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.
Showing posts with label CAIR. Show all posts
Showing posts with label CAIR. Show all posts
Friday, March 16, 2007
Thursday, March 15, 2007
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
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
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
Saturday, March 10, 2007
CAIR Asks FBI to Probe Nazi Vandalism of Idaho Mosque
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 3/10/07
* CAIR Asks FBI to Probe Nazi Vandalism of Idaho Mosque
- Boise Mosque Targeted with Swastika Stickers (Times-News)
* CAIR-FL Rep to Moderate Discussion of Islam at Church (SP Times)
- CAIR-PA: Panel Discussion on Middle East Issues
* NY: Aid for Families of Muslim Fire Victims Pours In (Newsday)
- CAIR-NY Urges Support for Survivors of Fatal Fire
* MD: Bill on Muslim Funeral Services Clears House of Delegates
* MN: Sunnis, Shias Find Ways to Get Along (Star Tribune)
* U.S. Soldiers Accused of Shooting Iraqi Civilians (NT Times)
-----
CAIR ASKS FBI TO PROBE NAZI VANDALISM OF IDAHO MOSQUE - TOP
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/10/07) - A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today called on the FBI to investigate vandalism at an Idaho mosque as a possible hate crime.
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said stickers bearing Nazi swastikas were recently plastered on the Islamic Center of Boise.
"Americans of all faiths should be concerned whenever a house of worship is targeted by hate," said CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. "We call on the FBI to add its resources to those of local law enforcement authorities so that the perpetrators of this apparent act of religious intimidation may be brought to justice."
Hooper said there have been a number of similar incidents of vandalism targeting mosques nationwide.
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
SEE ALSO:
BOISE MOSQUE TARGETED WITH SWASTIKA STICKERS - TOP
REBECCA BOONE, Times-News, 3/10/07
http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2007/03/10/ap-state-id/d8np6gm02.txt
Police are investigating after swastika-emblazoned stickers promoting a neo-Nazi group were plastered on the Islamic Center of Boise.
The stickers peeled off easily, leaving no physical damage to the mosque, police spokeswoman Lynn Hightower said. But they left behind an emotional residue, with local Muslims wondering why they were targeted.
"These things don't pop up in Boise very often, but they're a cause for concern, especially when they show up on a mosque," Hightower said.
The stickers were discovered Sunday morning, as children arrived at the mosque for Sunday school, said Furqan Mehmood, the center's education director.
"We were concerned if this was targeted toward our children," said Mehmood.
But after questioning members of the mosque, officials learned the stickers were actually left Saturday afternoon. Somali refugees who came to the mosque to pray that afternoon noticed the stickers but didn't report them because they were unfamiliar with the swastika symbol and assumed they were from a delivery service or other benign source, Mehmood said. . .
During a service at the mosque Friday, Abdul Khaliq Yoonas encouraged the congregation to continue giving back to the Boise community despite facing harassment from others.
"Even in Idaho, as redneck as it gets at least, that's the reputation that it has two years ago a Muslim received the Idaho human rights award," Yoonas said. "Every one of us in our own way can make a contribution. ... You will hear all kinds of stuff about you as Muslims and your faith, but let's not let that affect us. You have to be steadfast in your belief system."
The stickers promoted Combat 18, a loosely organized neo-Nazi group that likely originated in Britain, officials said. (MORE)
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CAIR-FL REP TO MODERATE DISCUSSION OF ISLAM AT CHURCH - TOP
St. Petersburg Times, 3/10/07
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/10/Northpinellas/Religion_briefs.shtml
[NOTE: This event has been rescheduled for March 28.]
Religion briefs
Chapel-By-The-Sea Community Church, 54 Bay Esplanade, Clearwater Beach: The church's winter-spring adult education series concludes 7:30 to 9 p.m. Monday with "Foundations of Faith: Understanding True Islam and Our Muslim Neighbors." The program will be moderated by Ahmed Bedier, executive director of the central Florida office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations based in Washington, D.C. The council's mission is to promote an accurate image of Islam and Muslims in America. All are welcome. For information or for reservations, call 446-0430.
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CAIR-PA: PANEL DISCUSSION ON MIDDLE EAST ISSUES - TOP
News Journal
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070310/LIFE/703100302
Delaware Valley Muslim leaders will gather for a panel discussion at 4 p.m. March 18 in the Ruby R. Vale Courtroom at Widener University School of Law, 4601 Concord Pike in Brandywine Hundred.
The panel includes:
* Sofia Ali-Khan, a staff attorney at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia and a board member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Philadelphia.
* John Pavloff, an assistant district attorney in Chester County, Pa., for 19 years. He has been a board member, vice president and secretary of the Islamic Society of Chester County.
* Dr. Mazhar Rishi, chief of pathology at St. Francis Hospital. He is the director of interfaith programs for the Delaware Valley Council on American-Islamic Relations.
* Dr. James Stephenson, an occupational and travel medicine physician at Pottstown Memorial Medical Center. He is a former chairman of the board of the Islamic Society of Chester County.
The moderator will be Alan Garfield, a professor of law at Widener University School of Law.
A reception will follow. Call 477-2177.
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NY: AID FOR FAMILIES POURS IN - TOP
EMI ENDO, Newsday, 3/10/07
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-nysupp105124544mar10,0,7220591.story
A group of Bronx businesses pooled $25,000.
Maria Cancel offered macaroni and cheese and sardines from a corner bodega.
The Yankees offered to pay for the funeral costs of the eight children and one woman who died in Wednesday night's deadly blaze in Highbridge.
More than a dozen area mosques each contributed $1,000 or more to the families.
Through many gestures, both small and grand, New Yorkers responded to the tragedy with an outpouring of prayers, stuffed animals and financial assistance.
Moussa Magassa lost five of his 11 children and Mamadou Soumare lost his wife and three of his four children.
Sheikh Moussa Drammeh, principal of the Islamic Cultural School, announced the formation of the Magassa-Soumare Family Fund, 371 E. 166th St., Bronx, N.Y. 10456. (MORE)
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-NY Urges Support for Survivors of Fatal Fire - TOP
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MD: BILL ON MUSLIM FUNERAL SERVICES CLEARS HOUSE OF DELEGATES - TOP
Washington Post, 3/10/07
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/09/AR2007030902009.html
A bill that acknowledges the growing political clout of Maryland's Muslim community cleared the House of Delegates unanimously yesterday and is headed to the Senate.
