CAIR-CHICAGO MEETS WITH SCHOOL ABOUT ANTI-MUSLIM WORKSHEETS - TOP

CAIR-Chicago Staff Attorney Rabya Khan met with officials at a Chicago-area high school on Monday, August 15th, regarding a complaint CAIR-Chicago received by a parent alleging that the high school's social studies class is distributing misleading worksheets on Islam. The worksheets in question, produced by MindSparks, a California based educational resource company, teaches students that the religion of Islam is oppressive towards women, inherently violent, and played an important role in harboring slavery.

One of the readings contains verses from the Quran which are quoted out-of-context wrongly giving the impression that women are considered inferior to men. A corresponding worksheet then asks: "The Qur'an stresses the equality of all believers. Yet many say its views about men and women definitely give men more power. How does the top passage here from the Qu'ran support this view?" The reading is accompanied by a photo of two women in burqas, the full-body covering worn by only a minority of Muslim women worldwide. The inauthentic translation, imagery, and presentation of information lead students to a biased conclusion about the status of men and women in Islam. (More)

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VIDEO: MINN. CITY GETS 'VILE' HATE MAIL OVER PLANNED ISLAMIC CENTER - TOP

Watch the video here.

Plymouth City Council member, Bob Stein, told 5 EYEWITNESS NEWS that he is disappointed to receive vile, religiously hostile emails from people opposed to the Islamic Center. The Muslim group needs a permit from the city to open the community center and the Plymouth Planning Commission will make its recommendation on approval of that permit Wednesday night.

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CAIR: CIVIL RIGHTS GROUP CONTACTED ABOUT IND. MOSQUE VANDALISM - TOP
The News Dispatch, 8/16/11

MICHIGAN CITY -- The board of the Islamic Center of Michigan City has consulted with the country's largest civil rights and advocacy group for Muslims about vandalism to the center.

The center, which is on Porter County Road 500 East in Pine Township, was damaged Thursday, likely between 5 and 7 p.m.

Muslims now are in the middle of Ramadan, a holy time when Muslims fast from sunrise to sunset.

It was while members of the local center were gathering to break the fast together on Thursday that the damage was discovered, said Brahim Hakim, vice president of the center.

Hakim said the damage included broken and damaged windows. It looks as if someone used a cinder block to cause at least part of the damage, he noted.

Someone, possibly the vandal, also left a boot print on a door on the north side of the building.

Members cannot know whether the vandalism was a hate crime, Hakim said.

He complimented the work of the officers of the Porter County Sheriff's Department for their speedy response. "I think an officer was here within five minutes of the time we called," he said.

The center's board decided to contact the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Washington, D.C. because it is not always easy to determine whether vandalism is a crime of bias, Hakim said.

Indeed, Ibrahim Hooper, national communications director for CAIR, said, "Bigots don't always scrawl hate messages" at the sites of vandalism or other crimes.

Hooper said CAIR would contact the FBI, "at least to make them aware of the situation" at the Michigan City center.

"And we will contact the Porter County Sheriff to seek an investigation of a possible bias motive for the vandalism." (More)

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CAIN UNSUCCESSFULLY RESPINS MOSQUE BAN - TOP
PolitiFact.com, 8/11/11

Just when we thought metro Atlanta's Herman Cain had moved past the controversy over his opinions on Islam, he tumbled right back into the fray.

The GOP candidate and former CEO of Godfather's Pizza generated headlines in March when he said he would not hire a Muslim for his Cabinet. Cain later denied he made that statement, a claim we rated Pants on Fire.

In July, Cain ignited another controversy after he told anchor Chris Wallace on "Fox News Sunday" that he thinks communities have the right to ban mosques.

Wallace brought up the issue when he moderated Thursday's GOP debate in Ames, Iowa.

"You said that communities have the right to ban Muslims from building mosques, before you later apologized. ... How do you reassure people that you know enough to be president of the United States, sir?" Wallace asked.

