AMERICAN MUSLIM NEWS BRIEFS - 7/16/07

* Verse: Speak for Justice
* CAIR: TX Muslim Family's Cars Defaced with Hate Messages
            - CAIR-CA: Sikh Hate Crime Victim Dies
            - FL: Anti-Muslim Slogans Painted on Home (AP)
* Reminder: DC Islamophobia Panel Tomorrow
            - Commentary 'Slandering Islam' (Washington Times)
* CAIR: Texas Muslims Say HLF Case is Political (DM News)
            - CAIR: Muslim Charity Faces Trial (Star-Telegram)
            - Coalition to Call for Fair Trial in Holy Land Case
            - CAIR: Muslim Charity Leaders on Trial (AP)
* CAIR-MI Participates in Diversity Festival
* CAIR-OH: Wrong to Ask Muslim Women to Remove Hijab (AP)
* MO: Jews Help Muslims Fight County Council (Post-Dispatch)
            - MD: Candidates Address Muslim Session (Balt Sun)
* CAIR: Cartoonist Unfair to Muslim Community (Columbus Disp)
            - CAIR: Doctors in Plot Betrayed Faith (Birmingham News)
            - CAIR: How Muslim Doctors Save Lives (Times-Union)
* MI: Convert Calls Islam Beautiful (Flint Journal)

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VERSE OF THE DAY: SPEAK FOR JUSTICE - TOP

"Show forgiveness, speak for justice and avoid those who choose to remain ignorant."

The Holy Quran, 7:199

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TEXAS MUSLIM FAMILY'S CARS DEFACED WITH HATE MESSAGES - TOP
CAIR-San Antonio asks FBI to probe incident as possible hate crime

(SAN ANTONIO, TX, 7/16/07) - The San Antonio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-San Antonio) today called on the FBI to investigate vandalism targeting a Muslim family's home and vehicles as a possible hate crime.

The San Antonio Muslim family reported to CAIR that early Friday morning they discovered hate-filled graffiti such as "f*ck you" and "move out de hood" written on their van and car. One of the vehicles was also damaged by the vandals.

SEE: http://www.cair.com/carvandalized.asp [WARNING: Graphic language]

The family, originally from Egypt, stated that the vandalism followed an incident the previous weekend in which eggs were thrown at their home.

Within the last week, CAIR reported an arson attack on a Muslim family's home in Florida in which the attackers wrote anti-Muslim messages on the interior and exterior of the torched building. CAIR also reported a death threat received by the New York Muslim attorney representing six imams, or Islamic religious leaders, suing US Airways for discrimination.

"Unfortunately, public reaction to violent incidents overseas and the rising level of Islamophobic rhetoric in American society are producing an atmosphere of mistrust and hostility that can lead to such disturbing incidents," said CAIR-San Antonio President Sarwat Husain. She called on state and national religious and political leaders to repudiate anti-Muslim bigotry.

Husain is urging Muslim individuals and institutions nationwide to review security procedures using advice contained in CAIR's "Muslim Community Safety Kit." (See excerpts from the safety kit below.)

CAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 33 offices, chapters and affiliates 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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CONTACT: CAIR-San Antonio President Sarwat Husain, 210-378-9528, E-Mail: shusain@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-488-8787 or 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Rabiah Ahmed, 202-488-8787 or 202-439-1441, E-Mail: rahmed@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com

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EXCERPTS FROM CAIR MUSLIM COMMUNITY SAFETY KIT - TOP

REPORT SUSPICIOUS ACTIVITY IN YOUR COMMUNITY

Muslims must do their part to ensure the safety and security of our nation. If anyone notes suspicious persons or activities in their community, they should report it immediately to the local Field Office of the FBI. SEE: http://www.fbi.gov/contact/fo/fo.htm

DEVELOP A LEGAL CONTACT LIST

Develop a list of attorneys who are willing to be consulted by the Muslim community in response to backlash incidents. Ask Muslim attorneys to volunteer their services to community members during this time of crisis.

DEVELOP POSITIVE RELATIONSHIPS WITH LAW ENFORCEMENT AGENCIES

Community leaders should immediately coordinate meetings between representatives of the Muslim community and local, state and national law enforcement agencies. These meetings should focus on ways in which the community can help national security and on how authorities can protect Muslims and Arab-Americans from harassment and discrimination.