The bill addresses complaints from Muslim leaders that their community is served by just one licensed mortician in the Washington region, in the District.
Since Muslims do not practice embalming but perform a ritual cleansing of the body instead, they have not been able to break into the funeral home industry in Maryland. That's because anyone applying for a mortician's license must embalm and perform cosmetic work on at least 20 dead bodies as an apprentice, a practice banned by Islamic law.
The bill would open the industry to Muslims by exempting them from embalming as they learn the trade, creating two licensing tracks for morticians -- those who embalm and those who don't.
"I'm happy to say that this addresses a problem we heard about from many Muslims," said Del. Saqib Ali (D-Montgomery) who co-sponsored the measure with Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg (D-Baltimore).
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MINNESOTA MUSLIMS FIND WAYS TO GET ALONG - TOP
Sunnis and Shiites sometimes discuss and debate differences, but avoid rancor.
Pamela Miller, Star Tribune, 3/10/07
http://www.startribune.com/614/story/1045122.html
When friends Taqee Khaled and Hasan Hyder kick back at Coffman Union between University of Minnesota classes, they have plenty to talk about: classes, mutual friends, Muslim Student Association activities, life.
Khaled, 25, a graduate student in epidemiology, and Hyder, 21, a senior majoring in economics, also frequently pray together.
But there's one thing they have never felt the need to talk about -- who's Sunni and who's Shiite.
For the record, Khaled, who grew up in Minneapolis, is of Bangladesh Sunni heritage, and Hyder, who was born in India and moved to the United States several years ago, is Shiite.
Daily, the two are dismayed at the news from the Middle East, where Sunni-vs.-Shiite tensions have exploded into bloodbaths in Iraq and Lebanon, spawned incendiary talk in some Arab-language publications and turned Baghdad into a no-man's-land of dangerous, divided neighborhoods. This week has been especially bloody, with 340 Iraqis dying, most of them Shiite pilgrims on their way to a shrine in Karbala, south of Baghdad.
Such strife, Khaled and Hyder say, is the result not of ancient theological differences but rather of political and economic instability -- and of war. (MORE)
-----
U.S. SOLDIERS ACCUSED OF SHOOTING CIVILIANS IN SADR CITY - TOP
KIRK SEMPLE, New York Times, 3/10/07
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/10/world/middleeast/10iraq.html
BAGHDAD, March 9 - American soldiers were accused Friday of opening fire on a car carrying a family in the Baghdad district of Sadr City, killing a man and his two young daughters and wounding his son.
The allegations were made by the man's wife, who was in the car, and members of the Iraqi police, who were at the scene. The American military command said in a statement on Friday that it was investigating an episode in Sadr City involving "an escalation of force," but it could not confirm any details of the account given by the man's wife. (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
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 3/10/07
* CAIR Asks FBI to Probe Nazi Vandalism of Idaho Mosque
- Boise Mosque Targeted with Swastika Stickers (Times-News)
* CAIR-FL Rep to Moderate Discussion of Islam at Church (SP Times)
- CAIR-PA: Panel Discussion on Middle East Issues
* NY: Aid for Families of Muslim Fire Victims Pours In (Newsday)
- CAIR-NY Urges Support for Survivors of Fatal Fire
* MD: Bill on Muslim Funeral Services Clears House of Delegates
* MN: Sunnis, Shias Find Ways to Get Along (Star Tribune)
* U.S. Soldiers Accused of Shooting Iraqi Civilians (NT Times)
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CAIR ASKS FBI TO PROBE NAZI VANDALISM OF IDAHO MOSQUE - TOP
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 3/10/07) - A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today called on the FBI to investigate vandalism at an Idaho mosque as a possible hate crime.
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) said stickers bearing Nazi swastikas were recently plastered on the Islamic Center of Boise.
"Americans of all faiths should be concerned whenever a house of worship is targeted by hate," said CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. "We call on the FBI to add its resources to those of local law enforcement authorities so that the perpetrators of this apparent act of religious intimidation may be brought to justice."
Hooper said there have been a number of similar incidents of vandalism targeting mosques nationwide.
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
SEE ALSO:
BOISE MOSQUE TARGETED WITH SWASTIKA STICKERS - TOP
REBECCA BOONE, Times-News, 3/10/07
http://www.magicvalley.com/articles/2007/03/10/ap-state-id/d8np6gm02.txt
Police are investigating after swastika-emblazoned stickers promoting a neo-Nazi group were plastered on the Islamic Center of Boise.
The stickers peeled off easily, leaving no physical damage to the mosque, police spokeswoman Lynn Hightower said. But they left behind an emotional residue, with local Muslims wondering why they were targeted.
"These things don't pop up in Boise very often, but they're a cause for concern, especially when they show up on a mosque," Hightower said.
The stickers were discovered Sunday morning, as children arrived at the mosque for Sunday school, said Furqan Mehmood, the center's education director.
"We were concerned if this was targeted toward our children," said Mehmood.
But after questioning members of the mosque, officials learned the stickers were actually left Saturday afternoon. Somali refugees who came to the mosque to pray that afternoon noticed the stickers but didn't report them because they were unfamiliar with the swastika symbol and assumed they were from a delivery service or other benign source, Mehmood said. . .
During a service at the mosque Friday, Abdul Khaliq Yoonas encouraged the congregation to continue giving back to the Boise community despite facing harassment from others.
"Even in Idaho, as redneck as it gets at least, that's the reputation that it has two years ago a Muslim received the Idaho human rights award," Yoonas said. "Every one of us in our own way can make a contribution. ... You will hear all kinds of stuff about you as Muslims and your faith, but let's not let that affect us. You have to be steadfast in your belief system."
The stickers promoted Combat 18, a loosely organized neo-Nazi group that likely originated in Britain, officials said. (MORE)
-----
CAIR-FL REP TO MODERATE DISCUSSION OF ISLAM AT CHURCH - TOP
St. Petersburg Times, 3/10/07
http://www.sptimes.com/2007/03/10/Northpinellas/Religion_briefs.shtml
[NOTE: This event has been rescheduled for March 28.]
Religion briefs
Chapel-By-The-Sea Community Church, 54 Bay Esplanade, Clearwater Beach: The church's winter-spring adult education series concludes 7:30 to 9 p.m. Monday with "Foundations of Faith: Understanding True Islam and Our Muslim Neighbors." The program will be moderated by Ahmed Bedier, executive director of the central Florida office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations based in Washington, D.C. The council's mission is to promote an accurate image of Islam and Muslims in America. All are welcome. For information or for reservations, call 446-0430.