After some back and forth, Cain replied with this:

"The first point that you raised, about saying that communities have a right to ban mosques, no, that's not exactly what I said. ..."

That's "not exactly" what Cain said? Then what did he say? (More)

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GEORGIA MOSQUE WINS APPROVAL - TOP
Mike Esterl, Wall Street Journal, 8/17/11

LILBURN, Ga.--A controversial mosque project that has divided this Atlanta suburb for two years got the green light Tuesday as elected officials dropped their opposition amid a federal probe.

Lilburn's city council voted 3-1 in favor of allowing the 20,000-square-foot Muslim worship center to be built by Dar-e-Abbas, a local Shiite group. (More)

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MOTHER FATALLY SHOT, FATHER WOUNDED IN APPARENT TARGETED SHOOTING ON BOONTON STREET - TOP
Richard Khavkine, The Star-Ledger, 8/17/11

[CONTACT: CAIR-NJ Executive Director James Yee, 908-938-5990; E-Mail: jyee@cair.com; CAIR-NY Civil Rights Manager Cyrus McGoldrick, 203-206-6883, E-Mail: cmcgoldrick@cair.com]

BOONTON -- A mother walking with her 3-year-old son in Boonton late Tuesday night was shot and killed and her husband injured in what prosecutors are saying appears to be a targeted shooting. The family was taking a stroll after Ramadan's traditional evening meal, authorities said this morning.

Neighbors said five shots rang out on quiet Cedar Street in the Morris County town about 11:30 p.m., killing Nazish Noorani, 27, police and relatives said. The child, who was in his stroller, was not hurt, but her husband, Kashif Pervaiz, was taken to a local hospital with gunshot wounds, they said.

"This investigation is ongoing and the release of information at this stage would compromise the progress of same," said Morris County Prosecutor Robert Bianchi. "From what we have already determined, however, it should be noted that this shooting clearly appears to be target specific and that there is not a continuing danger to the general public at large."

Bianchi wouldn't say which family member or both appeared to be the target.

Town police Chief Michael Beltran would not comment on reports from local television and radio stations that three people were involved in the shooting.

Asked if the couple could have been targeted because they are Pakistani-American, Beltran said, "We've had Muslims in the community for over 50 years and very few problems with hate crimes." (More)

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CAIR: WHOLE FOODS TANGLED IN ANTI-ISLAM FLAP OVER RAMADAN PROMOTION -TOP
Jillian Rayfield, Talking Points Memo, 8/16/11

Whole Foods scrambled last week to deal with a flap over a Ramadan Halal foods promotion, in the wake of criticism by anti-Islam bloggers and subsequent accusations that the supermarket chain caved by backing away from the campaign.

Here's what happened:

In a July 27th post on the official Whole Foods blog, a writer for the blog My Halal Kitchen talked up the store's selection of products from Saffron Road, a company that makes Halal frozen food products, and encouraged readers to check them out when preparing for Ramadan. There was no plan to market the partnership between Saffron Road and Whole Foods in stores, according to Fast Company reporter Neal Ungerleider, who initially wrote about the promotion.

But never ones to overlook Sharia creep into the food supply, a few right-wing bloggers picked up the story and blasted Whole Foods for promoting Islam. ...

The Council on American-Islamic Relations came to Whole Foods' defense as well. "Whole Foods should be commended for reaching out to Muslim Americans consumers though its Ramadan promotion by being inclusive of various ethnic and religious traditons in America," said Munira Syeda, spokeswoman for CAIR's chapter in Greater Los Angeles. (More)

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SHARIAH PANIC STILL HAS A HOME AT FOX - TOP
Hardeep Dhillon, Media Matters, 8/16/11

The fear of Shariah law creeping into the U.S. legal system is a myth, and The New York Times has reported that the originator of anti-Shariah movement is attorney David Yerushalmi, who has been described by the Anti-Defamation League as having a record of "anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant and anti-black rhetoric."

But don't tell Eric Bolling that. Yesterday, Bolling used his Fox Business Network show to push the creeping Shariah myth.