MEET WITH ELECTED OFFICIALS TO DISCUSS COMMUNITY CONCERNS

Delegations of Muslim representatives should schedule meetings with local, state and national elected representatives or their key staff to discuss community concerns. To find out who represents your area on the national level, go to: http://www.capwiz.com/cair/home/

BUILD COALITIONS WITH INTERFAITH AND MINORITY GROUPS

Similar meetings should be coordinated with representatives of local interfaith and minority groups. These meetings should focus on building lines of communication and support, and hearing from these groups how they deal with discrimination and bigotry.

MEET WITH LOCAL SCHOOL PRINCIPALS TO DISCUSS STUDENT SAFETY

Representatives of the Muslim community should meet with local school administrators to discuss safety plans for students and to sensitize the administrators to harassment of Muslim students.

BUILD AN EMERGENCY CONTACT LIST

Community leaders should develop emergency e-mail and phone contact lists to be used in case of an incident that threatens the community's safety. Local imams, Islamic center board members, and Muslim activists should be on the lists.

A second list should be developed containing contact information for all local law enforcement agencies.

HOLD A COMMUNITY MEETING TO INFORM OTHERS OF SAFETY GUIDELINES

Call for a meeting of the local Muslim community to discuss the information outlined in this kit. The meeting should take place at a local mosque or Islamic center and should be advertised using the emergency contact list.

ESTABLISH A COMMUNITY SUPPORT NETWORK

Establish a network of community members who can offer emotional and material support to those who may be the victims of hate crimes or discrimination. Victims should not be left alone to deal with the negative impact of such incidents.

REACT TO INCIDENTS OF ANTI-MUSLIM HATE

If you believe you have been the victim of an anti-Muslim hate crime or discrimination, you should:

1. Report the incident to your local police station and FBI office IMMEDIATELY. Ask that the incident be treated as a hate crime. Ask witnesses to give you their name and contact information.
2. Inform CAIR even if you believe it is a "small" incident. Incidents may be reported online at: http://www.cair.com/ireport/ or TEL: 202-488-8787, FAX: 202-488-0833, E-MAIL: info@cair.com
3. Document the incident. Write down exactly what was said and/or done by the offender. Save evidence. Take photographs.
4. Act quickly. Each incident must be dealt with when it happens, not when convenient.
5. Decide on the appropriate action to be taken. Consider issuing a statement from community leaders, holding a news conference, organizing a protest, meeting with officials, or starting a letter writing campaign.
6. Mobilize community support. Contact CAIR and a local mosque or organization.
7. Stay on top of the situation.
8. Announce results. When the incident is resolved, make an announcement to the same people and organizations originally contacted.

CAIR MOSQUE SECURITY GUIDELINES

Areas of Vulnerability:

* Mosques located in isolated areas.
* Mosques left unattended for extended periods of time.
* Mosques with unsecured doors and/or windows.
* Absence of a burglar alarm system.
* Heavy exterior vegetation (shrubs, etc.) in which criminals may hide.
* Absence of exterior lighting.

Take the following safety measures:

* Build good relationships with neighbors of the mosque. Invite them to visit your center.
* Try to have people attend the mosque as much as possible. Activity deters perpetrators.
* Make an appointment with the community relations officer of your local police department to tour your center and make suggestions on improving mosque security.
* Request additional police patrols in the vicinity of your center.
Special attention should be paid to times of darkness and during prayers.
* Consider creating a security committee at your mosque.
* Post mosque members at entrances and parking areas during prayer times.
* Report suspicious packages to police. Do not touch them.
* Install perimeter floodlights outside the mosque.
* Install fire and burglar alarm systems.
* Replace hollow core doors with more secure solid doors.
* Install burglarproof bars on screens and large vents. (Note - Research local ordinances before beginning security renovations. For example, window bars should not limit evacuation in case of fire.)
* Trim shrubs and vines to reduce areas of concealment.
* Participate in neighborhood watch programs.
* Document descriptions of suspicious people or vehicles.
* Make duplicates of all important papers, computer disks and records.
* Remove potential fire hazards, such as trash and debris.
* Consider installing security cameras.

