Madinat al-Muslimeen Islamic Message Board
| Nice reading ... |
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| Arsalan |
| 11/28/00 at 14:49:08 |
| Assalamu alaikum, Nice article published in the Washington Post. Muslims See New Clouds Of Suspicion By Caryle Murphy Washington Post Staff Writer Monday , November 27, 2000 ; Page B01 Muslims in the Washington area and across the country begin observing the holy month of Ramadan today amid signs of Islam's growing acceptance in the United States--but also persistent examples of how Muslims here sometimes face mistrust and unusual legal problems because of suspicions about their Mideast ties. Muslim chaplains now serve in the U.S. armed forces and on many college campuses, and women in head scarves are not an unusual sight in the workplace. The Clinton White House has hosted Muslims on several Islamic holidays, and for the first time, a Muslim gave the benediction at the opening session of this year's Republican Party convention. In public schools, rooms have been set aside during Ramadan for fasting Muslim students to study while their non-Muslim peers eat lunch. The U.S. Postal Service is releasing a stamp next year that commemorates the two most important Islamic holidays. And banks are creating new kinds of transactions for Muslims, whose religion forbids them from accepting interest on deposits. But when violence flares in the Middle East or when Islamic extremists target Americans, as in the recent USS Cole attack, Muslims in the area say they face increased scrutiny by U.S. law enforcement agencies, suspicions about their faith and accusations that they support terrorism. "There is a growing recognition of the role of Muslims as a positive factor in the building of American society's fabric," said Aly R. Abuzaakouk, director of the D.C.-based American Muslim Council. But events in the Middle East, he said, can "put a damper on our image as family-oriented, value-oriented, hardworking members of society." For the next month, Washington area Muslims, who number between 100,000 and 200,000, will observe Ramadan, abstaining from food, drink and other sensual pleasures during the day to learn discipline, self-restraint and generosity. They make up a racially diverse community that includes people of Arab descent, American-born converts, Pakistanis, Afghans, Indians and Africans, and they worship in nearly 40 sites and support five Islamic schools. In 1996, the country's first school for training imams, or prayer leaders, opened in Leesburg. Local politicians are noticing. Virginia Reps. James P. Moran Jr. (D) and Thomas M. Davis III (R) regularly visit Dar Al Hijra, a mosque in Falls Church, members said. And Fairfax County Supervisor Penelope A. Gross (D-Mason) helped Afghan Muslims overcome neighborhood opposition when building their Annandale mosque, Mustafa Center. "The Muslim community, both men and women, are anxious to participate in our American way of life," Gross said. But "there is still a great deal of misperception among longtime residents about just what Muslims believe, and that is going to mean continuing outreach to educate non-Muslims." Muslims also have tossed aside an earlier generation's reluctance to be politically active, forming several organizations to promote their interests and starting voter registration drives. For the first time, Muslim advocacy groups endorsed a U.S. presidential candidate, backing Texas Gov. George W. Bush. These efforts to form what they call "a Muslim voting bloc" have begun to bear fruit, activists said. The D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations sent a post-election questionnaire to mosques across the country. Of the 1,774 respondents--10 percent of whom live in Virginia--72 percent reported voting for Bush. Of those, 85 percent said their decision was influenced by the endorsement of the Muslim groups. Yet despite efforts to move into mainstream America, Muslims say violence overseas often leads to a backlash. "There are still some impediments and hardships caused by elements in American society that do not welcome us," said Abuzaakouk, who cited the case of Alexandria resident Abdelhaleem Ashqar. Ashqar arrived in the United States from Gaza in 1989 on a U.S.-financed Thomas Jefferson Fellowship to get his doctorate in business. But in February 1998 he was jailed for civil contempt after refusing to testify before a New York grand jury investigating the Islamic Resistance Movement, also known as Hamas. Calling the probe a "witch hunt" against Palestinian political activists, Ashqar told a judge that testifying would violate his religious, political and personal beliefs and betray friends, relatives and colleagues in the Palestinian liberation movement. "I would rather die," he said. In jail, Ashqar began a hunger strike, and a federal judge ordered that he be force-fed. After Ashqar went from 180 pounds to 120 pounds during his six-month confinement, the judge concluded that Ashqar would never testify and ordered him released. "It was actually the worst experience of my life," said Ashqar, 42, who is a college teacher and a board member at Dar Al Hijra Mosque. A former spokesman for Islamic University of Gaza, Ashqar said he has been an