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 Obama
seeks new beginning in ties with Muslims:
President Barack Obama called for a "new beginning" in relations
between the United States and the Muslim world Thursday, addressing
grievances over the Arab-Israeli conflict, two U.S.-led wars and
tensions over Iran....Read
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'I would have liked to have dinner with Gandhi' |
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“Change” was President Barak Obama's campaign slogan. The
seven-million strong American Muslim community, firmly believing in
his “change” slogan, voted overwhelmingly for him in the 2008
presidential elections with the hope that his administration would
bring an end to their humiliation and sufferings they faced in the
Bush era in the name of “war on terror.”
American Muslims were both pleased and surprised by President
Obama’s inclusive words in his inaugural address, on January 20th,
when he said America is "a nation of Christians and Muslims, Jews
and Hindus and non-believers." Such words signaled Obama's
recognition that Muslims are an important part of the American
fabric.
In his historic June 4 speech in Cairo, President Obama hinted to
the problems facing the American Muslims by saying that the United
States “rules on charitable giving have made it harder for Muslims
to fulfill their religious obligation. That is why I am committed to
working with American Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill zakat.”
His Cairo statement coincided with a statement by Attorney General
Eric Holder: "The President's pledge for a new beginning between the
United States and the Muslim community takes root here in the
Justice Department where we are committed to using criminal and
civil rights laws to protect Muslim Americans. A top priority of
this Justice Department is a return to robust civil rights
enforcement and outreach in defending religious freedoms and other
fundamental rights of all of our fellow citizens in the workplace,
in the housing market, in our schools and in the voting booth.”
Similarly, in his September 2nd speech at the White House Iftar
dinner, President Obama emphasized that “the contributions of
Muslims to the United States are too long to catalogue because
Muslims are so interwoven into the fabric of our communities and our
country.” While noting the contributions of American Muslims,
president also alluded to their problems when he shared the story of
the Muslim sixth-grader Nashala Hearn from Oklahoma, who was
suspended twice last fall because the school officials claimed her
hijab violated their dress code policy. The President said: “When
her school district told her that she couldn't wear the hijab, she
protested that it was a part of her religion. The Department of
Justice stood behind her, and she won her right to practice her
faith.”
Not surprisingly, Valerie Jarrett, a Senior Advisor and Assistant to
President Obama for Public Engagement and Intergovernmental Affairs,
was the keynote speaker at the inaugural session of the Islamic
Society of North America (ISNA) Convention 2009. She paid a tribute
to the diligent work of Muslim Americans on behalf of the country.
Citing President Obama’s April 2009 Cairo Speech, Ms. Jarrett
acknowledged the contribution of American Muslims to the overall
development of American society and the strengthening of American
institutions. Ms Jarrett pointed out: “Your work here is crucial in
confronting the challenges that all Americans are facing. And you
help advance the new beginning between the United State and Muslim
communities around the world that the President called for in
Cairo.”
These courteous and good gestures by President Obama are accompanied
by the appointment of a number of American Muslims to some minor
positions in his administration. Rashad Hussain, an American Muslim
lawyer, has been appointed as Deputy Associate Counsel to the
President. Dalia Mogahed was appointed by President Obama to serve
on the Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood
Partnerships. American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC)
National Executive Director Kareem Shora has been appointed a member
of the Homeland Security Advisory Council (HSAC).
However all these good gestures and public policy measures have
little positive impact on the restoration of civil rights of
American Muslims curtailed since 9/11. Profiling has been
institutionalized in the post-9/11 America. State and federal
agencies, under the guise of fighting terrorism, have expanded the
use of this degrading, discriminatory and dangerous practice. The
damage to civil liberties has been extensive, and a lot of work
remains to be done.
American Muslims and civil libertarians are particularly concerned
about Justice Department guidelines implemented in the last days of
the Bush administration, which allow race and ethnicity to be
factors in opening an investigation. Other civil rights concerns
include FBI agent provocateurs sent into American mosques,
citizenship delays, politicized “terror” trials, and misuse by the
Department of Justice of the “unindicted co-conspirator” label.
Today, eight years after 9/11, incidents of racial and religious
profiling in the United States have increased dramatically. Soon
after the 9/11 attacks, racial profiling became the norm at American
airports where anyone belonging to the Arab or Muslim communities
was systematically called out for questioning and sometimes even
detained. Eight years hence, August 14, 2009 detention of Indian
Muslim superstar Shah Rukh Khan’s detention at Newark Airport in New
Jersey is only one of the scores that take place every day.
COINTELPRO operation against the Muslims
Last October — in the waning days of the Bush administration — FBI
director Robert Mueller signed new guidelines allowing broader FBI
authority in pursuing potential threats to national security. The
new guidelines allow agents to consider race or ethnicity in
determining whether someone is a suspect. These guidelines – which
became effective Dec. 1, 2008 — allow the FBI to launch a criminal
investigation against someone without any factual predicate and
without approval from FBI headquarters.