RESPONDING TO BOMB THREATS

1. Distribute written instructions on handling bomb threats.
2. Keep the caller on the line as long as possible. Ask that the message be repeated. Record or write down everything that is said.
3. Ask for the location of the bomb.
4. Inform the caller that the detonation of a bomb could hurt many innocent people.
5. Pay attention to background noises such as music, which may give a clue to the caller's location.
6. Listen closely to the caller's voice. Make note of accents, voice quality (calm, excited) or speech impediments.
7. Report the threat immediately to the local police, ATF and FBI.
Have appropriate phone numbers listed in written instructions.
8. If the threat comes in the form of a letter, save all materials, including the envelope. Handle the letter as little as possible.
9. Search the interior and exterior of the mosque. Evacuate the building if a suspicious package or device is found.

SUSPECT LETTERS AND PACKAGES

* What to look for:
* Name and title of addressee are not accurate.
* No return address, or the sender is not known to the addressee.
* Handwriting is distorted.
* Unprofessionally wrapped, uneven, bulky, lopsided.
* Contains bulges or soft spots.
* Poorly wrapped package is marked "Fragile-Handle With Care,"
"Rush," or has unusual restrictions such as "Personal" or "Private."
* Excess amount of postage.
* Protruding wires or tin foil.
* Package makes a buzzing or ticking noise, a sloshing sound, or emits an odor.

What to do:

DON'T open the package or letter.
DON'T put it in water or in a confined space such as a drawer.
DO isolate the article and secure the immediate area.
DO open windows if possible to help vent potential explosive gases.
DO contact your local police department and Postal Inspector.

SEE ALSO:

FL: ANTI-MUSLIM SLOGANS PAINTED ON FLA. HOME - TOP
Associated Press, 7/14/07
http://www.local6.com/news/13683244/detail.html?rss=orlpn&psp=news

Authorities are investigating a blaze at the home of a Bosnian family, where vandals sprayed anti-Muslim slogans in red paint.

Sheriff's detectives and authorities from the state Fire Marshal's Office are investigating the arson and vandalism as a hate crime.

Sheriff's spokesman Lieutenant Chuck Lesaltato said the sheriff's office has a detective working only on this case, but there are no suspects yet.

Hasib Sejfovic lives in the house with his wife and three children.

The family came home from vacation to find the inside of their house destroyed and their garage vandalized with graffiti.

Sejfovic said his family left Bosnia in 2001 and did not speak English or know anyone. He works in lawn maintenance, and his wife works at a grocery store.

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CAIR-CA: SIKH AMERICAN HATE CRIME VICTIM REMOVED FROM LIFE SUPPORT - TOP
SALDEF and CAIR condemn senseless act of violence

Washington, DC - July 17, 2007 - The Sikh American Legal Defense and Education Fund (SALDEF) and the Council of American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) are saddened about the death last week of Mr. Satendar Singh, a 26 year-old Sikh American victim of a vicious hate crime, as he was removed from life-support at a local hospital.

On Sunday July 1, 2007, Mr. Singh was beaten unconscious while enjoying a picnic with some friends at Lake Natoma in Folsom, CA. His attackers reportedly yelled xenophobic and homophobic remarks to him and his friends. After being taken to the hospital, Mr. Singh clang to life for four days before family members agreed to remove him from life-support after seeing he was registering little to no brain activity.

SALDEF and CAIR are concerned with this senseless murder of a promising young man. Hate crimes are designed to create fear amongst particular communities. Mr. Singh was targeted due to the color of skin, his national origin, and because he was the only one in his group without a female friend present. This attack was intended to create fear in the Fijian, South Asian, Arab, Muslim, Sikh and LGBT communities.

"We, SALDEF strongly condemn this act of violence. Such hate has no place in this country," said SALDEF Volunteer Attorney Neilinder Ranu. "Sadder still, Mr. Singh had lived peacefully in the US since he was 19, only to have his life ended around the Fourth of July, when we celebrate the freedoms and principles of inclusion that this country were founded upon."

Mr. Singh passed away in the intensive care unit at Mercy San Juan Medical Center thousands of miles away from his parents who live in Fiji. He lived with his aunt, uncle, and grandmother in Sacramento.

"The Sacramento Valley community has made a pledge in Mr. Singh's memory to fight against hate, said CAIR-Sacramento Valley Executive Director Basim Elkarra. This tragedy shows highlights the importance of the community coming together to fight against hate."

