Monday, April 30, 2012


VERSE OF THE DAY: AVOID INJUSTICE - TOP
"All human beings that have done injustice would surely, if they possessed all that is on earth, offer it as ransom (to redeem themselves on Judgment Day)."
The Holy Quran, 10:54
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VIDEO: CAIR-MI REP SUPPORTS TEACHER FIRED OVER TRAYVON MARTIN FUNDRAISER TOP
Dawud Walid, executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said the Academy's decision was a "travesty" that would only hurt students.
"It taught the students who tried to organize and tried to raise their voice in terms of social justice that they will be repressed," Walid said at a news conference Tuesday morning at King Solomon Baptist that previewed a rally that evening at the Detroit church. "Instead of empowering our children ... the Pontiac Academy is actually teaching children to internalize oppression and internalize racism."
Watch the video.
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VIDEO: FLA. ISLAMOPHOBES FAIL TO CHANGE SCHOOL SPEAKER POLICY (CAIR) -TOP
TAMPA -- With a slip of paper and no vote, Hillsborough County school officials tried Tuesday to end a months-long controversy about guest speakers in the classrooms.
Watch the video.
SEE ALSO:
CAIR-FL: MUSLIM SCHOOL SPEAKERS ADD DEPTH (TAMPA TRIBUNE) - TOP
Tampa Tribune editorial, 4/4/12
David Caton's offer of a $2,000 reward for tips about any planned appearances by the Council on American Islamic Relations at Steinbrenner High School is a publicity stunt not worthy of an instant of anyone's time.
The school district has sensible guidelines on guest speakers, and there is no evidence that anything improper occurred during the session that incited Caton's ire.
A Steinbrenner High teacher late last year invited Hassan Shibly, executive director of CAIR's branch in Tampa, to speak to her world history class.
Caton, the executive director of the Florida Family Association, accuses the school system of allowing Shibly to indoctrinate Steinbrenner students about Shariah law.
Shibly, the son of Syrian immigrants who was raised in Buffalo, is an attorney as well as an imam. He answered students' questions about Islam and was one of a number of speakers, including a priest, the teacher lined up to speak about major religions. A rabbi already has appeared.
Now, with Caton attacking the school and demanding Christian conservatives be given equal time, school officials say some religious representatives are reluctant to get involved. (More)
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CAIR-LA TO SUPPORT BILL TARGETING RELIGIOUS BIAS IN THE WORKPLACE - TOP
(SACRAMENTO, CA, 4/10/12) On Wednesday, April 11th, California Assembly Member Mariko Yamada (D-Davis) and members of the interfaith community will participate in a news conference to announce the introduction of Assembly Bill (AB) 1964, which aims to strengthen protections against religious discrimination in the workplace.
"The landmark federal Civil Rights Act of 1964 outlawed discrimination on the basis of race, color, religion, sex or national origin in employment," Yamada said. "AB 1964 follows in its footsteps to make explicit in state law that no person can be discriminated against in the workplace based on their religious beliefs and practices. I am proud to have the interfaith community's support on this important piece of legislation."
The Council on American-Islamic Relations, California chapter (CAIR-CA) has been working on the draft of the legislation with coalition members, led by the Sikh Coalition. AB 1964, among other things, seeks to eliminate ambiguity in state law, particularly around the definition of "undue hardship," and protect religious minorities from workplace discrimination. (More)
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CAIR: ROMNEY MIDEAST ADVISER LINKED TO GROUP BEHIND LEBANON MASSACRE -TOP
Cecily Hilleary, Middle East Voices, 4/10/12
Former Governor of the state of Massachusetts and U.S. Republican presidential hopeful Mitt Romney recently captured three big wins in local primary elections -- i.e. votes to determine which Republican candidate will end up running against President Barack Obama in the general election on November 6.
After his victories in Wisconsin, Maryland and the District of Columbia, most political analysts now view Romney as the candidate most likely to win his party's nomination. Given the state of the U.S. economy, Americans are primarily focused on Romney's domestic policies. But at the same time they are also mindful of the link between the U.S. economy and national security, which often goes hand in hand with events and developments in the Middle East. Here's a rundown on the former Massachusetts governor's Middle East policy -- in particular, democratization, jihadism and the Middle East peace process. ...
