Saturday, February 25, 2012

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VERSE OF THE DAY: ALWAYS SAY THE TRUTH - TOP

"O you who believe! Remain conscious of God and (always) say what is just and true."

The Holy Quran, 33:70

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CAIR VIDEO ALERT: ASK ELECTED OFFICIALS TO OPPOSE SOUTH DAKOTA ANTI-SHARIA BILL - TOP

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 2/22/12) -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on Muslims and other people of conscience in South Dakota and nationwide to urge elected officials in that state to reject House Bill 1253 (HB 1253), the sponsor of which admits is designed to attack Sharia, the religious principles of American Muslims.

Watch the video here or read the full alert here.

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NV: FIRE AT MUSLIM BUILDING SITE MAY PROMPT ATF PROBE - TOP
Fire at Islamic funeral home, cemetery building site may prompt ATF probe
By Jackie Valley, Las Vegas Sun, 2/22/12

A mysterious fire that erupted overnight at a construction site for a funeral home and cemetery to serve the Islamic Society of Nevada may trigger an investigation by the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco Firearms and Explosives. (More)

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NEW REVELATIONS: NYPD BUILT SECRET FILES ON NJ, LONG ISLAND MOSQUES -TOP
By Matt Apuzzo and Adam Goldman, Associated Press, 2/22/12

NEWARK, N.J. -- Americans living and working in New Jersey's largest city were subjected to surveillance as part of the New York Police Department's effort to build databases of where Muslims work, shop and pray. The operation in Newark was so secretive even the city's mayor says he was kept in the dark. (More)

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NEWARK MAYOR: NYPD MISLED CITY ON MUSLIM SPYING - TOP
Dave Porter and Samantha Henry, Associated Press, 2/22/12

Newark, N.J. - (AP) -- Newark Mayor Cory Booker and his top police official say the city was misled by the New York Police Department and never would have authorized such wholesale spying on Muslims if they had known about it. (More)

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NYPD FOUND NO TRACE OF TERRORISM WHILE SPYING ON MUSLIMS, SAYS REPORT- TOP
Joe Greene, newjerseynewsroom.com, 2/22/12

Abdul Kareem Abdullah of Newark was born in the United States. He became a Muslim years ago, and says he understands the increased scrutiny of people of his faith in this country since the 9/11 terror attacks.

What he doesn't understand, though, is why the New York City police department secretly spied on and compiled a report on him, his wife and customers at his restaurant.

"If they really wanted to understand," Abdullah told Adam Goldman of the Associated Press, "they'd come talk to us."

The NYPD's Demographics Unit conducted similar surveillance operations of other Muslims in Newark and on Long Island, filming and listening in on conversations where they worship, at stores and restaurants they frequent, and at places where they work.

When the mission was concluded, the NYPD put together a 60-page report about their operations -- which uncovered no evidence of terrorism or criminal behavior. (More)

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CAIR-CT (VIDEO): CIVIL RIGHTS GROUPS DEMAND ANSWERS OVER NYPD SPYING -TOP

Two civil rights groups want to know the extent of the New York City police department's surveillance of Muslim organizations in Connecticut.

Watch the video here.

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CAIR-CT (VIDEO): NYPD UNDER FIRE FOR MONITORING MUSLIM STUDENTS AT YALE, NORTHEAST COLLEGES - TOP

Tonight -- York's Mayor Bloomberg is defending his police department.

They've been investigating Muslims outside city limits we learned the NYPD has been monitoring Muslim students for years at more than a dozen schools what university on that list -- jail tonight. Well administrators and students there are outraged our -- for now has more. (More)

Watch the video here.

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CAIR: WHAT KIND OF PRESSURE USED ON FBI INFORMANTS? - TOP
Kevin Johnson, USA Today, 2/20/12

Civil rights advocates and some defense lawyers have complained that the tactics smack of a disproportionate focus on Muslims.

"We are getting regular calls from people across the country who are being approached by the (federal government) to act as informants," said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American Islamic Relations, which advocates for Muslim civil liberties in the USA. "And we are concerned about what kind of pressure is being used to get that cooperation." (More)

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IOWA MOSQUE SPY 'BETRAYED' BY FBI - TOP
Rekha Basu, Des Moines Register, 2/22/12

A sense of betrayal has hung over the Islamic Center of Des Moines since members learned the man they knew as Rafik Alvi was there neither to worship nor even Muslim. He was Arvinder Singh, and by his subsequent confession, was there to infiltrate them.

Singh disclosed in this column Aug. 8 that he had spied on local Muslims for the FBI, which then betrayed him. "They woke up a little bit in every mosque and they had a little chat about it," said Hamed Baig, president of the Islamic Center.

The Muslims say the FBI had no reason to infiltrate the mosque because no one there is a terrorist. The one arrest of a member that someone can recall during the period was for working without a permit.

"If there is anybody with terrorist activity, we will report them ourselves," said member Basim Bakri, a Jordanian-born U.S. citizen. "Instead they go and black label all the Muslims as terrorists." (More)

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CAIR: 'NO-FLY' MUSLIM TAKES CASE TO COURT OF PUBLIC OPINION - TOP
Kari Huus, msnbc.com, 2/22/12

PORTLAND, Ore. -- Mustafa Elogbi is by nature a private person. But when he finally arrived home after a frightening ordeal with U.S. security officials that cost him six weeks and thousands of dollars, he chose the spotlight.