-----
CAIR-PA: PANEL DISCUSSION ON MIDDLE EAST ISSUES - TOP
News Journal
http://www.delawareonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070310/LIFE/703100302
Delaware Valley Muslim leaders will gather for a panel discussion at 4 p.m. March 18 in the Ruby R. Vale Courtroom at Widener University School of Law, 4601 Concord Pike in Brandywine Hundred.
The panel includes:
* Sofia Ali-Khan, a staff attorney at Community Legal Services in Philadelphia and a board member of the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Philadelphia.
* John Pavloff, an assistant district attorney in Chester County, Pa., for 19 years. He has been a board member, vice president and secretary of the Islamic Society of Chester County.
* Dr. Mazhar Rishi, chief of pathology at St. Francis Hospital. He is the director of interfaith programs for the Delaware Valley Council on American-Islamic Relations.
* Dr. James Stephenson, an occupational and travel medicine physician at Pottstown Memorial Medical Center. He is a former chairman of the board of the Islamic Society of Chester County.
The moderator will be Alan Garfield, a professor of law at Widener University School of Law.
A reception will follow. Call 477-2177.
-----
NY: AID FOR FAMILIES POURS IN - TOP
EMI ENDO, Newsday, 3/10/07
http://www.newsday.com/news/local/newyork/ny-nysupp105124544mar10,0,7220591.story
A group of Bronx businesses pooled $25,000.
Maria Cancel offered macaroni and cheese and sardines from a corner bodega.
The Yankees offered to pay for the funeral costs of the eight children and one woman who died in Wednesday night's deadly blaze in Highbridge.
More than a dozen area mosques each contributed $1,000 or more to the families.
Through many gestures, both small and grand, New Yorkers responded to the tragedy with an outpouring of prayers, stuffed animals and financial assistance.
Moussa Magassa lost five of his 11 children and Mamadou Soumare lost his wife and three of his four children.
Sheikh Moussa Drammeh, principal of the Islamic Cultural School, announced the formation of the Magassa-Soumare Family Fund, 371 E. 166th St., Bronx, N.Y. 10456. (MORE)
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-NY Urges Support for Survivors of Fatal Fire - TOP
-----
MD: BILL ON MUSLIM FUNERAL SERVICES CLEARS HOUSE OF DELEGATES - TOP
Washington Post, 3/10/07
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/03/09/AR2007030902009.html
A bill that acknowledges the growing political clout of Maryland's Muslim community cleared the House of Delegates unanimously yesterday and is headed to the Senate.
The bill addresses complaints from Muslim leaders that their community is served by just one licensed mortician in the Washington region, in the District.
Since Muslims do not practice embalming but perform a ritual cleansing of the body instead, they have not been able to break into the funeral home industry in Maryland. That's because anyone applying for a mortician's license must embalm and perform cosmetic work on at least 20 dead bodies as an apprentice, a practice banned by Islamic law.
The bill would open the industry to Muslims by exempting them from embalming as they learn the trade, creating two licensing tracks for morticians -- those who embalm and those who don't.
"I'm happy to say that this addresses a problem we heard about from many Muslims," said Del. Saqib Ali (D-Montgomery) who co-sponsored the measure with Del. Samuel I. Rosenberg (D-Baltimore).
-----
MINNESOTA MUSLIMS FIND WAYS TO GET ALONG - TOP
Sunnis and Shiites sometimes discuss and debate differences, but avoid rancor.
Pamela Miller, Star Tribune, 3/10/07
http://www.startribune.com/614/story/1045122.html
When friends Taqee Khaled and Hasan Hyder kick back at Coffman Union between University of Minnesota classes, they have plenty to talk about: classes, mutual friends, Muslim Student Association activities, life.
Khaled, 25, a graduate student in epidemiology, and Hyder, 21, a senior majoring in economics, also frequently pray together.
But there's one thing they have never felt the need to talk about -- who's Sunni and who's Shiite.
For the record, Khaled, who grew up in Minneapolis, is of Bangladesh Sunni heritage, and Hyder, who was born in India and moved to the United States several years ago, is Shiite.
Daily, the two are dismayed at the news from the Middle East, where Sunni-vs.-Shiite tensions have exploded into bloodbaths in Iraq and Lebanon, spawned incendiary talk in some Arab-language publications and turned Baghdad into a no-man's-land of dangerous, divided neighborhoods. This week has been especially bloody, with 340 Iraqis dying, most of them Shiite pilgrims on their way to a shrine in Karbala, south of Baghdad.
Such strife, Khaled and Hyder say, is the result not of ancient theological differences but rather of political and economic instability -- and of war. (MORE)
-----
U.S. SOLDIERS ACCUSED OF SHOOTING CIVILIANS IN SADR CITY - TOP
KIRK SEMPLE, New York Times, 3/10/07
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/03/10/world/middleeast/10iraq.html
BAGHDAD, March 9 - American soldiers were accused Friday of opening fire on a car carrying a family in the Baghdad district of Sadr City, killing a man and his two young daughters and wounding his son.
The allegations were made by the man's wife, who was in the car, and members of the Iraqi police, who were at the scene. The American military command said in a statement on Friday that it was investigating an episode in Sadr City involving "an escalation of force," but it could not confirm any details of the account given by the man's wife. (MORE)
-----
CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
Wednesday, March 7, 2007
Ellison Talks Up 'American Values' / MA Muslims Hear the Call to Chaplaincy
In the Name of God, the Compassionate, the Merciful
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 3/7/07
* Verse: Benefits of Perseverance
* NC: Al-Arian to be Force-Fed (AP)
* CAIR: Rep. Ellison Talks Up 'American Values' (AP)
* MA: Muslims Hear the Call to Chaplaincy (Boston Globe)
* CAIR-CAN: Muslims Upset at Soccer Hijab Ban (Reuters)
* CAIR-MI Banquet to Feature Robert Fisk
- CAIR-CT Annual Banquet on April 7
* CAIR Board Member Speaks at Brown University Event
* CAIR-CT: School Calls for Middle East Studies Next Year
* CAIR: Anti-Islam Talk at NC High School Prompts Action
- VA: We Should All Learn the Basics of Islam
* Turkey Hosts US Muslim Leader
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VERSE OF THE DAY: BENEFITS OF PERSEVERANCE - TOP
“O ye who believe! Seek help with patient perseverance and prayer. For God is with those who patiently persevere.”
