VERSE OF THE DAY: GLAD TIDINGS TO THOSE WHO DO RIGHT - TOP

"Before this (Quran) was the scripture of Moses, a guide and a (sign of God’s) mercy. And this book confirms (the previous revelation) in the Arabic tongue, to admonish the unjust and as glad tidings to those who do right."

The Noble Quran, 46:12

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CAIR GOOD NEWS ALERT #630: - TOP

Oregon College Cancels Class with Anti-Islam Instructor

(WASHINGTON, DC, 12/6/10) -- CAIR today applauded the decision by an Oregon college to cancel a course on Islam that would have been taught by an individual who has a history of making biased, false and misleading statements about Islam and is associated with a national anti-Muslim hate group.

CAIR Video: Oregon College Cancels Islam Class with Hate Group Leader

Lane Community College in Eugene, Ore., canceled the course, called "What is Islam," after CAIR outlined the biased views and associations of its instructor, Barry Sommer, and called for his replacement. Sommer is president of an Oregon chapter of the hate group ACT! for America.

"There should be no room for hate or fear-mongering in our society, particularly in an institution of higher learning," said CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad.

Awad noted that Sommer recently praised a proposed constitutional amendment that would "ban Islam in the US." In the post, Sommer thanked the author of the proposed amendment, which would "outlaw the practice of Islam in the United States of America," for his "defense of liberty and freedom."

The preface to Sommer's online book, "From the Mouths of Our Enemies," states: "Our enemies want us destroyed not because of our riches, or our liberties, although they say that is so. No, they want us gone because Allah told them so. Foundational Islam demands that ALL citizens of planet earth convert to Islam, pay a tax (jizya) or die. It is now demanded of us that we make a stand, draw the line and decide who wins this clash once and for all. If it means war, so be it."

In a July 16, 2010 letter to Eugene's Register-Guard newspaper, Sommer wrote: "Until Islam changes its 1,400 years of subjugation and conquest by the sword, the atrocities will continue to escalate."

ACT! for America national leader Brigitte Gabriel claims an American Muslim "cannot be a loyal citizen" and that Islam is the "real enemy." She once told the Australian Jewish News: "Every practicing Muslim is a radical Muslim." She also claimed that "Islamo-fascism is a politically-correct word ... it's the vehicle for Islam ... Islam is the problem."

When asked whether Americans should "resist Muslims who want to seek political office in this nation," Gabriel said: "Absolutely. If a Muslim who has -- who is -- a practicing Muslim who believes the word of the Koran to be the word of Allah, who abides by Islam, who goes to mosque and prays every Friday, who prays five times a day -- this practicing Muslim, who believes in the teachings of the Koran, cannot be a loyal citizen to the United States of America."

Gabriel stated: "America and the West are doomed to failure in this war unless they stand up and identify the real enemy: Islam."

SEE: Islam's March Against the West

Along with her stated desire to have Muslims barred from public office, Gabriel has also claimed that Arabs "have no soul" and that Muslims worship "something they call 'Allah,' which is very different from the God we believe [in]."

SEE: A Case Study in Sincere Hypocrisy: Brigitte Gabriel
Video: Brigitte Gabriel Says Arabs Have No Souls

Earlier this year, a person staffing an ACT! for America information table in Florida wascaught on video bragging that he desecrated the Quran, Islam's revealed text, and urinates in the washing stations Muslims use to perform their ritual ablutions (wudu) for prayer.

That person states: "Their foot baths, I love pissing in them ... The Quran makes worthless toilet paper. It just kind of scratches my a** a little bit ... To me, I like desecrating their [Muslims'] holy stuff."

CAIR is America's largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. 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.

IMMEDIATE ACTION REQUESTED:

1. Thank the college for cancelling the class.

CONTACT:

Mary Spilde
President
Lane Community College
4000 East 30th Ave
Eugene, OR 97405

Via Fax: 541-463-5201
Via E-Mail: presidentsoffice@lanecc.edu

2. Donate to CAIR to support this important work.

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PARENTS: MEDIA OUTLET SEEKS CASES OF ONLINE BULLYING - TOP

A major media outlet is seeking cases of Muslim youth being bullied about their religion in which actual transcripts (Facebook, email, text messaging, etc.) are available showing the hurtful comments. If you have such a transcript and are willing to share it for this piece (steps can be taken to preserve privacy), please email info@cair.com with "Bullying transcript" in the subject line.

