultural understanding.

Leaders of both communities have met before, but the meal was designed to bring neighbors together.

"I think we don't know Islam," said Anthony Vultaggio, chairman of the diocese's Ecumenical and Inter-Religious Affairs Commission. "It went to the national stage with this horrible act (the 9/11 attacks on the United States) in a sense not in a good light. In some way folks have asked (Muslims) to define themselves."

Until Saturday night, Vultaggio (shown at right) had attended dinners hosted by GCC, which were part of a larger effort in the Muslim community after 9/11 to reach out to non-Muslims. On Saturday, the church reciprocated.

"To their credit (Muslims) have been stepping out," said Vultaggio, 35, a financial consultant from Coto de Caza. "They've been doing the work, and we've been receptive to hearing. Now we're saying we're opening the door more." (MORE)

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ISRAELI EXCAVATION IN JERUSALEM SHOULD STOP, UN SAYS - TOP
CBC News, 3/14/07
http://www.cbc.ca/world/story/2007/03/14/jerusalem-excavation.html

Israel should immediately cease work on an access path to a holy site in Jerusalem, the UN said Wednesday.

"Israel should at once stop excavations and consult on a final plan with Muslim religious authorities and other parties," a UN release said, based on a report by experts with the UN Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO).

Israel began in February to work on a new walkway up to the compound that includes holy sites sacred to both Muslims and Jews.

Known to Jews as the Temple Mount and to Muslims as Haram al-Sharif, the Noble Sanctuary, the work is intended to replace an old earthen ramp that partially collapsed in a snowstorm three years ago.

Israel said the work will cause no harm to Islam's holy site, which includes the Dome of the Rock shrine and the al-Aqsa mosque.

The UN agreed, saying "no work was being conducted inside the Haram al-Sharif area containing the mosque, one of Islam's holiest sites, and excavations ended 10 metres from the Western Wall, considered a holy site by the Jews." (MORE)

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
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