GILMER MAN SAYS HE WAS ATTACKED BECAUSE HE'S MUSLIM - TOP
Wilton Johnson, CBS19, 6/12/09

A Gilmer man says he was beaten by two men who also threatened his life because he is a Muslim. He calls it a hate crime.

This is the first time since Saturday that James Berry has been at home. Friday night he says two drunk former co-workers beat him just inside his front door.

"When I turned this way the other one grabbed me by the neck and took me to the ground," Berry recounted Thursday.

Berry says that's when he felt a gun put to his head.

"I said the words (HIM-DAH-LAH), which means praise God, praise be to Allah, because I thought I was going. The one with the gun said,'Yeah you pray to Allah you Muslim , you Muslim piece of . Pray to Allah," Berry said.

The Upshur County Sheriff's Department couldn't comment on the ongoing investigation, but Chief Deputy Bobby Sanders did say it was being handled as an assault case. The Council on American Islamic Relations says this is a hate crime.

"This isn't just a simple assault case. This is a case where religious slurs and a bias nature were evident during the assault," said Council spokesman Ibrahim Hooper from Washington, D.C.

Berry says he doesn't believe Upshur County is taking this seriously so he contacted the FBI, who in turn, have opened their own investigation into the matter. Hopper hopes federal involvement will show the real injustice.

"Once it's investigated as a possible hate crime, we'll see what potential charges could be brought above and beyond the normal charges brought in any assault case and if there's a civil rights violation here that could lead to federal charges," said Hooper. (More)

SEE ALSO:

GASOLINE FOUND AT MOSQUE SITE IN ARLINGTON SPURS FEARS - TOP
Jim Douglas, WFAA-TV, 6/11/09

ARLINGTON - Vandalism at construction sites is fairly common; but when a crescent moon sits atop the site, any incident can be viewed through the prism of fear.

Mouffa Nahhas is president of the mosque being built at Cooper Street and the Road to Six Flags in north Arlington.

He was called to the mosque Saturday morning.

"The fumes were very strong," he said of the smell of gasoline when he got to the site.

Nahhas said Friday night, someone cut through the fence, draped the inside of the mosque with drywall tape and left an open can of gasoline under the dome. Construction workers found the scene the next morning.

Nahhas said he can’t think of any reason for someone to bring gasoline into the mosque “except to burn it.” But, there was no fire.

Nahhas called police.

Muslims in Arlington were already on edge because of a recent posting to a newspaper blog about the threat of radical Islam and sleeper cells in America.

The writer mentioned revenge and Friday prayers.

"It's going to get bloody this time around Islamo-folks," the post read. (More)

---

CA: SOUTHWEST MOSQUE VANDALIZED; NOT CONSIDERED HATE CRIME - TOP
KERO23, 6/10/09

BAKERSFIELD -- Three boys were arrested Wednesday for allegedly trespassing onto a mosque and desecrating several religious artifacts.

But the investigation indicates the act was not a hate crime, police said Wednesday night.

The boys did not know they were vandalizing a place of worship, according to Lt. Bill Bailey of the BPD.

The vandals, described by police as three 14-year-old white males, hopped a fence, walked into an open door, and ransacked an office before throwing paint onto a wall and destroying a holy book and scattering leafings across the floor, according to Fakhruddin Shakir of the Anjuman-e-Hakimi Bakersfield Masjid. Someone at the mosque spotted them and called police. (More)

-----

CAIR-MI: RALLY CALLS FOR END TO TORTURE - TOP
Brittany Smith, Lansing State Journal, 6/11/09

Religious, legal and political leaders rallied Thursday morning at the Capitol in an effort to end U.S.-sponsored torture.

About 20 attendees looked on as four speakers took turns expressing their opposition to torture and urged that President Barack Obama create a Commission of Inquiry that would conduct thorough investigations into acts of torture against U.S. detainees…

The event is part the Campaign to Ban Torture, a nationwide push by the National Religious Campaign Against Torture to stop torture that has occurred post-9/11.

Michigan residents, in particular, are even more affected by this issue, according to Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, who is a Muslim and served in the Navy for four years.

"There's a large population of Muslims and they still have family in that part of the world so this issue directly affects us," he said. (More)

-----

MOURNERS OF MANY FAITHS GATHER TO REMEMBER VICTIM - TOP
Nikita Stewart, Washington Post, 6/11/09

About 200 mourners gathered at an entrance of the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum this afternoon for a vigil quickly assembled by the Interfaith Conference of Metropolitan Washington to remember Stephen T. Johns, the security guard who was fatally shot yesterday, and to condemn the actions of the gunman who took his life.

James W. von Brunn, 88, an avowed white supremacist has been arrested and charged with murdering Johns.

Several faiths were represented to emphasize that hatred against one group is hatred against all, said Rev. Clark Lobenstine, executive director of the conference.

From Hindu to Hebrew, the prayers came in all forms.

"We will stand together and not be pulled apart by the actions of hate and violence like this one," he said just before religious leaders behind him began singing, "We Shall Overcome."

Organizers also announced a fund established for Johns's survivors through the American Jewish Committee. Those wishing to donate should call the committee at (202) 785-5475. "This spontaneous outpouring means a lot to us, means a lot to the family," Bill Parsons, the museum director, told the crowd of people…

Asma Hanif drove from Baltimore to attend the vigil, her bright purple hijab and dress standing out in the crowd in which several men wore yarmulkes. "When we think about someone being Muslim or Christian or Jewish, wrong is wrong," said Hanif, executive director and founder of Muslimat Al-Nisaa, a shelter for Muslim women.