Together SALDEF and CAIR stand in solidarity against all acts of hate. We hope the community and all of America will not tolerate such acts of violence. We hope that the residents of Sacramento will put aside any differences and realize a stronger sense of community after this tragedy.

As of this release, no one has been arrested for this crime. If you or anyone you know has any information about the assailants of this heinous crime, you are urged to contact the Sacramento County Sheriff's department at (916) 874-5115.

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CONTACT: Kavneet Singh at info@saldef.org or 202-393-2700 ext. 29, CAIR-SV Executive Director Basim Elkarra at sacval@cair.com or 96-441-6269.

SALDEF is a national non-profit civil rights and educational organization. SALDEF's mission is to create a fostering environment in the United States for Sikh Americans. SALDEF protects and promotes the civil rights of Sikh Americans through legal aid, advocacy and educational outreach.

CAIR, America's largest Islamic 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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CONSERVATIVE LEADER TO SPEAK ON 'ISLAMOPHOBIA' PANEL - TOP

(WASHINGTON, D.C.) - On Tuesday, July 17, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) will host a panel discussion at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., entitled "Attacking Islam: Implications for Social Cohesion and U.S. Relations with the Muslim World."

The panel will address the increasing anti-Muslim rhetoric within the conservative movement in the United States, focusing on the negative impact of such views on religious tolerance in America and on relations with the Muslim world.

Presenters:

* David Keene, President, American Conservative Union
* Parvez Ahmed, Chairman, Council on American-Islamic Relations

WHEN: Tuesday, July 17, 2007, 9:30 - 11 a.m.
WHERE: Holeman Lounge, National Press Club, Washington, D.C.

Refreshments will be served. Admission is free but seating is limited and reservations are required. Please RSVP via e-mail to events@cair.com or call 202-742-6409.

CAIR, America's largest Islamic 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.

CONTACT: 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

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SLANDERING ISLAM - TOP
Washington Times, 7/16/07
http://washingtontimes.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/2007071

6/EDITORIAL/107160007/1013/editorial&template=nextpage

The column "The path to ...?" (Commentary, July 3) by Frank Gaffney Jr. contained a message full of hate against Muslims and Islam. He called Shariah a fascist legal code, the Islamic Center/Mosque in Washington a place for disseminating intolerant Islamofascist ideology and the Organization of the Islamic Conference an organization sympathetic to jihadists.

Apparently, President Bush's visit to the mosque on the occasion of its 50th anniversary infuriated Mr. Gaffney and led him to write such distortions and misinformation. He overlooked the facts of history and fairness. It was under the Islamic Shariah that European Jews lived their golden age of freedom and prosperity in Spain and the Ottoman Empire. Shariah code is essentially based upon the Koranic rules "no compulsion in religion" and "you have your religion and I have mine."

Mr. Bush was not the first American president to visit the Islamic Center/Mosque in Washington. Fifty years ago, President Eisenhower dedicated the Islamic Center and reminded the world that civilization owes to the Islamic world some of its most important achievements. The Washington mosque is a place of worship to the one God that the Muslims worship and they call him the God of the world, not of Muslims alone. The message of universality and equality is central in the Islamic doctrine.

The Organization of the Islamic Conference is a regional organization of governments, exactly like the Organization of American States (OAS) or the African Union (AU) or the Arab League (LAS) or the European Union (EU). The only difference is that the OIC is not based on ethnicity, nationalism or geography, but on shared common values. That is why you find among its member countries from four continents, such as Albania and Turkey, Egypt and Tunisia, Malaysia and Indonesia, Senegal, Mozambique and Guyana. Through its Islamic Development Bank, the organization has undertaken a great number of projects.

Contrary to Mr. Gaffney's column, the OIC is a governmental organization with a membership of 57 countries, almost all of which have cordial and cooperative relations with the United States. By visiting the Islamic Center/Mosque Washington and announcing his intention to appoint a permanent envoy to the OIC, Mr. Bush has taken a good step in the right direction. It is a good investment to gain the hearts and minds of the Muslim world through dialogue and mutual understanding.