activist since college and is "sympathetic to the Islamic movement in general." But, he said, he was never a member of Hamas and deplores terrorism. "I'm against killing civilians period, both sides . . . Palestinians and Israelis," he said. Hamas, an Islamic movement seeking Palestinian independence, has a charitable wing, which operates a network of schools and hospitals in Gaza, and a military wing, which has carried out suicide bombings and other attacks on Israeli civilians. In 1997, the U.S. government declared Hamas a terrorist organization. In other examples of what they say is guilt by sasociation, Muslims here have complained about being unfairly singled out by airport security officers using racial profiling. And they object to a 1996 anti-terrorist law that permits immigrants to be deported on classified evidence that is withheld from the immigrants and their attorneys. Critics say that such "secret evidence" has been used disproportionately against Muslims and Arabs, some of whom have been jailed for years while they seek access to the evidence in order to refute it. In at least three cases, Muslim immigrants held for more than a year were released after courts let them see and challenge such evidence. "I think it's fair to say that in the last four to five years, virtually all the immigrants who've had secret evidence used against them have been Arab or Muslim," said David Cole, a professor of constitutional law at Georgetown University Law Center who was involved in several cases. "The United States will say that's because that's where the terrorist threat comes from. But I'm not satisfied with that response," he said. "There seems to be a presumption among [federal law enforcement authorities] that anyone associated with these groups must be a terrorist." Muslims also say that outspoken critics of Israel and its policies toward Palestinians are sometimes accused of supporting terrorism. Last year, the nomination of a prominent Muslim activist to the advisory National Commission on Terrorism was rescinded after Jewish leaders complained that the nominee had said Israeli policies helped cause Palestinian terrorism. Last month, Sen.-elect Hillary Rodham Clinton returned $50,000 to the American Muslim Alliance after New York newspapers reported that the group supports the use of force by Palestinians in their battle with Israel. The alliance countered that it is a "mainstream" organization that "unequivocally denounces terrorism by both sides: Israeli as well as Palestinian." Ashqar said his troubles with U.S. law enforcement agencies began when he was studying business management at the University of Mississippi. In 1991, he said, the FBI office in Oxford, Miss., started asking questions about him at the university. In June 1996, people he believed were law enforcement agents began following him, he said. In September 1996, he said, he was asked to meet with John R. Hailman, chief of the criminal division in the U.S. attorney's office for northern Mississippi, and several FBI agents, whose names and business cards Ashqar provided to The Washington Post. During that meeting, Ashqar said he was asked to help "incriminate some people" who were Hamas activists. He said he declined offers of money, U.S. citizenship and jobs for himself and his wife in exchange for his cooperation. Reached by phone, Hailman said, "The only thing I can say is that I can't comment." Ashqar said he spoke to Muslim student groups across the country and raised money for schools in Gaza. But he said he never raised money for Hamas. And the Israelis, he argued, would not have let him come to this country if he had been involved in terrorist activities. According to news reports, the New York grand jury that subpoenaed Ashqar was probing the activities of Mohammed Abu Marzook, a Hamas leader and former Fairfax County resident. Marzook was jailed for 22 months by U.S. authorities and deported to Jordan in 1997 after Israel dropped its request for his extradition. He was at the Islamic University of Gaza when Ashqar was its spokesman. Ashqar, who moved to Northern Virginia after obtaining his doctorate in 1997, said he went on a hunger strike because "I'd been through too much harassment, and this was one way to express my anger and frustration and end this campaign against Muslims. We cannot give up our beliefs for money and stand in court as collaborators and traitors against each other." He was pained, he said, by "the feeling that justice was not being served. If you have anything against me, please go ahead and press charges and give me a fair trial." Ashqar--who has never been charged with a crime--still faces an uncertain future. He was arrested once by the Israelis before coming to the United States and fears persecution if he returns to his homeland. He has applied for political asylum. If it is granted, he said, he wants to become a U.S. citizen. "Why not?" he said. "It's a country of immigrants. I'll work as a civil rights advocate." © 2000 The Washington Post |
| Re: Nice reading ... |
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| h_m_r00 |
| 11/29/00 at 14:56:46 |
| Salaam thanks for the article Arsalan Hiyam |
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