Elogbi is seeking publicity and threatening legal action against the government for what he says was virtual exile by the U.S. government despite concerns about how the publicity might affect his family. ...

On Jan. 4, after visiting family and friends in Libya, Elogbi headed home from Tunis, Tunisia, to the United States, where he is a citizen and resident of 33 years. But when his flight landed at London's Heathrow Airport, he was detained and questioned by security officials who he says told him they were acting on behalf of Washington.

They told him he would not be able to board a flight to the United States, and instead locked him up in solitary confinement at a British detention center for two days, then placed him on a flight back to Tunis.

Elogbi was shaken and humiliated. His wife, Annie Petrossian, contacted a Portland lawyer immediately, but Elogbi was at first leery of confronting the government. ...

The Council for American Islamic Relations says it regularly fields calls from Americans -- mostly Muslims -- who are prevented from boarding and believe they are on the no-fly list. Less than half of those who contact the organization pursue legal action, and fewer still seek publicity, according to CAIR staff attorney Gadeir Abbas. He says this is especially true if they are within the United States, and can take a car or train home. (More)

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CAIR: CHICAGO MUSLIMS HIT BACK AT CAMPAIGN ATTACKS - TOP
David Lepeska, Chicago News Cooperative, 2/22/12

As anti-Muslim rhetoric rises at the local and national levels-some of it fueled by the presidential campaign-a group of Chicago-area Muslims is battling back, using tactics ranging from a TV ad campaign to public forums against bigotry.

Gain Peace, a Chicago-based Islamic outreach organization, spent $40,000 in December to produce two television ads intended to promote Islam as a just faith and counter negative portrayals. The spots, running through March in the Chicago area on FOX, CNN and TNT, depict friendly Muslim students and professionals and display a phone number and website for more information.

"This is an election year and in the Republican primaries and elsewhere, generally we have seen more discrimination, hate and misunderstanding about Muslims," said Sabeel Ahmed, director of Gain Peace. "We wanted to take it up a notch."

During a political engagement workshop for immigrants on the near West Side early this month, the head of a Muslim advocacy group urged attendees to fight attacks with accurate information about the Muslim faith.

"What's worse than ignorance is misinformation, and that's what I find Islamophobia normally falls under: It's a process of mis-education," said Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "But what can be done, can be undone." (More)

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VIDEO: CAIR REP SAYS QURAN BURNINGS SHOW RELIGIOUS INSENSITIVITY - TOP

CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper discusses the negative message sent by the burning of Qurans in Afghanistan on China Central Television (CCTV).

Watch the video here.

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CAIR: MUSLIMS ANGERED BY KORAN BURNINGS - TOP
Austin Wright, Politico, 2/22/12

Muslims in the United States are responding with a "collective shaking of the head" to the burning of Korans at a military base in Afghanistan, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations said Tuesday.

"You'd think after so many years there would be some lessons learned about cultural and religious sensitivity, but apparently not," Ibrahim Hooper told POLITICO. "Whenever you have forces in a region where there's growing hostility to your presence, these kinds of incidents are going to result." (More)

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CAIR (VIDEO): NATO SOLDIERS BURN RELIGIOUS DOCUMENTS - TOP
Paul Johnson, Global News, 2/21/2012

Tue, Feb 21: NATO is in damage control after soldiers were caught burning copies of the Koran in Afghanistan.

Watch the video here.

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CAIR: AFGHAN PROTESTS OVER QURAN BURNINGS (VIDEO) - TOP

Watch the video here.

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CAIR-PA: SEE IRAQ'S 'CRONKITE' - TOP

Want to hear the "Walter Cronkite of Iraq"?

Bahjat Abdulwahed will speak at an event, "Muslims in America: Building Bridges in a Climate of Fear," from 7 to 9 p.m. Friday at the Friends Center, 1501 Cherry St., in Center City.

The event will feature a screening of Hawo's Dinner Party, a 30-minute video adapted from the documentary Welcome to Shelbyville, which tells the story of a small Tennessee town as it grappled with Somali refugees.

The video will be followed by a discussion from local Muslims, including Abdulwahed. The event is co-sponsored by the American Friends Service Committee, the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the Nationalities Service Center, and the Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends.

Space is limited. RSVP by calling Lucy Duncan at 215-241-7062, or register online atmuslimsinamerica.eventbrite.com.

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MUSLIM FAMILIES TURN TO HOME-SCHOOLING - TOP
By Daniel Jackson, The Washington Times, 2/21/12

Cilia Ndiaye vividly remembers her parents' worries that she was suffering in public school because of her Muslim faith. Fellow students, she said, would mock her and tear off her hijab, the head scarf worn for modesty.

"We were called Nazis," she says.

Her parents' solution -- to home-school their daughter -- was a radical step in 1987, but one that a rising number of Muslim-Americans are embracing today, shaking off the stigma that taking their children out of the public school system would increase the community's isolation and cultural distance from the American mainstream. (More)



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