MAHA AKEEL
Managing editor
Journal Information Department
Organization of the Islamic Conference
Saudi Arabia

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CAIR: N. TEXAS MUSLIMS SAY CASE IS POLITICAL - TOP
Family speaks of a decade of searches, interrogations, arrests
Jason Trahan, Dallas Morning News, 7/16/07
http://www.dallasnews.com/sharedcontent/dws/news/world/stories

/DN-holylandsider_16met.ART.State.Edition1.4354bf8.html

For many North Texas Muslims, the Holy Land Foundation investigation is a saga fueled by prejudice.

Local Muslim leaders have long decried the government's "witch hunt" of what they say was a charitable foundation dedicated to helping Palestinian refugees caught up in the Arab-Israeli conflict.

They say the investigation and the trial of Holy Land and seven of its organizers is a product of "Islamophobia," which was the focus of a conference last weekend in Dallas sponsored by the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

"This politically driven indictment will break new ground and potentially make new law by attempting to criminalize humanitarian aid," said Khalil Meek, president of the Plano-based Muslim Legal Fund of America, which is helping pay for the Holy Land defendants' attorneys.

For the family of Ghassan Elashi, the trial is the latest in more than a decade of troubles with the federal government. Investigations have included interrogations, searches, arrests and the wiretapping of conversations.

"The trial has taken over my thoughts during the day and my dreams during the night," said Noor Elashi, daughter of Mr. Elashi and a reporter at the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Prosecutors accuse Mr. Elashi and his co-defendants of using Richardson-based Holy Land to funnel millions of dollars to the terrorist organization Hamas.

But for the 21-year-old, the case is about her father's name and reputation.

"While I'm driving, while I'm working, while I'm eating, it's all I think about," she said. "I keep asking myself, 'How can my father and the other co-defendants be accused of supporting heinous acts of violence when all they did was feed, clothe and help educate Palestinian orphans and widows?' "

Today's trial is the third involving her family members. In 2004 and 2005, her father and uncles defended themselves against accusations that they did business with terrorist nations by shipping computer equipment to Syria and Libya.

Defense attorneys argued that the government's accusations were overblown because the men were Muslim and amounted to nothing more than minor export violations that should have been handled with a fine. (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

CAIR: SCRUTINIZED FOR YEARS, FOUNDATION FACES TRIAL - TOP
Jack Douglas Jr., Fort Worth Star-Telegram, 7/16/07
http://www.star-telegram.com/dallas_news/story/169670.html

A 14-year-long investigation, which sent FBI agents around the world, wiretapping phones and hiding in surveillance vans, is scheduled to come to a head on Monday in Dallas when the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development goes on trial, accused of helping to fund terrorism while simultaneously doling out charity assistance to sick children and needy schools.

The founders and top officers of the Richardson-based Islamic charity, once the largest of its kind in the United States, are accused of being the financial and social-service arm of Hamas. Supporting Hamas is against federal law because the United States has declared it a terrorist group.

Holy Land Foundation officials and their supporters contend that they were raising money to help Palestinian families and orphans. From the outset, Islamic leaders decried the Holy Land prosecution as an anti-Muslim witch hunt promoted by the pro-Israel lobby in the United States.

Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday, and the trial is expected to take about five months.

The case has generated headlines worldwide. Some Muslims see it as an attempt by some U.S. prosecutors and politicians to fan fears about the threat of terrorism posed by Muslim and Islamic groups.

Federal prosecutors acknowledge it will not be an easy trail to follow as they try to prove that the foundation hurt people instead of helping them.

"This case presents unusual facts and is unlikely to be within the common experience or knowledge of an average juror," prosecutors said in a brief filed with the court in May.

Defense lawyers countered by saying that the government's case is hard to understand only because it's based primarily on hearsay evidence. And they took issue with what they said were the prosecution's plans to introduce statements from people who are not expected to show up in court.

If that happens, the defense lawyers said in their brief, it would violate their clients' "Sixth Amendment right to confront the witnesses against them."

'Islamophobia'?

The case has been a cause celebre for American Muslims since federal agents first staged a raid a week before 9-11. A federal task force raided the Infocom Internet services company, which was associated with and across the street from the Holy Land Foundation in Richardson. Two months later, the government froze the charity's assets, totaling millions of dollars.

Contributions to Muslim charities nationwide dropped sharply in wake of the raid.

The government says it is simply working to cut off the funding sources for Hamas militants and their suicide bombers. In prior court appearances tied to the Holy Land Foundation, prosecutors have argued that people contributing to the foundation should have known they were helping Hamas terrorists.