"Someone who will demonstrate hate like this will do it in any community," she said. "Whether it was the Holocaust or slavery, the only reason it prevailed is because it was tolerated. We have the right and the authority to end it." (More)

-----

MUSLIM CHARITIES, MOSQUES GET LESSONS ON FUNDRAISING - TOP
Goal is to reassure U.S. officials that money will never end up in terrorists' hands
Noreen S. Ahmed-Ullah, Chicago Tribune, 6/12/09

In an auditorium at Elmhurst College, more than 100 leaders of area mosques and Muslim non-profits looked to an unusual mix of sources for help with one of their primary dilemmas since Sept. 11 -- how to fulfill the Islamic obligation to do charitable works, especially abroad, without drawing the attention of the FBI.

The Internal Revenue Service, the MacArthur Foundation and a group of lawyers called Muslim Advocates were on hand late last month to instruct the Chicago-area leaders in proper ways to report the collection of foreign funds, keep bookkeeping transparent and otherwise reassure U.S. officials that the money they raise never will end up in the hands of terrorists.

It was part of an effort among some Muslim groups to avoid the missteps of the past and do some housecleaning after a period in which a series of federal crackdowns led to a chill in charitable giving.

The initiative has been inspired by a new generation of leaders and by what many Muslims perceive as a new climate under President Barack Obama, who mentioned the issue of charity, or zakat, during his landmark speech to the Islamic world from Egypt last week.

The Better Business Bureau is also involved. A number of Muslim organizations are signing up for a tough vetting of their financial records by the BBB's charity watchdog arm.

So far, eight Muslim organizations have started the process. They include a mosque in Waukegan and the Inner-City Muslim Action Network, or IMAN, in Chicago's Marquette Park neighborhood.

"We figured if this helps government agencies feel secure that we're in keeping with best practices, then we're game," said Rami Nashashibi, executive director of IMAN, one of the first local groups to sign up for the program despite believing it was already doing things properly. (More)

-----

NEW FREE CLINIC TO OPEN ONE AFTERNOON PER WEEK: MUSLIM FREE CLINIC - TOP
Elizabeth Shaw, Flint Journal, 6/11/09

FLINT, Michigan -- A group of Flint-area physicians will band together to open the Muslim Outreach Free Clinic later this month, offering a half-day of free health care services each week to lower income people without health insurance.

The project is the brainchild of a group of Muslim physicians who hope to help address the health care crisis in the Flint community brought on by the current economic downturn.

The free clinic will be housed in the after-hours urgent care clinic opened in February by Dr. Ahmed Arif at 1301 Flushing Road, next door to Arif's regular internal medicine and pediatrics practice.

"The urgent care clinic is only open in the evenings so this facility was available during the day and it's located close to the population that most needs these services," said Arif. "Our main goal is to serve people who don't qualify for any kind of health insurance and don't have enough income to afford anything on their own."

The clinic's first date is June 24. About 12-15 family care physicians will rotate at the half-day clinic every Wednesday afternoon from 1-4:30 p.m., providing free care to anyone who meets the qualification guidelines.

"They will be doing this when most physicians take off a half-day of work," said Arif. "We've also contacted diagnostic facilities and labs who'll provide us with free services. A lot of people have been very generous and forthcoming to help us provide all aspects of care for longterm and chronic illnesses."

Patients who need diagnostic tests such as MRIs and cardiac stress tests will be referred to those facilities for services, which will also be provided free of charge to the clinic's patients. (More)

-----

CAIR-HOUSTON: OBSERVANT MUSLIMS FIND MORE OPTIONS FOR DINING OUT - TOP
Purva Patel, Houston Chronicle, 6/11/09

Aleena Charania can choose from traditional shwarmas and kebabs when she visits Busy Boy Sandwiches, a 4-year-old cafe on Hillcroft.

But Charania, an observant Houston Muslim who eats only halal, the Islamic version of kosher, usually opts for the hamburger or Philly cheesesteak.

“Definitely, when there’s an option, I prefer that,” said Charania, adding she can get Pakistani meals at home.

In recent years, Charania’s options have multiplied as traditionally South Asian and Middle Eastern restaurants in the Houston area have added halal Western fare to their menus, and others have opened mainstream eateries with meat that’s zabiha, or from animals slaughtered according to Islamic rites, and thus halal…

Restaurant owners say they’re catering to observant Muslims who don’t always want traditional ethnic dishes when they dine out. They’re also tapping a growing market of second-generation Muslims like Charania, to whom tacos, buffalo wings and pizza are just as popular as curry and biryani…

It’s unclear how many Muslims live in the Houston area, but Kaleem Siddiqui, a spokesman for the Houston chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, puts the number of mosques at more than 100…

“These restaurants provide us the opportunity to take advantage of the culture we’re living in without violating our religious dietary guidelines,” Siddiqui said. (More)

SEE ALSO:

AZ: CLUBS ANSWER CALL FOR WOMEN-ONLY WORKOUTS - TOP
Mary Beth Faller, Arizona Republic, 6/11/09

Over the past four years that she has owned the Club for Women in north Phoenix, JoAnn Mullooly has noticed an increasing number of Muslim and Orthodox Jewish clients who want to work out among women exclusively in order to preserve modesty.

"I've definitely seen an increase," she says, attributing it to word of mouth in the community. "And we try to be conscious of it."

She estimates that 10 percent of the 1,700 members are Muslim and 10 percent are Orthodox Jewish. Some work out fully veiled, and some change into modest workout clothes. (More)

-----

CAIR-NY HOSTS THEATER EVENT ON POST-9/11 MUSLIM EXPERIENCE - TOP
Thursday, June 11, 2009

7 p.m.

The New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations will host an evening of interactive theatre and facilitated dialogue on being American-Muslim post-9/11; The Interchurch Center, Ground Floor Lounge, 475 Riverside Drive, between 120th St. and Claremont Ave.

Contact: Faiza N. Ali, 212-870-2002 or 718-724-3041.