Muslim American News Briefs, August 18, 2007

* Hadith: Love Each Other
* CAIR-St. Louis Co-Sponsors Rally Against Terror
* DC: CAIR to Host Catholic-Muslim Dialogue
* CAIR-OH: Young Muslims Want Fashion, Faith (Columbus Disp)
* CAIR-CA: Why Was a California Mosque Torched? (Newsweek)
            - CAIR-Tampa: SC Bomb Allegations May Be False, FBI Says
            - CAIR-Orlando: Muslim Shopper Alleges Bias Attack
* HLF Trial Update: Israeli Witness Falters (LA Times)
* MN: Ellison Gets Apology from Critical Colleague
* AZ: Rep Helps U.S. Muslims Trapped in Gaza (Tucson Citizen)
            - CAIR Asks Sec. Rice to Help Tenn. Family Trapped in Gaza
* U.S. Goes Online to Reach Muslim Youth (AP)
* NH Rep on Trip to Israel with 17 Other Congressmen

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HADITH OF THE DAY: LOVE EACH OTHER - TOP

The Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) said: "Shake hands and rancor will disappear. Give presents to each other and love each other and enmity will disappear."

Al-Muwatta, Volume 47, Hadith 16

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CAIR-ST. LOUIS CO-SPONSORS RALLY AGAINST TERROR - TOP

(ST. LOUIS, MO, 8/17/07) - On August 26, the St. Louis chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-St. Louis) will co-sponsor a "Muslim Visibility Campaign" rally in an effort to promote a positive and accurate image of Islam and American Muslims, and to give voice to the Muslim community's strong stance against terrorism committed in the name of religion.

WHAT: 'Muslim Visibility Campaign' Rally
WHERE: Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis, 517 Weidman Road, Ballwin, MO
WHEN: Sunday, August 26, 4:30-6 p.m.
CONTACT: CAIR-St. Louis Executive Director Melissa Matos, Tel: 636-207-8882; E-Mail: mmatos@cair.com; CAIR-St. Louis Board Member, Khaled Hamid, Tel: 314-398-4064

CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 33 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.

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DC: CAIR TO HOST CATHOLIC-MUSLIM DIALOGUE - TOP

WHAT: American Muslim-Catholic Dialogue: A Model for Communal Understanding

WHO: Rev. Francis Tiso, United States Conference of Catholic Bishops (USCCB)
Secretariat for Ecumenical and Inter-religious Affairs

Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi, Chairman, Fiqh Council of North America, Director of the Islamic Center of Orange County, California

WHY: For more than a decade, American Muslims and Catholics have engaged in substantive exchanges. Father Francis Tiso and Dr. Muzammil Siddiqi will share analysis and forward thinking about the meaning of the dialogue for the two religious communities and for American society as a whole.

WHEN: Tuesday, August 21, 2007, 10 a.m. to 12 p.m.
WHERE: CAIR's Capitol Hill Headquarters, 453 New Jersey Avenue, S.E., Washington, D.C.

RSVP: Seating is limited and reservations are required. Please RSVP via email to events@cair.com or call 202-742-6409

Refreshments will be served.

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CAIR-OH: FAITH VS. FASHION - TOP
Meredith Heagney, Columbus Dispatch, 8/17/07

Mariam Aboukar's closet contains the typical staples of an 18-year-old.

She has a short, red halter-top dress with flowers on the skirt. A pair of black skinny jeans. A bikini.

But Aboukar wouldn't wear any of them in public.

She is well-accustomed to the balancing act of being an American teenager as well as a devout Muslim who follows the faith's modesty requirements.

Islam requires modesty from both women and men in dress and behavior, said Julia Shearson, executive director of the Cleveland chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The idea is to encourage respect and discourage sexual relations between men and women who are not married.

Women should cover everything but their face, hands and feet, unless the only people around are women, or men in their immediate family. Men must cover up from the navel to the knee.