Muslim leaders say federal authorities are playing on people's fears and prejudices, which they call "Islamophobia."

"The Muslim community is watching this very closely," said Parvez Ahmed, national board chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, based in Washington.

Local and national Muslim organizations have recently formed a coalition, Hungry for Justice, which plans to blog about the trial daily, and representatives of the Muslim community will be in the courtroom each day, Ahmed said.

He said all they want is a fair trial and to ensure that the "American Muslim community is not intimidated into silence." (MORE)

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COALITION TO CALL FOR FAIR TRIAL IN HOLY LAND CASE - TOP

WHAT: On Monday, July 16, 2007, Hungry for Justice, a coalition of national and regional organizations, will hold a news conference and to call for a fair trial in the Holy Land Foundation case. The news conference will take place at the Dallas federal courthouse the first day of jury selection.

WHEN: Monday, July 16, 2007, 10 a.m.
WHERE: Earle Cabell U.S. Courthouse, 1100 Commerce, Dallas, TX

Hungry For Justice is a Dallas-based human rights group.

CONTACT: Eric Meek, 972-849-9188

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CAIR: MUSLIM CHARITY LEADERS ON TRIAL FOR ALLEGEDLY AIDING TERRORISTS - TOP
David Koenig, Associated Press, 7/16/07
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/ap/tx/4971793.html

One of the most prominent anti-terror prosecutions of the past decade opened Monday as government lawyers and those representing leaders of a Muslim charity began quizzing potential jurors.

The men on trial in federal district court aren't accused of being terrorists. Rather, they are charged with funneling millions of dollars to the militant group Hamas, which allegedly used some of the money to support the families of suicide bombers in the Middle East.

Although the FBI investigated the men and the charity in the 1990s, the Bush administration raised the profile of the case since Sept. 11. President Bush announced the seizure of the charity's assets in a Rose Garden news conference three months later, in December 2001.

Defense lawyers say the men and the charity, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, helped build hospitals and schools for Palestinians living under Israeli occupation but are not connected to Hamas.

The defendants and their supporters claim the prosecution is based on anti-Arab bias.

The trial before District Judge A. Joe Fish is expected to last several months. Prosecutors and defense lawyers are expected to lay out the case in opening statements next Monday. . .

The political overtones of the case run deep.

Parvez Ahmed, chairman of the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the Bush administration was trying to silence Muslim opposition to Israeli policy and stop aid to Palestinian children by closing Holy Land.

"It has put a chill on First Amendment rights of Muslims in this country," Ahmed said. "It's caused Muslims to question, will donors be criminalized?" (MORE)

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CAIR-MI PARTICIPATES IN DIVERSITY FESTIVAL - TOP

(SOUTHFIELD, MI, 7/16/07) - The Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) recently participated in the 5th Annual Diversity Celebration in Kalamazoo, Michigan.

The festival, which was sponsored by New Latino Visions, showcased musical performances, dances and cuisines from a variety of ethnic and religious groups.

The keynote speaker for the event was CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid, who spoke to approximately 300 people about the unique demographics of America and the importance of becoming acquainted with various cultures and religions to assist in eliminating misconceptions and bigotry.

CAIR, America's largest Islamic 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.

CONTACT: CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid, 248.842.1418, dwalid@cair.com

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CAIR-OH: STATE SAYS IT WAS WRONG ASK MUSLIM WOMEN TO REMOVE HEAD SCARVES - TOP
Associated Press, 7/16/07
http://www.columbusdispatch.com/dispatch/content/local_news/stories/2007/07/14/bmv.html

Two Muslim women had the right to continue wearing their head scarves when sitting for a driver's license photo, the Ohio Bureau of Motor Vehicles said.

Clerks at separate bureau offices in southwest Ohio were wrong to insist that the women remove the scarves, also known as hijabs, which are expressions of faith and modesty, said Tom Hunter, spokesman for the Department of Public Safety, which oversees the motor vehicles bureau.

The bureau's offices in Loveland and Mason retook the photos for free.

"It was just a misunderstanding on the part of BMV employees as to what the policy was," Hunter said. "We want to be respectful to all people and all cultures."

No one was disciplined, Hunter said, but an e-mail was sent to the state's 216 registrar offices in May reminding employees that head coverings, such as hijabs, are allowed. . .