Bolling also worried about whether Sohail Muhammad, a Muslim judge appointed to the bench by New Jersey's Republican Governor Chris Christie, will have "a completely objective view on American case law." Bolling promised his audience: "We'll keep our eye on" the judge.

During the segment, Bolling also claimed that "[w]hile folks worry about the mosque-ing of America, there's also a fear of creeping Shariah, the slow but steady influence of Shariah Muslim law into America." One of Bolling's guests was Dr. Zuhdi Jasser, a star witness at the first of Rep. Peter King's (R-NY) anti-Muslim congressional hearings. Unsurprisingly, Jasser did little to alleviate Bolling's fear that Shariah is coming.

Another of Bolling's guests, Bo Dietl, who can always be counted on to make disparaging remarks about Muslims, did not disappoint. He said that, unlike in "Muslimland," in America, "a judge will convict you for assault if you assault the woman, if you assault your wife, even under your aba daba law there." (More)

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VIDEO: TENN. SHERIFF REVISES POLICY ON RELIGIOUS WEAR - TOP
Adam Ghassemi, News Channel 5, 8/16/11

Watch the video here.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. – Intake inside the Davidson County Jail has a specific process. Fingerprinting, standing in position and then there's the mug shot.

But during the same routine for a minor traffic charge in March a Muslim woman was forced to remove her "hijab", or head scarf.

"She spent many hours negotiating with the Sheriff's Office trying to ensure that didn't happen, but ultimately was forced to remove her hijab," Tricia Herzfeld of the ACLU of Tennessee.

In April, a man entering the courthouse was forced to remove his "kufi," a religious hat.

Now, just a few months later the Sheriff's Office has made changes.

"We understand it's a serious issue, and we were certainly willing to do what we needed to do to make sure that people's religious practices are protected," said spokeswoman Karla Weikal.

Under the new policy people with religious head wear at security checkpoints or taking booking photos will be allowed to keep their garment on as long as they aren't concealing anything inside it. (More)

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NJ: GREEN MUSLIMS PROMOTE ENVIRONMENTALLY FRIENDLY RAMADAN - TOP
Deanna McLafferty, The Sentinel, 8/18/11

SOUTH BRUNSWICK -- The Green Muslims of New Jersey (GMNJ) held their kickoff event July 24 to promote an environmentally conscious Ramadan this year.

The Green Ramadan Initiative (GRI) was held at the Islamic Society of Central Jersey and focused on teaching concerned Muslims the importance of "going green."

Ramadan requires 30 days of fasting from dawn to dusk, and during that period, Muslims make frequent trips to their Islamic center to worship and break fast in the evening. Local mosques provide attendees with food and water.

"It's a lot of hustle, and people come in hundreds to the mosque," Faraz Khan, Green Muslims member, said. "You need to cater to their needs, so there is a lot of waste."

Khan, along with Saffet Catovic, Shajia Khan and South Brunswick resident Arif Patel, formed GMNJ in attempts to educate Muslims about environmental stewardship and conservation and implement changes to reduce waste production.

At the GRI kickoff event, people were asked to sign a Green Ramadan Pledge, promising to follow any of 10 action items. The items fell under the categories of water, waste, food and energy. For example, the pledge suggests reducing shower time by 20 percent, replacing plastic water bottles with a reusable water bottle, planting a garden, and making an effort to carpool. (More)

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MEDICAL ASSOCIATION OFFERS SUPPORT TO MUSLIM HEALTHCARE WORKERS - TOP
Ye Tian, Oakland North, 8/16/11

The Islamic Medical Association of North America, or IMANA, is launching its first chapter in the Bay Area. A network of Muslim physicians and other health care professionals all over the country, the Chicago-based organization promotes Islamic medical values and provides medical relief to disaster-affected areas around the world.

Its Bay Area chapter, also known as IMANA Allied Health, is the organization's newest branch in California. While IMANA is mainly made up of physicians, IMANA Allied Health is a network for non-physician health workers, including nurses, therapists and paramedics. (More)