But many American Muslims have expressed concern about Romney's choice of Walid Phares as an adviser (see Advisers, below), after the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in January republished an article from Lebanon's Daily Star, which said Phares had played a leading role in right-wing Christian militias during Lebanon's Civil War and had been an adviser to Lebanese Forces leader Samir Geagea, the only Lebanese militia leader to have been imprisoned for crimes committed during the 15-year war. The Star quoted Warren David, president of the Arab-American Anti-Discrimination Committee, as saying that Phares "leans toward being an Islamophobe." (More)
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NRA TO HOST MUSLIM-BASHER (HUFFINGTON POST) - TOP
Mark Potok, Huffington Post, 4/10/12
[Mark Potok is director of the Southern Poverty Law Center's Intelligence Project.]
The National Rifle Association (NRA) -- the powerful gun lobby that has called federal law enforcement agents "jack-booted thugs," accused President Obama of having secret plans to strip away Americans' guns, and been the main force behind the incredibly dangerous "Stand Your Ground" laws being used to justify the killing of Trayvon Martin -- is once again flaunting its political extremism.
This Sunday in St. Louis, the NRA plans to host retired Lt. Gen. William "Jerry" Boykin, a radical Islamophobe who has said there should be "no mosques in America," as keynote speaker of a prayer breakfast at its annual conference. Boykin has asserted that "Islam is evil" and "a totalitarian way of life" that "should not be protected under the First Amendment," among other things. This January, after controversy arose over statements such as these, Boykin withdrew from a speech he had been invited to make at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. (More)
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CAIR-MI SAYS IGNORE ANTI-ISLAM PASTOR (FREE PRESS) TOP
Niraj Warikoo, Detroit Free Press, 4/7/12
The attorney for the Quran-burning pastor who plans to protest this afternoon outside the biggest mosque in metro Detroit said that Islam and Dearborn are threats to Christians.
Speaking Friday on a Christian radio station, Richard Thompson, President of the Ann Arbor-based Thomas More Law Center, said that unless Islam is confronted "they will destroy Christianity and hold Christians to second-class citizenship."
Thompson is representing Terry Jones, a Florida pastor known for burning the holy book for Muslims, the Quran. Jones plans to protest today from 1 to 3 p.m. outside the Islamic Center of America, a Dearborn mosque. He tried to rally there last year, but was prevented by a Dearborn judge who banned him for three years. A Detroit judge later overturned that decision. ...
Meanwhile, the activist group By Any Means Necessary (BAMN) plans to hold a counter-protest today outside the mosque. Last year, members of the group disrupted a walk by Jones to the Arab festival.
But some Muslim leaders are urging people to stay away from the protest. Dawud Walid, head of the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, is telling Muslims not to attend the rally. He said he opposes what BAMN is doing, calling both the Jones protest and counter-protest "mutual foolishness." (More)
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PHOTOS: MUSLIM DAY AT THE MINNESOTA CAPITOL (CAIR-MN) - TOP
Members of the Minnesota Muslim community gathered at the State Capitol in St. Paul for the 8th Annual "Muslim Day at the Capitol" on Thursday, April 5, 2012. You can see a selection of photos here.

- MEDIA ADVISORY -
CAIR-MI to Sue FBI, CBP Over Invasive Border Questioning of Muslims
At border, agents ask Michigan Muslims how many times a day they pray
(SOUTHFIELD, MI, 4/12/12) -- On Friday, April 13, the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) will hold a news conference in Detroit to announce the filing of a federal lawsuit against U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the FBI over the repeated detention and questioning of Muslims about their religious beliefs and practices by federal agents at and inside the United States-Canada border.
WHAT: News Conference Announcing Federal Lawsuit Over Invasive Religious Questioning of Muslims at U.S.-Canada Border
WHEN: Friday, April 13, 9:30 a.m. (Eastern)
WHERE: Outside U.S. Eastern District Federal Court, 231 W Lafayette Blvd, Detroit, MI
CONTACT: CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid, 248-842-1418, E-Mail:dwalid@cair.com; CAIR-MI Staff Attorney Lena Masri, 248-390-9784, E-Mail:lmasri@cair.com
News conference participants will include one of the plaintiffs as well as civil rights attorney Shereef Akeel and a representative of Alliance for Immigrants Rights. Akeel is co-counsel with CAIR attorneys on the lawsuit.
CAIR-MI is filing the lawsuit on behalf of four American citizens who reported that CBP and FBI agents detained and handcuffed them without evidence of wrongdoing and questioned them about their religious beliefs and worship habits. The lawsuit asserts that those actions violated the plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights.