The guidelines are similar to COINTELPRO, an FBI program used in the
50s and 60s to spy on civil rights, environmental and labor groups,
with the goal of unearthing Communist ties those organizations may
have had. At Congressional hearings last May, FBI Director Mueller —
who continues to serve as FBI director in the Obama administration —
said the guidelines simply formalized processes the FBI had begun to
use, post-9/11. President Barack Obama and Attorney General Eric
Holder have not indicated whether they intend to scrap the new
guidelines.
Tellingly, the Obama administration has also formalized laptop
seizure rules. On August 27, 2009, the Obama administration
disclosed that it will carry on Bush administration policies that
allowed the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to seize and
search international travelers' laptop computers, cellular phones,
cameras, and other electronic devices, even in the absence of
suspicion of criminal activity. The DHS made public two directives
that formalized operational practices established by the Bush
administration to carry out searches of the personal digital
instruments of travelers, US citizens or not, passing across US
borders. According to the directives, border police "may detain
electronic devices, or copies of information contained therein, for
a brief, reasonable period of time to perform a thorough border
search. If DHS turns up nothing incriminating, to regain the
confiscated item the traveler must return to the border crossing
where the item was seized, or else pay for its shipment.
Although the electronic media search regulations apply to all
passengers but Muslims are perhaps the main target at present
because they are the target of extra scrutiny at the airports and
other points of entry.
In April 2009, Muslim Advocates released a report - Unreasonable
Intrusions: Investigating the Politics, Faith & Finances of
Americans Returning Home - documenting the systematic and widespread
practice of federal agents interrogating Muslim, Arab, and
South-Asian Americans returning home after international travel —
violating their rights to privacy and nondiscrimination, among
others. The report pointed out: “Currently, no DHS policy limits the
scope of interrogations, even those that probe the religious
beliefs, political views and other First Amendment-protected
activities of law-abiding Americans.
"For many hard-working, law-abiding Muslim Americans, questions
about their political beliefs, religious practices, and charitable
causes they support, as well as surrendering their business cards,
credit card numbers and laptop and cell phone data, have become the
price of admission to return home to the U.S.," says Farhana Khera,
executive director of Muslim Advocates.
On June 30, 2009 the ACLU issued a report titled: The Persistence of
Racial and ethnic Profiling in the United States. The report said:
“The Obama administration has inherited a shameful legacy of racial
profiling codified in official FBI guidelines and a notorious
registration program that treats Arabs and Muslims as suspects and
denies them the presumption of innocence and equal protection under
the law.……….As a result, in 2009, with a new administration in
office, the practice of racial profiling by members of law
enforcement at the federal, state, and local levels remains a
widespread and pervasive problem throughout the United States,
impacting the lives of millions of people in African American,
Asian, Latino, South Asian, and Arab communities.” Tellingly, as a
candidate, President Barack Obama’s campaign released a “Blueprint
for Change,” which stated that, if elected, “Obama and Biden will
ban racial profiling . . . ” In 2005 and in 2007, then-Senator Obama
cosponsored End Racial Profiling Act (ERPA) which has continued to
languish in Congress since its introduction in 1997. ERPA is the key
piece of federal legislation as it would compel all law enforcement
agencies to ban racial profiling; create and apply profiling
procedures; document data on stop/search/arrest activities by race
and gender; and create a private right of action for victims of
profiling.
Islamophobia
Eight years after 9/11, there is a rising tide of Islamaphobia,
intensified by the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq and U.S. government
measures at home. Americans' attitudes about Islam and Muslims are
fuelled mainly by political statements and media reports that focus
almost solely on the negative image of Islam and Muslims.
Politicians, authors and media commentators are busy in demonizing
Islam, Muslims and the Muslim world. Eight years after 9/11
attacking Islam and Muslims remains the fashionable sport for the
radio, television and print media. Few recent incidents of
Islamophobia:
In February 2009, Republican Senator Jon Kyl hosted screening of an
anti-Islam film ‘Fitna’ at the Capitol building and invited
anti-Islam far-right Dutch lawmaker, Geert Wilders, as his guest.
Tellingly, Wilders was denied entry to London earlier that month
because British authorities believed that showing his controversial
film posed a threat to public order. Islamophobe Wilders, who built
his political career on fear-mongering, compares Islam’s holy book
Qur’an to Adolf Hitler’s “Mein Kampf” and calls for its banned.