Holy Quran, Surah 2, Verse 153
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NC: FASTING INMATE TOLD OFFICIALS WILL SOON START FORCE-FEEDING - TOP
Mike Baker, Associated Press, 3/7/07
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/local/16853122.htm
A former university professor on a hunger strike for the past 44 days to protest the circumstances of his imprisonment could soon be force fed, his lawyer said Wednesday.
Sami al-Arian, a Palestinian who taught computer science at the University of South Florida, stopped eating on Jan. 22 to protest a judge's decision to hold him indefinitely after he refused to testify before a Virginia grand jury.
Nahla al-Arian said her husband has lost more than 40 pounds on the water-only diet and is so weak that he needs a wheelchair.
"His health is really deteriorating," she said. "We are really worried that there will be permanent damage."
Because of that, officials at the Federal Medical Facility in Butner have told al-Arian that they will begin force feeding if his condition worsens, said his lawyer, Peter Erlinder.
"It's an invasive procedure, and there's some danger of injury," Erlinder said. "We're hopeful that that there can be resolution before that. (U.S. Attorney General Alberto) Gonzales could end this all with a stroke of a pen."
Supporters of al-Arian have asked Gonzales to deport al-Arian before his scheduled release from prison in April. Prosecutors and al-Arian had agreed to deportation as a part of the plea deal. Erlinder declined to say where al-Arian would be deported.
During a six-month trial in 2005, prosecutors labeled al-Arian a leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which the United States calls a foreign terrorist organization. The trial ended in an acquittal on some counts and a hung jury on others. (MORE)
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CAIR: ELLISON TALKS UP 'AMERICAN VALUES' IN STATE DEPARTMENT OUTREACH - TOP
Frederic J. Frommer, Associated Press, 3/7/07
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/politics/16854050.htm
WASHINGTON - The State Department is turning to Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, to help burnish the country's image in the Muslim world - despite Ellison's outspoken criticism of the Bush administration's foreign policy.
"I plan to talk to people in the State Department and anywhere I can to help try to improve America's image in the Muslim world, make friends for our country," Ellison, a freshman Minnesota Democrat, said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "I want to help win friends for our country and to isolate true enemies."
In articles which included translations into Arabic and other languages, Ellison has been profiled by the State Department's Bureau of International Information Programs, which is distributed in foreign countries. He has meetings scheduled at the end of the month with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and with Karen Hughes, the State Department's undersecretary for public diplomacy; Ellison spoke with Hughes by phone a few weeks ago.
The State Department did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
Ellison, who has called for an immediate withdrawal of military forces from Iraq, said he didn't find it difficult to reconcile his criticism of the administration's foreign policy with his promotion of American values.
"Look, you know, administrations come and go," he said. "But the basic core message of this country - which is tolerance, human rights, opportunity - does not change, regardless of who happens to be the president."
"And just because sometimes administration policies don't clearly reflect that - as in the Iraq war - doesn't mean it's not still a core value of the American people," Ellison added.
Ellison's outreach with the State Department was first reported by McClatchy News Service.
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an Islamic civil rights group, said that anything that can help the U.S. image in Muslim countries should be tried.
"I think Keith Ellison is in a unique position to demonstrate the true nature of religious diversity in the United States to the Muslim world," Hooper said. "I don't think the State Department will ask him to endorse foreign policy - it will be a more generic, pro-American endeavor."
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MA: MORE MUSLIMS HEAR THE CALL TO CHAPLAINCY AS A WAY TO SHARE THEIR FAITH YET MINISTER TO ALL - TOP
Vanessa E. Jones, Boston Globe, 3/7/07
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/03/07/a_study_in_comfort/
Imam Salih Yucel sits beside the hospital bed of Fazal Mabud, a 66-year-old native of Pakistan who lives in Brighton, and begins offering him spiritual guidance. Mabud had heart surgery six months before, but it was unsuccessful. The next morning he would go under the knife again.
"You are in good hands," Yucel, a Muslim chaplain at Brigham and Women's Hospital, reassures Mabud. Yucel counsels Mabud to say a prayer of supplication and repeat an Arabic word for God 100 times in preparation for the operation. Then the pair bend their heads, turn their open palms toward their faces, and begin to pray.
Mabud is one of about 11 patients Yucel will visit at the hospital on this day. His weekly schedule includes working two days at Brigham and Women's and two days at Children's Hospital Boston. He's also on call at the North Shore Medical Center.
One reason for his popularity could be this: Yucel is the only Muslim chaplain in the Boston area with clinical pastoral education, an interfaith training program that teaches spiritual leaders how to care for people in crisis, says Mary Robinson, director of Children's Hospital's Chaplaincy program. Because of this training, says Robinson, "if he were doing a preoperative visit, he's skilled in caring for a Roman Catholic or a Jew or a Protestant who would like to have prayer before their surgery."
CPE, as it's called, is one of the qualifications employers seek when they hire chaplains, but it's a rarity among imams, Robinson says. In fact, Robinson remembers that when the hospital hired its first Muslim chaplain 13 years ago it couldn't find an applicant with the CPE certification.
That situation is changing with the help of Connecticut's Hartford Seminary , which seven years ago established what remains the only degree program in the nation for Muslim chaplains -- religious leaders who do their work inside institutions such as prisons, colleges/universities, corporations, the military or, in Yucel's case, hospitals. Hartford Seminary offers a 48-credit master of arts degree in Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations, which takes two years to complete. There's also a one-year, 24-credit graduate certificate. Together the two degrees equal a master's of divinity, the basic requirement for many chaplaincy jobs. (MORE)
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CAIR-CAN: MUSLIMS GRUMBLE AT CANADA FOOTBALL HIJAB BAN - TOP
Scott Valentine, Reuters, 3/7/07
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=365822007
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian Muslims may launch a human rights complaint against football's governing body after a Quebec referee ordered an 11-year-old girl to quit a tournament for refusing to remove her hijab.
The Canadian Council on American-Islam Relations said the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was sending a mixed message on its rules, given that its own Web site includes pictures of women wearing the hijab, a scarf that covers the head and neck.
"If FIFA does not provide a clear position on the right of women to wear the hijab in competition we will look at the possibility of filing a human rights complaint on behalf of Muslim women who want to play football, and not be persecuted for practising their beliefs," said executive director Karl Nickner.