Questions reportedly asked of Michigan Muslims by CBP and FBI agents have included:
  • How many times a day do you pray?
  • Do you pray your morning prayer in the mosque?
  • Who else prays in your mosque?
"Invasive religious questioning of American citizens without evidence of criminal activity is not only an affront to the Constitution but is also a waste of limited resources," said CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid.
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.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid, 248-842-1418, E-Mail: dwalid@cair.com; CAIR-MI Staff Attorney Lena Masri, 248-390-9784, E-Mail: lmasri@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Manager Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, 202-341-4171, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com 


FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
64-Member Coalition Opposes New Religious Freedom Appointee
Zuhdi Jasser lacks commitment to religious rights, claims 'operationally, Islam is not peaceful'
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 4/12/2012) -- A broad national coalition of 64 organizations and individuals today sent a letter to Senators Inouye, McConnell and Durbin expressing "deep concern" at the recent appointment of Zuhdi Jasser to the United States Commission on International Religious Freedom (USCIRF).
In a joint letter, the coalition asked that Jasser's appointment by Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell (R-KY) be rescinded.
To read the full text of the letter and list of signatories, go here.
The letter states in part:
"The USCIRF promotes the freedom of religion and belief, and it seeks to combat religious extremism, intolerance, and repression throughout the world. In contrast with these laudable goals, Dr. Jasser believes, '...operationally, Islam is not peaceful.' His consistent support for measures that threaten and diminish religious freedoms within the United States demonstrates his deplorable lack of understanding of and commitment to religious freedom and undermines the USCIRF's express purpose."
The coalition noted that Jasser's organization, the American Islamic Forum for Democracy, "applauded" an amendment to Oklahoma's constitution that both a federal district court and the U.S. Court of Appeals 10th Circuit have held is in violation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment by clearly favoring all other religions over Islam. That amendment specifically targeted Islam for official censure.
The letter also cited Jasser's opposition to the constitutionally-protected construction of a Muslim community center in lower Manhattan, his support for the New York Police Department's blanket surveillance of Muslims based on religion rather than evidence or suspicion of wrongdoing and his ties to virulently anti-Muslim groups and individual Islamophobes.
"Zuhdi Jasser has been a vocal opponent of religious freedom for American Muslims and is therefore an inappropriate choice to represent our nation as it seeks to promote such freedoms in the international arena," said Corey Saylor, national legislative director for the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). "Jasser's appointment sends a negative message to all those who seek to protect religious freedom in this nation and worldwide."
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.
-- END --
CONTACT: CAIR National Legislative Director Corey Saylor, 202-384-8857, E-Mail:csaylor@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Manager Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, 202-341-4171, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com

- MEDIA ADVISORY -
CAIR-MI to Sue FBI, CBP Over Invasive Border Questioning of Muslims
At border, agents ask Michigan Muslims how many times a day they pray
(SOUTHFIELD, MI, 4/12/12) -- On Friday, April 13, the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI) will hold a news conference in Detroit to announce the filing of a federal lawsuit against U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and the FBI over the repeated detention and questioning of Muslims about their religious beliefs and practices by federal agents at and inside the United States-Canada border.
WHAT: News Conference Announcing Federal Lawsuit Over Invasive Religious Questioning of Muslims at U.S.-Canada Border
WHEN: Friday, April 13, 9:30 a.m. (Eastern)
WHERE: Outside U.S. Eastern District Federal Court, 231 W Lafayette Blvd, Detroit, MI
CONTACT: CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid, 248-842-1418, E-Mail:dwalid@cair.com; CAIR-MI Staff Attorney Lena Masri, 248-390-9784, E-Mail:lmasri@cair.com
News conference participants will include one of the plaintiffs as well as civil rights attorney Shereef Akeel and a representative of Alliance for Immigrants Rights. Akeel is co-counsel with CAIR attorneys on the lawsuit.
CAIR-MI is filing the lawsuit on behalf of four American citizens who reported that CBP and FBI agents detained and handcuffed them without evidence of wrongdoing and questioned them about their religious beliefs and worship habits. The lawsuit asserts that those actions violated the plaintiffs’ First Amendment rights.
Questions reportedly asked of Michigan Muslims by CBP and FBI agents have included:
  • How many times a day do you pray?
  • Do you pray your morning prayer in the mosque?
  • Who else prays in your mosque?