Most Muslims believe that a woman's head scarf, or hijab, is a religious obligation, though some Muslim women don't wear one, Shearson said. (MORE)

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CAIR-SFBA: AFTER A MOSQUE OUTSIDE SAN FRANCISCO IS TORCHED, A CONGREGATION WONDERS WHY - TOP
Robina Riccitiello, Newsweek
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/20302387/site/newsweek/

Aug. 16, 2007 - Abdul Rahman's first reaction was disbelief. As the chairman of the Islamic Center of the East Bay walked through the charred walls and torched roof of his Antioch, Calif., mosque last Sunday, he couldn't comprehend how anyone would want to destroy it. But hours earlier, someone had done just that. Using children's Arabic books for kindling, the arsonist (or arsonists) had ignited four small fires. Only one caught, but that was enough to cause $200,000 in damage to the former dental office where up to 200 mostly Pakistani and Afghan Muslims met weekly for prayers and occasional potluck suppers and Islamic history quizzes. Who did this? Why? And, Rahman wonders, what is the now-homeless congregation going to do? "My heart was up to my neck in worries," he says. "I felt like somebody had died."

Arson inspectors are worried, too. Local police and fire investigators in this town 45 miles east of San Francisco say there's no doubt the fire was set deliberately. They say they have leads in the case, but have announced no suspect or motive. (Members of the Muslim community have offered a $10,000 reward.) Officials, assisted by the FBI, warn they have no evidence that the arson was a hate crime deliberately targeting the Muslim community. But the fire is the latest in a string of crimes at the mosque that includes gunshots and a recent attempted break-in. "People are very shook up about this," says Safaa Ibrahim, executive director for the local chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim civil-rights group. "It is a message of terrorism, be it to the Muslim community or to the greater community." (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

CAIR-FL: ALLEGATIONS MAY BE FALSE, FBI SAYS - TOP
Fox 13, 8/16/07

TAMPA - Behind bars in a South Carolina jail, it's unlikely 21-year-old Youssef Megahed and 24-year-old Ahmed Muhammed know how much media attention their case is getting. . .

The FBI says they're in the process of analyzing information gathered from the many interviews, record checks, and searches they've conducted over the past couple of weeks.

They also said in the statement that "there is the possibility that the publicly reported allegations involving the students may be proven to be false."

When we asked the local FBI office what that meant, they told us they're not exonerating or implicating either of the two men.

"We're asking folks not to make leaps of information in making connections that may not be there. Let the facts developed through the investigation dictate the conclusion at the end," the statement read.

Those helping Megahed and Muhammed's families navigate the media minefield say they're not surprised the FBI is urging caution, because it's the same thing they've been preaching all along.

"There's a lot of hate, a lot of rush to judgment, just because these kids are middle easterners and they attend USF, which had problems in the past -- that there's some sort of conspiracy and connections," says Ahmed Bedier, spokesperson for the Council on American Islamic Relations. "Let the evidence speak for itself, the evidence doesn't lie." (MORE)

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CAIR-ORLANDO: HATE CRIME? - TOP
News 13, 8/16/07
http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2007/8/16/hate_crime.html

The Council on American-Islamic Relations of Orlando is calling for an investigation into a possible assault and battery case at the Prime Outlet Mall in Orange County.

Mustapha Elmejjati said he was attacked by a woman at the Children's Place department store earlier this month.

"You know I was just behind her," Elmejjati said. "I was not talking to her. I was talking to the other lady. And maybe she heard my accent and said 'we are in America here! Go out!' I said 'Ma'am I'm talking with you and I'm American too and I'm not finished' and Pow! And I fell down." (MORE)

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CHARITY TRIAL WITNESS FALTERS - TOP
An Israeli agent is vague on the leadership of overseas agencies.
Greg Krikorian, Los Angeles Times, 8/17/07
http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-holyland17aug17,1,743075.story

An Israeli intelligence agent whose earlier testimony linked a U.S.-based Islamic charity to Hamas acknowledged Thursday that none of the overseas charities it supported has appeared among hundreds of names on U.S. government terrorist lists.

The testimony seemed to cast doubt on a central element of the government's criminal case against former officials of the now-defunct Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development. Prosecutors say the officials dispensed funds to terrorists under the guise of charity donations to community groups called zakat committees on the West Bank and Gaza, knowing that Hamas militants controlled the local groups and benefited from the funding.

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ELLISON GETS AN APOLOGY FROM CRITICAL COLLEAGUE - TOP
Sali says Founding Fathers never envisioned a Muslim congressman
ERIKA BOLSTAD, McClatchy Newspapers
http://www.twincities.com/ci_6643124

WASHINGTON - U.S. Rep. Bill Sali has apologized to the nation's first Muslim congressman, whose election Sali deemed in an interview as "not what was envisioned by the Founding Fathers."