The 11-year-old girl, Asmahan Mansour, was ordered off the field by a Muslim referee during an indoor football tournament in the Montreal suburb of Laval, Quebec, on February 25 after refusing to remove her hijab.
FIFA spokesman Pekka Odriozola said it was up to regional and national associations to decide how to interpret football's Law 4, which says a player must not "use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself/herself or another player".
"But each match official must decide how to apply the rules," he added.
The law, as displayed on FIFA's Web site, also says "modern protective equipment such as headgear, facemasks, knee and arm protectors made of soft, lightweight, padded material are not considered to be dangerous and are therefore permitted,"
Odriozola could explain why the Web site included photos of players wearing the hijab.
"(The International Football Association Board) determined last weekend that anything related to players equipment is covered under Law 4 of the rules of the game," he said. "In official matches the laws of the game have to be applied."
That seems like foul play to Nickner of the Canadian Muslim group.
"FIFA backed the decision to support the Quebec referee in prohibiting a player from wearing the hijab," he said. "Yet the FIFA Web site shows pictures of women players wearing a hijab."
This is not the first incident involving football players ejected from a game for wearing religious headgear in Canada. (MORE)
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CAIR-MI ANNUAL BANQUET TO FEATURE ROBERT FISK - TOP
(SOUTHFIELD, MI (3/7/07) – The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) will hold its annual fundraising banquet on Sunday, March 25, 2007 at the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn. The event will feature world-renowned journalist Robert Fisk as the keynote speaker, with a book signing to take place after the dinner.
CAIR, America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
CONTACT: CAIR-MI at 248.559.2247 or Suehaila Amen at 313.615.1515.
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-CT ANNUAL BANQUET ON APRIL 7 - TOP
(NEW LONDON, CT, 3/7/07) - The Connecticut chapter the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CT) will host its second annual banquet on Saturday, April 7, 2007 at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Hartford, Connecticut.
The theme of the banquet is “Connecting and Sharing.” Registration will begin at 5 p.m. and the program will begin promptly at 6 p.m.
For more information or to purchase tickets call CAIR-CT at 860-442-2247 or email info@cair-ct.com. For more information please visit www.cair-ct.com.
CONTACT: Rabia Chaudry, Tel: 860-442-2247
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CAIR: WOMEN IN ISLAM - TOP
Brown Daily Herald, 3/7/07
http://media.www.browndailyherald.com/media/storage/paper472/news/2007/03/07/CampusNews/Women.In.Islam-2762061.shtml
Hadia Mubarak, the first female president of the national Muslim Students Association, spoke in Salomon 001 last night about "Women in Islam: Respect or Repression?" The event was presented by the Brown Muslim Students' Association as part of Islam Awareness Month.
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CAIR-CT: SCHOOL PANEL CALLS FOR MIDDLE EAST STUDIES NEXT YEAR - TOP
Luther Turmelle, New Haven Register, 3/07/07
http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18048186&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=517514&rfi=6
A Board of Education committee has given its approval to launch a Middle Eastern studies course at the two high schools this fall.
The board’s Instructional Committee unanimously approved the course Tuesday night. If it is approved at the school board’s March 19 meeting, it will be offered at Lyman Hall and Sheehan high schools this fall, Martin Taylor, the district’s assistant superintendent for instruction, said Wednesday.
Taylor said the course will examine the geography of the region as well as the history, politics and cultures. "We think it will tie in well to some other courses we offer," Taylor said.
The course will replace a comparative cultures course that includes a segment on the Middle East, Taylor told the board on Tuesday.
"We’re getting a lot of feedback from colleges that our course should go deeper (in terms of subject matter), not wider," he said.
The comparative cultures course did not deal with the Middle East in depth and had seen low student enrollments, Taylor said. . .
Hamza Collins, the civil rights director with the Connecticut chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the school board’s action is encouraging.
"It’s a great thing," Collins said. "Our group is trying to reach out to boards of education so that members of our organizations can talk with classes in schools about Islam."
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CAIR: ANTI-ISLAM TALK AT DUKE-AREA HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS ACLU ACTION - TOP
Naureen Khan, Duke Chronicle, 3/6/07
http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2007/03/06/News/AntiIslam.Talk.Prompts.Aclu.Wake.School.Action-2759708.shtml
As part of an ongoing investigation, a Christian evangelist's appearance at a Duke University-area high school has now sparked reaction from the American Civil Liberties Union.
During his Feb. 15 appearance at Enloe High School, Kamil Solomon denounced Islam and distributed pamphlets titled "Do Not Marry A Muslim Man, Part I" and "Jesus Not Muhammad, Part I" to teacher Robert Escamilla's social studies classes.
Escamilla, suspended with pay last week, awaits an internal review of the matter by the Wake County, N.C., Public School System.
The case attracted the attention of the ACLU of North Carolina Legal Foundation when the father of an Enloe student filed a complaint against the high school.
The ACLU said it believes the incident is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids any government action that advances any one set of religious beliefs over another.
In a Feb. 22 letter to Enloe principal Beth Cochran, Azadeh Shahshahani, Muslim/Middle Eastern community outreach coordinator for the ACLU-NCLF, outlined the constitutional basis for the complaint.
"I am writing to ask that you provide us with a written assurance that such speakers engaging in unconstitutional conduct will never be invited again to Enloe High School," Shahshahani wrote.
In a brief response the next day, Adelphos Burns, superintendent of the WCPSS, wrote "appropriate actions" would be taken following a review of the incident.
"We are deeply disappointed by the manner in which the school has thus far handled these serious allegations," said Jennifer Rudinger, executive director of the ACLU-NCLF, in a Feb. 27 press release. "In the face of overwhelming evidence that proselytizing took place in this public school, school officials have insisted on miscasting this as a free speech issue." . . .
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national Muslim advocacy group that received complaints following Solomon's appearance, said it was not satisfied with the school district's response, especially after allegations that proselytization has occurred at Enloe before.
"Now we're hearing this wasn't an isolated incident and that this teacher has been involved in controversies before," said Ibrahim Hooper, communications director of CAIR. "This kind of hate-filled bigotry demands a strong response." (MORE)
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VA: WE SHOULD ALL LEARN THE BASICS OF ISLAM, AND ALL WORLD RELIGIONS - TOP
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, 3/7/07
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/032007/03072007/263959
We should all learn the basics of Islam, and all world religions
I was appalled at the diatribe against Islam that Rep. Virgil Goode recently made on camera ["Goode goes bad," Jan. 4].