Asking a Muslim woman to remove her head scarf is akin to asking her to remove her shirt, said Karen Dabdoub, the executive director of the Cincinnati office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

Dabdoub said the women shouldn't have been subjected to such embarrassment.

"I'm sure this has happened many times before," Dabdoub. The state deserves credit for quickly correcting the problem, she said.

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MO: JEWS HELP MUSLIMS FIGHT COUNTY COUNCIL - TOP
Tim Townsend, St. Louis Post-Dispatch, 7/16/07
http://www.stltoday.com/stltoday/news/stories.nsf/religion/story/3B0231E5

D23B788A8625731A0013A987?OpenDocument

When Rick Isserman found out last month that St. Louis County wouldn't allow a group of Muslims to build a new mosque in south St. Louis County, the story sounded too familiar.

Forty-eight years earlier, Isserman's grandfather, Rabbi Ferdinand Isserman, fought to move his congregation, Temple Israel, from the city to the county, where the Jewish population had been relocating for some years. The city of Creve Coeur cited zoning problems and tried to block the move, but the rabbi and his flock took the case to the Missouri Supreme Court and prevailed.

The case, Congregation Temple Israel v. City of Creve Coeur, produced what is considered a landmark religious-freedom decision that says Missouri municipalities can invoke only health or safety issues in denying a religious group the zoning required to build houses of worship.

In the spring, the St. Louis County Council refused the Islamic Community Center's request to rezone a 4.7-acre parcel it bought a year before for $1.25 million. The Muslims - mostly Bosnian immigrants - planned to build a second mosque and community center in addition to the current mosque and center off South Kingshighway in St. Louis.

When Khalid Shah, a member of the mosque and a friend of Isserman's, told him about the council's decision, the 53-year-old Department of Agriculture employee began making the connection to his family's legal legacy.

"I'm fighting the same battle as my grandfather 50 years ago," Isserman said. "It's a different community and a different place, but it's the same issue." (MORE)

SEE ALSO:

MD: CANDIDATES ADDRESS MUSLIM SESSION - TOP
Education, crime among topics at forum for Baltimore mayor, City Council contenders
John Fritze, Baltimore Sun, 7/15/07
http://www.baltimoresun.com/news/local/baltimore_city/bal-md.ci.

forum15jul15,0,5428331.story

Three Baltimore mayoral candidates told the city's Muslim community yesterday that residents are experiencing increased violence and failing schools because of a lack of leadership at City Hall.

At a candidates' forum organized by the Baltimore Muslim Council, school administrator Andrey Bundley, Del. Jill P. Carter and City Councilman Keiffer J. Mitchell Jr. also fielded questions about police recruitment, education and dealing with neighborhood nuisances.

Mayor Sheila Dixon, who many believe is the leading contender in the Sept. 11 Democratic primary election, did not attend the forum. Dixon sent her chief of staff, Otis Rolley III, who spoke about Dixon but was not permitted to answer audience questions.

"We lack leadership in our city," said Mitchell, who discussed his proposals to hire 250 new police officers and to take control of schools as mayors have done in Chicago and New York. "There are two foundations that help any city to continue to prosper: public safety and public education," he said.

Though the mayoral candidates have yet to debate, they have been attending forums throughout the city, offering stump speeches and articulating broad platforms. Though the candidates do not always discuss specific ideas at the forums, some themes are beginning to emerge.

About 50 people came to the Morgan State University campus yesterday to hear the candidates for mayor and City Council president as well as about a dozen people who are running for council seats. The city's Muslim Council was created months after the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11 to promote Muslim involvement in civic life. (MORE)

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CAIR: CARTOONIST UNFAIR TO MUSLIM COMMUNITY - TOP
Columbus Dispatch, 7/16/07
http://www.dispatch.com/dispatch/content/editorials/stories/200

7/07/16/Tarazi_ART_07-16-07_A10_9M79C53.html

The July 9 Forum cartoon by Michael Ramirez, suggesting that the Muslim community condemned the Salman Rushdie knighthood but remained silent on the British terror attacks, should be seen more as a critique of Ramirez than of the Muslim community. He hears what he wants or expects to hear. His impression is false.

