OKLA. MUSLIM ALLOWED TO TAKE DRIVER’S PHOTO WITH HIJAB - TOP(OKLAHOMA CITY, OK ­ 2/20/09) - The Oklahoma chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-OK) today thanked that state’s Department of Public Safety (DPS) for allowing a Muslim driver to take her driver’s license photograph while wearing a religiously-mandated head scarf, or hijab. CAIR-OK said the Muslim driver attempted to renew her driver's license in September of last year, but was initially told her she was required to pull her hijab back past her hairline. Following intervention by CAIR-OK, the director of the DPS Driver License Examining Division offered to take the photograph with hijab and to institute diversity training for staff.SEE: Metro Woman Said Religious Beliefs Compromised (Video)SEE ALSO: Muslim Woman Takes Driver's Photo with Head Scarf (Video)The Muslim driver received an apology and DPS clarified its policy on religious accommodations. That policy states that head covering is permitted if it does not “obstruct a full front view of the face from hairline to chin.”“We appreciate the support of the DPS in resolving this matter and upholding the constitutional right to freedom of religious practice,” said CAIR-OK Executive Director Razi Hashmi. “CAIR will continue to work with DPS on training to prevent similar situations.” Hashmi said that according to a 2004 CAIR review, most states, with the exception of Georgia, Kentucky and New Hampshire, have addressed religious accommodation concerns. Five states - Arkansas, Mississippi, Kansas, Missouri, and Maine - recognize some religious practices, while the other 42 states have adopted more inclusive approaches to religious accommodation policies.SEE: Religious Accommodation in Driver’s License PhotographsCAIR, America's largest Muslim civil liberties group, has 35 offices and chapters nationwide and in Canada. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.CONTACT: CAIR-OK Executive Director Razi Hashmi, 405-248-5853, E-Mail: rhashmi@cair.com; CAIR-OK Chairperson Lobna Hewedi, E-Mail: lhewedi@cair.com; CAIR-OK Operations Coordinator Tariq Ahmad, E-Mail: tahmad@cair.com-----CAIR-WASHINGTON APPOINTS NEW EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR - TOP(SEATTLE, WA, 2/20/09) ­ The Washington state chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-WA) announced that Arsalan Bukhari has been appointed as its new Executive Director.
Bukhari grew up in Seattle, graduated from Ingraham High School in 1998 and then attended Seattle University where he received a bachelor's degree in Business Finance. In 2006, Bukhari joined CAIR-Washington (then known as CAIR-Seattle) as a volunteer and became the chapter's Board President approximately one year later.
"It is a profound honor to be appointed Director of an organization that has advocated for the civil rights of American Muslims for 15 years," said Bukhari.Bukhari said his top priorities are to:
Address the 50 civil rights cases our chapter received last year and the 5 cases it has received so far in 2009
Facilitate working relationships between local Muslim communities and their elected officials, law enforcement, interfaith networks, and media outlets
Address the increasing penetration of Islamophobic rhetoric into mainstream discourse
Train Muslim youth in professional activism and positive self-expression through our Symposia and internship programs.
CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 35 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 Washington Executive Director Arsalan Bukhari, Office Phone: 206.367.4081, Cell Phone: 206.931.3655, E-Mail: abukhari@cair.com-----CAIR-MI REP

SPEAKS TO MED. STUDENTS ABOUT AFRICAN-AMERICAN MUSLIM HISTORY - TOP(SOUTHFIELD, MI, 2/20/09) A representative of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) yesterday spoke at Wayne State University in Detroit, Mich., about the historical evolution of African-American Muslims.
CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid addressed medical students regarding the early history of African-American Muslims beginning at the formation of the British colonies to the historical significance of Detroit for African-American Muslims. Click here to listen to audio.CAIR, America's largest Islamic civil liberties group, has 35 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, Tel: 248-559-2247, E-Mail: dwalid@cair.com-----RESTRAINING ORDER AGAINST IGNORANCE - TOPKari Ansari, Chicago Tribune, 2/20/09
Aasiya Zubair Hassan is dead of decapitation.
When we in the Muslim community received this news we prayed for her soul and held our collective breath, waiting for the negative associations to surface in media reports. Sure enough, the term "honor killing" has risen like green scum on a stagnant pond, giving every Muslim-bashing blog and ultraconservative media outlet a proverbial field day.
What could be more ironic? A Muslim TV executive charged with decapitating his Muslim wife. Aasiya and her estranged husband, Muzzammil Hassan, founded an upstate New York cable TV channel called Bridges Television whose mission was to promote a better understanding of Islam and Muslims.
Now I'm even reading comments from people who worked with her on a professional level using the term honor killing to describe her death. Women's groups who know nothing about the situation are throwing the term around as if they know what it implies and what it entails, associating it with the murder of Aasiya.
First, let's get one fact straight. Islamic law does not allow a man to kill his wife, for any reason. There is nothing in the teachings of the faith that says a man should protect the honor of his stature in the community by committing violence against a woman.
While the problem of honor killings does still certainly exist in the Muslim and Hindu worlds, and in other patriarchal societies, we are addressing this problem on a worldwide basis, working to eradicate this cultural practice. However it must be said that in the case of Islam, these brutal acts occur in spite of the faith, not because of it.
When Nicole Simpson was savagely murdered, her throat was stabbed numerous times almost to the point of decapitation; did we call this an honor killing? Did anyone say the alleged killer, O.J. Simpson, did it because he was black, or a Christian? No. There was a long, documented history of domestic violence perpetrated on Nicole by O.J. This murder of Aasiya is no different.
Violence against women has no educational, racial, socioeconomic or religious bounds. Aasiya's story should give us the impetus to do more to protect all women from domestic violence. We as a society should not sully the memory of Aasiya Zubair Hassan's mission to build bridges of understanding between people by painting her faith with a broad black brush of mistrust and intolerance.
[Kari Ansari is the editor of America's Muslim Family Magazine based in Villa Park.]
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SANTORUM IGNORANTLY REFERS TO LANGUAGE OF QUR’AN AS ‘ISLAMIC’ - TOPFaiz Shakir, Think Progress, 2/18/09
Yesterday, former Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA) delivered “a lecture on Islam” at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Santorum argued that the American public knows too little about the Islamic faith, and to prove his point, he asked the students whether they knew the difference between Sunnis and Shias. Only three audience members raised their hands. He continued:
Santorum said he believes Muslims’ religious views cannot be changed or altered, so Middle Easterners reject American, democratic ideals.
“A democracy could not exist because Mohammed already made the perfect law,” Santorum said. “The Quran is perfect just the way it is, that’s why it is only written in Islamic.”
As a self-anointed scholar of Islam, it’s surprising that Santorum would assert that the Qur’an is “written in Islamic.” It is, of course, originally written in Arabic. (MORE)