Islamophobes are also teaching hatred towards Islam and Muslims to
the school children. On August 24, Faith Sapp, a 10-year-old
daughter of Wayne Sapp, pastor of the controversial church, the Dove
World Outreach Center, in Gainesville Florida, was sent home for
wearing a T-shirt with the words 'Islam Is Of The Devil' printed on
it. Next day three more students were sent home for wearing the
anti-Islam T-shirts. On their front, the T-shirts had a verse from
the Gospel of John: "Jesus answered I am the way and the truth and
the life; no one goes to the Father except through me." The message
"Islam is of the Devil" is on the back of the shirt. The Dove World
Outreach Center’s anti-Islam T-shirts episode came a month after the
church displayed a series of hand-painted anti-Islam signs.
In the latest incident of Islamophobia, Clarksville, Tennessee,
Mayor Johnny Piper, on Sept. 4, sent an e-mail to every City Council
member, every department head, and numerous other city employees,
friends and family members, to protest a U.S. Postal Service stamp
commemorating two Islamic holidays of Eid. The e-mail falsely claims
that the stamp is new, and its creation was ordered by President
Barack Obama. In fact, the stamp was first issued in 2001, and was
reissued in 2002, 2006, 2007 and 2008.
Not surprisingly, Islamophobia has created an atmosphere of
suspicion among the fellow Americans towards the Muslims. In this
Islamophobic charged atmosphere, it is not surprising that 48
percent Americans have an unfavorable view of Islam according to a
2009 poll by Washington Post-ABC News. Nearly three in ten (29
percent) said they see mainstream Islam as advocating violence
against non-Muslims. Unfortunately, what most Americans continue to
see on television and read in newspapers since 9/11 are examples of
Muslims and Arabs responsible for terror attacks, the repression of
women, and riots.
Islamophobia incited incidents targeting American Muslim individuals
and institutions. Eight years after the 9/11 terrorist attacks,
American Muslims and Arabs continue to suffer a severe wave of
backlash violence. The hate crimes included murder, beatings, arson,
attacks on mosques, shootings, vehicular assaults and verbal
threats. Recent hate crimes include a bias-motivated attack on a
Muslim woman and child in Seattle by a self-proclaimed white
supremacist, vandalism of mosques in California, Florida and North
Carolina, an anti-Islam sign outside a Florida church, racist
fireworks sold in Wisconsin, the beating of a Muslim student in New
York, and the death of a California Muslim leader in a “suspicious”
fire.
Last month, an Islandia, New York, man threatened to kill a Muslim
woman and her 20-year-old daughter as he tried to run them down with
his car at a gas station. The victim, 49, and her daughter were
dressed in an abaya, a traditional Muslim garment that completely
covered their bodies and face, except for their eyes.
FBI infiltrated spies into South California mosques
In February 2009, the American Muslim community was shocked at the
revelation, that the FBI has been infiltrating spies into a number
of mosques in Southern California. The Orange County Register
reported that the FBI sent a convicted criminal, Craig Monteilh, to
pose as an agent provocateur in several of California’s mosques. In
April, Monteilh told The Los Angeles Times that he posed as a Muslim
convert at the request of the FBI to gather intelligence that might
aid anti-terrorism investigators. Monteilh said he was instructed to
lure mosque members to work out with him at local gyms. FBI agents
later would obtain security camera footage from the gyms and ask him
to identify the people on the tapes and to provide additional
information about them. He was told that the agents then conducted
background checks on the men, looking for anything that could be
used to pressure them to become informants.
The Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan (CIOM), in April
2009, asked Attorney General Eric Holder to launch an investigation
into complaints that Michigan Muslims are being approached to spy on
activities of Muslim congregations by the Federal Bureau of
Investigations (FBI). Through coercion of certain members of
congregations, the FBI is reportedly promoting entrapment of
innocent, law-abiding citizens in otherwise peaceful houses of
worship, said a CIOM statement. CIOM is an umbrella organization of
mosques and Islamic organizations within the state of Michigan. The
Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI),
which is a CIOM member, had received complaints that the FBI has
approached Michigan Muslims, asking them to spy on unsuspecting
worshippers including monitoring their legitimate charitable
donations.
Muslim charities
Eight years after 9/11, Muslim charity organizations remain under
pressure. In June 2009, the American Civil Liberties Union released
an extensive report about how the U.S. terrorism finance laws and
policies were unfairly preventing the seven-million-strong American
Muslim community from practicing their religion through charitable
giving. The 164 page report, "Blocking Faith, Freezing Charity," is
the first comprehensive report that documents the serious effects of
Bush administration terrorism finance laws on Muslim communities
across the nation. The core of the report is about how Muslims are
being scared away from making zakat (a religious obligation)
donations to Muslim charities. “U.S. terrorism finance laws and
policies unfairly prevent Muslim Americans from practicing their
religion through charitable giving, create a climate of fear and
distrust in law enforcement and undermine America's diplomatic
efforts in Muslim countries,” the report said.