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MOSQUE SHUNS FBI INFORMANT - TOP
Aljazeera English, 12/6/10

Muslims took out restraining order against an FBI agent sent to spy on them. The agent is suing his former handlers.

An FBI informant who attempted to infiltrate an Islamic community centre in the quiet Californian town of Irvine scared Muslim worshippers so much with his talk of violent jihad that they took out order against him, the Washington Post reported.

The FBI claims its use of such informants has prevented more attacks since the attacks of September 11, 2001.

Yet its officials have said that they do not target Muslims - an argument that has long been taken with a dose of scepticism by some commentators. (More)

SEE ALSO:

CAIR: MOSQUE INFILTRATION FEEDS MUSLIMS' DISTRUST OF FBI - TOP
Jerry Markon, Washington Post, 12/5/10

... [CAIR's] Ayloush reported the FBI's own informant to the FBI. He said agents interviewed Niazi, who gave them the same account, but the agency took no action against Monteilh. (More)

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FBI INFORMANT SCARES MUSLIM SUSPECTS SO MUCH WITH HIS TALK OF VIOLENT JIHAD THAT THEY REPORT HIM TO AUTHORITIES - TOP
Daily Mail, 12/6/10

An FBI informer sent to infiltrate a California mosque was made the subject of a restraining order after scaring Muslim worshippers with demands for holy war. (More)

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SHARIAH AT THE KUMBACK CAFÉ - TOP
ROGER COHEN, New York times, 12/6/10

PERRY, OKLAHOMA -- They call Oklahoma the buckle of the Bible Belt. It's the state where all 77 counties voted Republican when Barack Obama was elected and where 70.8 percent of the electorate last month approved a "Save Our State Amendment" banning Islamic, or Shariah, law.

So I decided to check the pulse of a resurgent conservative America at the Kumback Café. The Kumback, established 1926, is a cozy, memorabilia-filled joint that sits opposite the courthouse in downtown Perry, population 5,230.

Things work like this at the Kumback: The guys, average age about 80, arrive around 8 a.m. and get talking on "the whole gamut of life"; the girls, average age too indelicate to print, gather later at a horse-shoe shaped table toward the back. Ken Sherman, 86 and spry, explained: "We've got to come here every day to find out what's going on. And by the time we leave we forget."

I asked Paul Morrow, a whippersnapper at 71, how things were going. "There's just too much Muslim influence, all this Shariah law," he said. "We're conservative here, old and cantankerous."

You might not expect Shariah, a broad term encompassing Islamic religious precepts, to be a priority topic at the Kumback given that there's not a Muslim in Perry and perhaps 30,000, or less than one percent of the population, in all Oklahoma. And you'd be wrong.

Shariah is the new hot-button wedge issue, as radicalizing as abortion or gay marriage, seized on by Republicans to mobilize conservative Americans against the supposed "stealth jihad" of Muslims in the United States and against a Democratic president portrayed as oblivious to -- or complicit with -- the threat. Not since 9/11 has Islamophobia been at such a pitch in the United States. (More)

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ACCOMMODATING MUSLIM EMPLOYEES - TOP
Kramer Levin Naftalis & Frankel LLP
Kevin B. Leblang and Robert N. Holtzman USA
Lexology, 12/1/10

"Towel head," "Osama," and "Taliban," are just a few of the names that Muslim employees have been called in the workplace since September 11, 2001. These employees have also reported that employers have refused to accommodate their religious obligations. Antipathy toward Muslims has only increased since September 11, culminating in "Islamophobia" recently espoused during debates regarding the building of mosques or Islamic cultural centers, an attack on a Muslim New York City cab driver, and threats from a Florida pastor to burn the Koran. (More)

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