But worse, a survey taken showed that more than 60 percent of those asked agreed with him. This must end!
I know little about Islam, but I do know more than Mr. Goode.
Jesus is recognized as a prophet in the Quran. There is more about the Virgin Mary in the Quran than in the Bible.
I've read and heard talks by those who converted to Islam, including a young Catholic lady who explained why she converted. I also know that Jews were well treated in Spain when it was Muslim, and persecuted when it became Christian.
There is a critical need for us, especially our children, to learn the basics of Islam and other world faiths that are unfamiliar to most of us.
It should be mandatory in the schools. It must avoid any attempt to convert, but also must be thorough, and completely unbiased, focusing on tolerance and understanding.
There are extremists in every religion, but they are not typical of any, and their ideas are despised by most truly religious people.
If this were not true in every one of the major world religions, they would not have survived.
I believe unbiased and thorough teaching of world religions is absolutely essential to world peace.
Jim Parker
Madison
-----
TURKEY HOSTS U.S. MUSLIM LEADER - TOP
Turkish Daily News, 3/7/07
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=67717
Turkey is in search of cooperation with the U.S. Black Muslim leader Deen Mohammad to prevent the so-called clash of civilizations and to reinterpret Islam according to the needs of the 21st century while lobbying against Armenian genocide claims in the U.S. Congress.
Mohammad yesterday arrived to Ankara for a 3 days visit, as a guest of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). He started his visit at the Atatürk mausoleum. “I am not an imam. I am a businessman and I am also a community leader,” Mohammad told the Turkish Daily News yesterday.
He added that they are in search for cooperation with Turkey. Mohammed is known to be the leader of 2 million Muslims in United States.
In 1996 he met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican and participated in the National Prayer Service Celebrating the second inauguration of then U.S. President Bill Clinton. Mohammad will meet with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül and Minister of Trade and Industry Ali Co?kun today.
He will also have talks with the head of religious affairs directorate Ali Bardako?lu and the Mufti of ?stanbul, Mustafa ?a?r?c?, about Islam and the situation of 1.5 billion Muslims all over the world. (MORE)
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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
AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 3/7/07
* Verse: Benefits of Perseverance
* NC: Al-Arian to be Force-Fed (AP)
* CAIR: Rep. Ellison Talks Up 'American Values' (AP)
* MA: Muslims Hear the Call to Chaplaincy (Boston Globe)
* CAIR-CAN: Muslims Upset at Soccer Hijab Ban (Reuters)
* CAIR-MI Banquet to Feature Robert Fisk
- CAIR-CT Annual Banquet on April 7
* CAIR Board Member Speaks at Brown University Event
* CAIR-CT: School Calls for Middle East Studies Next Year
* CAIR: Anti-Islam Talk at NC High School Prompts Action
- VA: We Should All Learn the Basics of Islam
* Turkey Hosts US Muslim Leader
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VERSE OF THE DAY: BENEFITS OF PERSEVERANCE - TOP
“O ye who believe! Seek help with patient perseverance and prayer. For God is with those who patiently persevere.”
Holy Quran, Surah 2, Verse 153
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NC: FASTING INMATE TOLD OFFICIALS WILL SOON START FORCE-FEEDING - TOP
Mike Baker, Associated Press, 3/7/07
http://www.myrtlebeachonline.com/mld/myrtlebeachonline/news/local/16853122.htm
A former university professor on a hunger strike for the past 44 days to protest the circumstances of his imprisonment could soon be force fed, his lawyer said Wednesday.
Sami al-Arian, a Palestinian who taught computer science at the University of South Florida, stopped eating on Jan. 22 to protest a judge's decision to hold him indefinitely after he refused to testify before a Virginia grand jury.
Nahla al-Arian said her husband has lost more than 40 pounds on the water-only diet and is so weak that he needs a wheelchair.
"His health is really deteriorating," she said. "We are really worried that there will be permanent damage."
Because of that, officials at the Federal Medical Facility in Butner have told al-Arian that they will begin force feeding if his condition worsens, said his lawyer, Peter Erlinder.
"It's an invasive procedure, and there's some danger of injury," Erlinder said. "We're hopeful that that there can be resolution before that. (U.S. Attorney General Alberto) Gonzales could end this all with a stroke of a pen."
Supporters of al-Arian have asked Gonzales to deport al-Arian before his scheduled release from prison in April. Prosecutors and al-Arian had agreed to deportation as a part of the plea deal. Erlinder declined to say where al-Arian would be deported.
During a six-month trial in 2005, prosecutors labeled al-Arian a leader of Palestinian Islamic Jihad, which the United States calls a foreign terrorist organization. The trial ended in an acquittal on some counts and a hung jury on others. (MORE)
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CAIR: ELLISON TALKS UP 'AMERICAN VALUES' IN STATE DEPARTMENT OUTREACH - TOP
Frederic J. Frommer, Associated Press, 3/7/07
http://www.sanluisobispo.com/mld/sanluisobispo/news/politics/16854050.htm
WASHINGTON - The State Department is turning to Rep. Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, to help burnish the country's image in the Muslim world - despite Ellison's outspoken criticism of the Bush administration's foreign policy.
"I plan to talk to people in the State Department and anywhere I can to help try to improve America's image in the Muslim world, make friends for our country," Ellison, a freshman Minnesota Democrat, said in a telephone interview Wednesday. "I want to help win friends for our country and to isolate true enemies."
In articles which included translations into Arabic and other languages, Ellison has been profiled by the State Department's Bureau of International Information Programs, which is distributed in foreign countries. He has meetings scheduled at the end of the month with Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice and with Karen Hughes, the State Department's undersecretary for public diplomacy; Ellison spoke with Hughes by phone a few weeks ago.
The State Department did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
Ellison, who has called for an immediate withdrawal of military forces from Iraq, said he didn't find it difficult to reconcile his criticism of the administration's foreign policy with his promotion of American values.
"Look, you know, administrations come and go," he said. "But the basic core message of this country - which is tolerance, human rights, opportunity - does not change, regardless of who happens to be the president."
"And just because sometimes administration policies don't clearly reflect that - as in the Iraq war - doesn't mean it's not still a core value of the American people," Ellison added.
Ellison's outreach with the State Department was first reported by McClatchy News Service.
Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, an Islamic civil rights group, said that anything that can help the U.S. image in Muslim countries should be tried.
"I think Keith Ellison is in a unique position to demonstrate the true nature of religious diversity in the United States to the Muslim world," Hooper said. "I don't think the State Department will ask him to endorse foreign policy - it will be a more generic, pro-American endeavor."
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MA: MORE MUSLIMS HEAR THE CALL TO CHAPLAINCY AS A WAY TO SHARE THEIR FAITH YET MINISTER TO ALL - TOP
Vanessa E. Jones, Boston Globe, 3/7/07
http://www.boston.com/news/globe/living/articles/2007/03/07/a_study_in_comfort/
Imam Salih Yucel sits beside the hospital bed of Fazal Mabud, a 66-year-old native of Pakistan who lives in Brighton, and begins offering him spiritual guidance. Mabud had heart surgery six months before, but it was unsuccessful. The next morning he would go under the knife again.
"You are in good hands," Yucel, a Muslim chaplain at Brigham and Women's Hospital, reassures Mabud. Yucel counsels Mabud to say a prayer of supplication and repeat an Arabic word for God 100 times in preparation for the operation. Then the pair bend their heads, turn their open palms toward their faces, and begin to pray.
Mabud is one of about 11 patients Yucel will visit at the hospital on this day. His weekly schedule includes working two days at Brigham and Women's and two days at Children's Hospital Boston. He's also on call at the North Shore Medical Center.
One reason for his popularity could be this: Yucel is the only Muslim chaplain in the Boston area with clinical pastoral education, an interfaith training program that teaches spiritual leaders how to care for people in crisis, says Mary Robinson, director of Children's Hospital's Chaplaincy program. Because of this training, says Robinson, "if he were doing a preoperative visit, he's skilled in caring for a Roman Catholic or a Jew or a Protestant who would like to have prayer before their surgery."
CPE, as it's called, is one of the qualifications employers seek when they hire chaplains, but it's a rarity among imams, Robinson says. In fact, Robinson remembers that when the hospital hired its first Muslim chaplain 13 years ago it couldn't find an applicant with the CPE certification.
That situation is changing with the help of Connecticut's Hartford Seminary , which seven years ago established what remains the only degree program in the nation for Muslim chaplains -- religious leaders who do their work inside institutions such as prisons, colleges/universities, corporations, the military or, in Yucel's case, hospitals. Hartford Seminary offers a 48-credit master of arts degree in Islamic Studies and Christian-Muslim Relations, which takes two years to complete. There's also a one-year, 24-credit graduate certificate. Together the two degrees equal a master's of divinity, the basic requirement for many chaplaincy jobs. (MORE)
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CAIR-CAN: MUSLIMS GRUMBLE AT CANADA FOOTBALL HIJAB BAN - TOP
Scott Valentine, Reuters, 3/7/07
http://news.scotsman.com/latest.cfm?id=365822007
TORONTO (Reuters) - Canadian Muslims may launch a human rights complaint against football's governing body after a Quebec referee ordered an 11-year-old girl to quit a tournament for refusing to remove her hijab.
The Canadian Council on American-Islam Relations said the Federation Internationale de Football Association (FIFA) was sending a mixed message on its rules, given that its own Web site includes pictures of women wearing the hijab, a scarf that covers the head and neck.
"If FIFA does not provide a clear position on the right of women to wear the hijab in competition we will look at the possibility of filing a human rights complaint on behalf of Muslim women who want to play football, and not be persecuted for practising their beliefs," said executive director Karl Nickner.
The 11-year-old girl, Asmahan Mansour, was ordered off the field by a Muslim referee during an indoor football tournament in the Montreal suburb of Laval, Quebec, on February 25 after refusing to remove her hijab.
FIFA spokesman Pekka Odriozola said it was up to regional and national associations to decide how to interpret football's Law 4, which says a player must not "use equipment or wear anything that is dangerous to himself/herself or another player".
"But each match official must decide how to apply the rules," he added.
The law, as displayed on FIFA's Web site, also says "modern protective equipment such as headgear, facemasks, knee and arm protectors made of soft, lightweight, padded material are not considered to be dangerous and are therefore permitted,"
Odriozola could explain why the Web site included photos of players wearing the hijab.
"(The International Football Association Board) determined last weekend that anything related to players equipment is covered under Law 4 of the rules of the game," he said. "In official matches the laws of the game have to be applied."
That seems like foul play to Nickner of the Canadian Muslim group.
"FIFA backed the decision to support the Quebec referee in prohibiting a player from wearing the hijab," he said. "Yet the FIFA Web site shows pictures of women players wearing a hijab."
This is not the first incident involving football players ejected from a game for wearing religious headgear in Canada. (MORE)
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CAIR-MI ANNUAL BANQUET TO FEATURE ROBERT FISK - TOP
(SOUTHFIELD, MI (3/7/07) – The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) will hold its annual fundraising banquet on Sunday, March 25, 2007 at the Hyatt Regency in Dearborn. The event will feature world-renowned journalist Robert Fisk as the keynote speaker, with a book signing to take place after the dinner.
CAIR, America’s largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 32 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
CONTACT: CAIR-MI at 248.559.2247 or Suehaila Amen at 313.615.1515.
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-CT ANNUAL BANQUET ON APRIL 7 - TOP
(NEW LONDON, CT, 3/7/07) - The Connecticut chapter the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CT) will host its second annual banquet on Saturday, April 7, 2007 at the Crown Plaza Hotel in Hartford, Connecticut.
The theme of the banquet is “Connecting and Sharing.” Registration will begin at 5 p.m. and the program will begin promptly at 6 p.m.
For more information or to purchase tickets call CAIR-CT at 860-442-2247 or email info@cair-ct.com. For more information please visit www.cair-ct.com.
CONTACT: Rabia Chaudry, Tel: 860-442-2247
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CAIR: WOMEN IN ISLAM - TOP
Brown Daily Herald, 3/7/07
http://media.www.browndailyherald.com/media/storage/paper472/news/2007/03/07/CampusNews/Women.In.Islam-2762061.shtml
Hadia Mubarak, the first female president of the national Muslim Students Association, spoke in Salomon 001 last night about "Women in Islam: Respect or Repression?" The event was presented by the Brown Muslim Students' Association as part of Islam Awareness Month.