Since December 2001, the ACLU reports that the government has seized
the assets of three Muslim charities, closed seven others and
conducted raids of more. The stated purpose was to cut off the money
that supposedly was heading from Muslim charities to groups that
support or carry out terrorism. "Without notice and through the use
of secret evidence and opaque procedures, the Treasury Department
has effectively closed down seven U.S.-based Muslim charities,
including several of the nation's largest Muslim charities," said
Jennifer Turner, a researcher with the ACLU Human Rights Program and
author of the report. "While terrorism financing laws are meant to
make us safer, policies that give the appearance of a war on Islam
only serve to undermine America's diplomatic efforts just as
President Obama reaches out to the Muslim world. These
counter-productive practices alienate American Muslims who are key
allies and chill legitimate humanitarian aid in parts of the world
where charities' good works could be most effective in winning
hearts and minds," Turner added.
In May 2009, after a series of legal twists, secret evidence and
questionable witness of Israeli intelligence agents, five former
officials of the Holy Land Foundation, once a leading American
Muslim charitable organization, were sentenced upto 65 years
imprisonment on charges related to humanitarian aid given to
Palestinians living under Israeli occupation. The defendants said
they were engaged in legitimate relief work, while the government
claimed that work benefited terrorists. During the trial, defense
attorneys accused the government of bending to Israeli pressure to
prosecute the charity, and of relying on old evidence. The five were
never accused of supporting violence and were convicted for funding
charities that aided needy Palestinians.
To borrow the OBM Watch, the Holy Land Foundation trial sends a
chilling message to the US charities. It is virtually impossible for
charities to determine what foreign organizations they can legally
partner with. At the trial, Robert McBrien from Treasury's Office of
Foreign Assets Control testified that it can be illegal to deal with
groups that have not been designated as supporters of terrorism and
placed on government watch lists. He said that keeping up with front
groups "is a task beyond the wise use of resources." As a result,
charities now have to guess about whether or not any local charity
or community leader may be considered a supporter of terrorism, said
the OBM.
“Ramadan, Giving Wisely and With No Fear” is the title of an article
about zakat which reflects the dilemma of Muslims to fulfill their
religious obligation of zakat which is usually given during the
month of Ramadan. Government crackdown of Muslim charities has
caused tremendous fear and anxiety among Muslims, with many still
fearful that a simple act of charity could lead to federal agents
knocking at their door. Unfortunately Obama’s pledge to work with
American Muslims to resolve the problem has so far helped little to
assure the Muslims. In July, Muslim organizations joined other
nonprofit organizations in signing a letter urging President Obama
to follow up on his Cairo commitment to revise charitable giving
rules.
On August 26, the Treasury Department issued a statement about
charity giving in Ramadan. “As Ramadan begins, the U.S. Department
of the Treasury recognizes the particular importance of charitable
giving throughout the holy month of Ramadan for Muslims in America
and around the world. Charitable giving is a fundamental
characteristic of many faiths, and zakat, one of the five pillars of
Islam, is a sacred obligation for Muslims.” However, the Treasury
Department has failed to provide a safe list of charity
organizations so that Muslims can donate without fear.
In short, eight years after 9/11, Muslims in America remained at the
receiving end with assault on their civil rights and their faith.
Muslims are the prime targets of the post 9/11 reconfiguration of
American laws, policies, and priorities which have not been changed
under the Obama administration. Defending civil rights remains the
single most important challenge before the seven million-strong
American Muslim community.
It will not be a harsh judgment to say that eight years after 9/11,
American Muslims remain under siege. Despite healing words from
President Obama about bridging the divide between the Muslim world
and the West, America's Muslim community is subject to pervasive and
persistent attacks by the federal government, many spearheaded by
the Joint Terrorism Task Forces. As President Barack Obama made his
public appearance with Turkish President Abdullah Gul on April 6,
2009 as part of his first trip to a Muslim country, U.S. federal
agents were preparing to arrest Youssef Megahed, a student from
Egypt, in Tampa, Fla. Just three days earlier, a jury in a U.S.
federal district court had acquitted him of charges of illegally
transporting explosives and possession of an explosive device.
Megahed was being held by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement
for a deportation proceeding. The charges were the same ones from
which he was completely acquitted. Surprisingly, in August he was
released when an immigration judge refused to deport him, ruling the
Department of Homeland Security had failed to prove terrorism
charges.
Many people believed that after Bush had left the White House,
rampant arrogance combined with stunning hypocrisy had also gone.
Events have so far proved otherwise. Although Obama is able to give
a more compassionate and intelligent speech than was possible with
Bush, the essence of their policies is identical. To borrow Ted Rall:
“Obama doesn’t talk like Bush; he just acts like him?”
Abdus
Sattar Ghazali is the Executive Editor of the online magazine
American
Muslim Perspective:
www.amperspective.com
Email:
asghazali@gmail.com
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