A simple Internet search can bring up a wealth of statements condemning the terror attacks, by organizations and individuals in the Muslim community, including the statement from the Association of Muslim Health Professionals, www.amhp.us , and the statement from Asma Mobin-Uddin, the president of the Council on American-Islamic Relations of Ohio, whose commentary was published in The New York Post on July 4.

In Islam, as in all other world religions, if you use an immoral path, like attacking innocent people, no matter what "great" goal you have in mind, you corrupt your soul and God will punish you.

It was fortunate that the terror plotters were so inept at carrying out their bombing attempts. They dishonored their professions, their religion and their basic civil contracts with the communities where they live.

Norma Tarazi
Worthington

SEE ALSO:

CAIR: DOCTORS IN PLOT BETRAYED FAITH, PROFESSION - TOP
Asma Mobin-Uddin, 7/15/07
http://www.al.com/opinion/birminghamnews/index.ssf?/base/op

inion/118448731770490.xml&coll=2

The thought of physicians treating sick patients by the light of day while plotting to kill innocent people under the cover of darkness sickens and angers me on a very personal level.

If the United Kingdom terror plot accusations are true, they are the ultimate betrayal of the trust placed in physicians to use their hands for healing, their intellects for diagnosis and their demeanors to bring comfort to the sick. As a Muslim physician, I am following the London and Glasgow terror plot investigation with incredulity, anger and outrage.

Islam teaches me that the gifts I have been given are entrusted to me by God for the purpose of serving humanity. The Quranic verse that equates saving one life with saving the lives of all of humanity teaches me the sacredness of each and every life and inspires me to strive for professional excellence.

Historically, Muslim physicians from the ninth to the 14th centuries were pioneers in the development of many areas of medicine, including anesthesia, surgery, ophthalmology and pharmacology.

Muslim physicians were the first to systematically use inhalational anesthesia, sedating patients some 800 years ago in Islamic Spain by placing sponges soaked in narcotics over the patient's nose and mouth prior to surgery. (MORE)

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CAIR: HOW MUSLIM DOCTORS SAVE LIVES - TOP
Dr. Asma Mobin-Uddin, Jacksonville Times-Union, 7/15/07
http://www.jacksonville.com/tu-online/stories/071507/opl_184236096.shtml

[Asma Mobin-Uddin is a pediatrician from Columbus, Ohio, and the board chairwoman for the Ohio chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. Her parents came to Jacksonville from Pakistan to continue their training in their physician specialties. She was born in Miami, but moved to Ohio while still a young child.]

The thought of physicians treating sick patients by the light of day while plotting to kill innocent people under the cover of darkness sickens and angers me.

If these accusations are true, they are the ultimate betrayal of the trust placed in physicians to use their hands for healing, their intellects for diagnosis and their demeanors to bring comfort to the sick.

As a Muslim physician, I am following the London and Glasgow terror plot investigation with incredulity, anger and outrage. (MORE)

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MI: CONVERT CALLS ISLAM BEAUTIFUL - TOP
George Jaksa, Flint Journal, 7/14/07
http://www.mlive.com/news/fljournal/index.ssf?/base/news-1

/118438694765990.xml&coll=5

Shomori Wade says extremists have given Muslims a bad name.

"They have hijacked our religion," said Wade, 27, of Flint. "It's not a bad religion like a lot of people make it out to be. There is a lot of good that comes from Islam."

Wade, who converted to Islam while incarcerated at the Elkton, Ohio, Federal Correctional Institution, attends Friday afternoon prayers at the Muslim House, 804 King Ave., with his family. He is helping repair a house next to the mosque for a halfway house for parolees, and he cleans the mosque every Thursday before prayers.

Q. When did you become a Muslim?

A. In October 2002 just before Ramadan. Before that I was somewhat Christian, but I didn't attend church regularly. I decided on my own that this was the path of the Prophet Mohammed that I wanted to travel.

Q. How did your conversion come about?

A. While I was in the correctional facility, I would see a guy sitting at a table reading. He never moved from the table. I got up enough courage to ask him what he was doing. He told me he was studying and memorizing the Holy Quran.

Q. So that got you interested?

A. Yes, and when I heard the call to prayer, that gave me a numbness. They had a call to prayer five times a day while I was in prison.

Q. What do you like about Islam?

A. Islam is so beautiful. What I like about Islam is it's unified and brings everybody together. That was the most beautiful thing I ever saw in my whole life, bringing everybody together. (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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