The Idaho Republican has exchanged conciliatory e-mails with U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, a Minnesota Democrat who became the first Muslim in Congress last year. Both Sali and Ellison were elected in 2006.

Ellison was out of the country, so Sali was unable to call him, said Sali's spokesman, Wayne Hoffman. Instead, he sent an e-mail and the two exchanged correspondence that was "very pleasant and cordial in nature," Hoffman said.

"He was hopeful that Congressman Ellison understands he meant no disrespect or harm from his comment, and that he hoped that he would meet with him when he returned to Washington, D.C.," Hoffman said. (MORE)

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AZ: LOCAL FAMILY REUNITED AS GIFFORDS HELPS FOUR GET BACK FROM GAZA - TOP
A.J. FLICK, Tucson Citizen, 8/17/07
http://www.tucsoncitizen.com/daily/local/60359.php

A Tucson family is grateful to be back in its adopted country after surviving a civil war and fearing that it would never be able to leave its troubled homeland.

Husain Gharbia and his wife, Fatina, planned to make 2007 the year they returned to the Middle East and introduced their families to their daughters, Ayah, 3, and Tala, 1.

The parents are permanent legal residents, and their daughters are U.S. citizens.

Fatina left with the girls in late January. Husain, a cab driver, joined them three months ago. They were due to return to Tucson via Cairo, Egypt, on June 30.

Little did they know that a civil war would break out on the Gaza Strip, even in his family's neighborhood.

"I was afraid to move around in my living room," Gharbia said Wednesday night, minutes after his flight landed in Tucson. "There was shooting all around." (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

CAIR ASKS SEC. RICE TO HELP TENN. FAMILY TRAPPED IN GAZA - TOP
http://cair.com/default.asp?Page=articleView&id=2895&theType=NR

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U.S. GOES ONLINE TO REACH MUSLIM YOUTH - TOP
AP Interview: American Diplomat Says U.S. Government Going Online to Reach Muslim Youth
JOHN THORNE, Associated Press, 8/16/07
http://www.abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory?id=3489657

The U.S. State Department chose a novel way to publicize baseball legend Cal Ripken Jr.'s appointment this week as its special sports envoy. It went on YouTube.

Undersecretary of State for Public Diplomacy Karen Hughes, who appears in the video, said Thursday it was part of her campaign to bring a positive image of the United States to a skeptical global audience particularly in the Muslim world. Children are a chief target. (MORE)

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NH: REP. HODES ON TRIP TO ISRAEL WITH 17 OTHER CONGRESSMEN - TOP
Union Leader, 8/16/07

U.S. Rep. Paul Hodes, D-N.H., is in the second week of a privately funded trip to Israel with 17 other Democratic House members.

The trip is being paid for by the American Israel Education Foundation, a non-partisan, non-profit organization that regularly sponsors what it calls education trips to Israel for members of Congress. The group is affiliated with the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, a major pro-Israel lobbying group, and hosted 19 Republican House members on a similar trip earlier this month. Hodes spokesman Bergen Kenny said the trip is Hodes' first to Israel and his wife, Peggo, is accompanying him.

She called it "a high-level, diplomatic trip meant to educate and build relationships between Israeli and American officials. As the only democracy in the Middle East, the congressman views Israel as a crucial U.S. ally.

"It's a good chance for these members to see first hand and speak first hand with officials there and learn about Israel's position and the Palestinian position and both of their cultures, and then bring back what they learned to Congress," Kenny said.

While the new Democratic House has imposed its own rules limiting privately funded travel while new ethics legislation awaits President George W. Bush's signature, Kenny said, "This is completely within the bounds of the ethics legislation that passed the House.

Kenny said that previously, "any kind of privately funded travel was allowed and there was next to no oversight. Now, not only is lobbyist-funded travel forbidden, but lobbyists are not allowed to go on the trip or travel with members of congress. As an independent, charitable non-profit, AIEF qualifies and was approved by the House Ethics Committee last week."

Kenny said that during the August recess trip, Hodes and the other congressmen will meet with the current Israeli prime minister, Ehud Olmert, former prime ministers Shimon Peres and Benjamin Netanyahu and others. (MORE)

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CAIR
Council on American-Islamic Relations
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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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