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CAIR-CT: SCHOOL PANEL CALLS FOR MIDDLE EAST STUDIES NEXT YEAR - TOP
Luther Turmelle, New Haven Register, 3/07/07
http://www.nhregister.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=18048186&BRD=1281&PAG=461&dept_id=517514&rfi=6
A Board of Education committee has given its approval to launch a Middle Eastern studies course at the two high schools this fall.
The board’s Instructional Committee unanimously approved the course Tuesday night. If it is approved at the school board’s March 19 meeting, it will be offered at Lyman Hall and Sheehan high schools this fall, Martin Taylor, the district’s assistant superintendent for instruction, said Wednesday.
Taylor said the course will examine the geography of the region as well as the history, politics and cultures. "We think it will tie in well to some other courses we offer," Taylor said.
The course will replace a comparative cultures course that includes a segment on the Middle East, Taylor told the board on Tuesday.
"We’re getting a lot of feedback from colleges that our course should go deeper (in terms of subject matter), not wider," he said.
The comparative cultures course did not deal with the Middle East in depth and had seen low student enrollments, Taylor said. . .
Hamza Collins, the civil rights director with the Connecticut chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the school board’s action is encouraging.
"It’s a great thing," Collins said. "Our group is trying to reach out to boards of education so that members of our organizations can talk with classes in schools about Islam."
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CAIR: ANTI-ISLAM TALK AT DUKE-AREA HIGH SCHOOL PROMPTS ACLU ACTION - TOP
Naureen Khan, Duke Chronicle, 3/6/07
http://media.www.dukechronicle.com/media/storage/paper884/news/2007/03/06/News/AntiIslam.Talk.Prompts.Aclu.Wake.School.Action-2759708.shtml
As part of an ongoing investigation, a Christian evangelist's appearance at a Duke University-area high school has now sparked reaction from the American Civil Liberties Union.
During his Feb. 15 appearance at Enloe High School, Kamil Solomon denounced Islam and distributed pamphlets titled "Do Not Marry A Muslim Man, Part I" and "Jesus Not Muhammad, Part I" to teacher Robert Escamilla's social studies classes.
Escamilla, suspended with pay last week, awaits an internal review of the matter by the Wake County, N.C., Public School System.
The case attracted the attention of the ACLU of North Carolina Legal Foundation when the father of an Enloe student filed a complaint against the high school.
The ACLU said it believes the incident is a violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the Constitution, which forbids any government action that advances any one set of religious beliefs over another.
In a Feb. 22 letter to Enloe principal Beth Cochran, Azadeh Shahshahani, Muslim/Middle Eastern community outreach coordinator for the ACLU-NCLF, outlined the constitutional basis for the complaint.
"I am writing to ask that you provide us with a written assurance that such speakers engaging in unconstitutional conduct will never be invited again to Enloe High School," Shahshahani wrote.
In a brief response the next day, Adelphos Burns, superintendent of the WCPSS, wrote "appropriate actions" would be taken following a review of the incident.
"We are deeply disappointed by the manner in which the school has thus far handled these serious allegations," said Jennifer Rudinger, executive director of the ACLU-NCLF, in a Feb. 27 press release. "In the face of overwhelming evidence that proselytizing took place in this public school, school officials have insisted on miscasting this as a free speech issue." . . .
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a national Muslim advocacy group that received complaints following Solomon's appearance, said it was not satisfied with the school district's response, especially after allegations that proselytization has occurred at Enloe before.
"Now we're hearing this wasn't an isolated incident and that this teacher has been involved in controversies before," said Ibrahim Hooper, communications director of CAIR. "This kind of hate-filled bigotry demands a strong response." (MORE)
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VA: WE SHOULD ALL LEARN THE BASICS OF ISLAM, AND ALL WORLD RELIGIONS - TOP
Fredericksburg Free Lance-Star, 3/7/07
http://fredericksburg.com/News/FLS/2007/032007/03072007/263959
We should all learn the basics of Islam, and all world religions
I was appalled at the diatribe against Islam that Rep. Virgil Goode recently made on camera ["Goode goes bad," Jan. 4].
But worse, a survey taken showed that more than 60 percent of those asked agreed with him. This must end!
I know little about Islam, but I do know more than Mr. Goode.
Jesus is recognized as a prophet in the Quran. There is more about the Virgin Mary in the Quran than in the Bible.
I've read and heard talks by those who converted to Islam, including a young Catholic lady who explained why she converted. I also know that Jews were well treated in Spain when it was Muslim, and persecuted when it became Christian.
There is a critical need for us, especially our children, to learn the basics of Islam and other world faiths that are unfamiliar to most of us.
It should be mandatory in the schools. It must avoid any attempt to convert, but also must be thorough, and completely unbiased, focusing on tolerance and understanding.
There are extremists in every religion, but they are not typical of any, and their ideas are despised by most truly religious people.
If this were not true in every one of the major world religions, they would not have survived.
I believe unbiased and thorough teaching of world religions is absolutely essential to world peace.
Jim Parker
Madison
-----
TURKEY HOSTS U.S. MUSLIM LEADER - TOP
Turkish Daily News, 3/7/07
http://www.turkishdailynews.com.tr/article.php?enewsid=67717
Turkey is in search of cooperation with the U.S. Black Muslim leader Deen Mohammad to prevent the so-called clash of civilizations and to reinterpret Islam according to the needs of the 21st century while lobbying against Armenian genocide claims in the U.S. Congress.
Mohammad yesterday arrived to Ankara for a 3 days visit, as a guest of the Justice and Development Party (AKP). He started his visit at the Atatürk mausoleum. “I am not an imam. I am a businessman and I am also a community leader,” Mohammad told the Turkish Daily News yesterday.
He added that they are in search for cooperation with Turkey. Mohammed is known to be the leader of 2 million Muslims in United States.
In 1996 he met with Pope John Paul II at the Vatican and participated in the National Prayer Service Celebrating the second inauguration of then U.S. President Bill Clinton. Mohammad will meet with Foreign Minister Abdullah Gül and Minister of Trade and Industry Ali Co?kun today.
He will also have talks with the head of religious affairs directorate Ali Bardako?lu and the Mufti of ?stanbul, Mustafa ?a?r?c?, about Islam and the situation of 1.5 billion Muslims all over the world. (MORE)
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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E.
Washington, D.C. 20003
Tel: 202-488-8787, 202-744-7726
Fax: 202-488-0833
E-mail: info@cair.com
URL: http://www.cair.com
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