"Invasive religious questioning of American citizens without evidence of criminal activity is not only an affront to the Constitution but is also a waste of limited resources," said CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid.
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.
- END -
CONTACT: CAIR-MI Executive Director Dawud Walid, 248-842-1418, E-Mail: dwalid@cair.com; CAIR-MI Staff Attorney Lena Masri, 248-390-9784, E-Mail: lmasri@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Manager Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, 202-341-4171, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com 

VERSE OF THE DAY: FEED THE NEEDY - TOP
Have you ever considered (the kind of person) who denies the judgment (to come)? It is (the person) who drives away the orphan with harshness and feels no urge to feed the needy.”
The Holy Quran, 107:1-3
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CAIR-NY REP TO JOIN CALL TO SUPPORT IMMIGRANT PROGRAMS TOP
(NEW YORK, NY, 4/16/12) -- On Tuesday, April 17, a representative of the New York chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NY) will join city officials and immigrant rights leaders at an 11 a.m. news conference on the steps of City Hall (across from 250 Broadway, between Murray St and Park Place) to highlight the New York Immigration Coalition's top city budget and policy priorities this year.
Speakers will emphasize the need to protect funding for programs, including ESL, adult literacy and legal services; to expand support for Family Resource Centers, school-community partnerships that promote immigrant parent engagement; and to ensure accountability and oversight of NYPD surveillance programs, among other priorities. (More)
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CAIR-FL: SCHOOL BOARD SPEAKS OUT AGAINST ANTI-MUSLIM BIGOTRY TOP
Hassan Shibly, Tampa Bay Times, 4/16/12
I was touched by the unity and resolve displayed by our Tampa community at last week's Hillsborough County School Board meeting, when many diverse community leaders spoke out against bigotry and censorship and in support of an inclusive guest speaker policy.
For the past few months, protesters representing only a small segment of public opinion used the School Board meetings to promote conspiracy theories and false allegations against Islam and Muslims.
Their fear of Muslims and serious misinformation about Islam led them to push for a policy censoring all advocacy groups from visiting our public schools to speak on relevant topics the students are studying. When asked on camera, protesters like Terry Kemple claimed that their problem was only with America's largest Muslim civil rights group, not with all Muslims.
However, at least half of the statements made by Kemple and his supporters were attacks on the entire Muslim faith and people, not any particular Muslim group. Even worse, I felt they were really attacking the American principles of pluralism and freedom of religion. These are the principles I have taken an oath to protect and are the reasons why my family chose to immigrate to America from Syria.
But on Tuesday we saw an outpouring of diverse supporters who asked the School Board not to give in to anti-Muslim prejudices. The supporters represented many faiths, organizations and ethnicities.
The Hillsborough County School Board refused to give in to fearmongering. Our success sends a strong message that we in Tampa will not allow ignorance, fear and misunderstanding to divide us.
My only wish now is that those who fear us would come and get to know us. We are one community, and we must stand united despite our differences to foster an environment where all people can live free without fear, prejudice and hatred.
Hassan ShiblyCAIR Florida, Tampa
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AP WINS PULITZER FOR STORIES ON NYPD SPYING ON MUSLIMS - TOP
Deepti Hajela, Associated Press, 4/16/12
NEW YORK -- The Associated Press won a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting Monday for documenting the New York Police Department's spying on Muslims ... (More)
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POLL: U.S. JEWS LIKE MUSLIMS, MORMONS MORE THAN EVANGELICALS - TOP
Billy Hallowell, The Blaze, 4/16/12
A new poll indicating that American Jews may have distrust and suspicion for evangelicals is raising eyebrows. The study, conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute, has some startling findings, especially considering the fact that many Jews and Christians have been working together for some time now in support of the Israeli state.
The Jewish Forward has more about the poll's results:
Only one in five Jewish Americans holds favorable views of those aligned with the Christian right, a category that includes most of Israel's evangelical supporters. [...]
The survey, conducted by the Public Religion Research Institute and published April 3, asked Jewish respondents to rate the favorability of several religious groups. Mormons received a 47% favorability rating, Muslims 41.4%; the group described as "Christian Right" was viewed in favorable terms by only 20.9% of Jewish Americans. In contrast, the general American population, as shown by other polling data, views evangelicals more favorably than Muslims and Mormons. (More)
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KANSAS STATE SENATORS FLOODED WITH OUT-OF-STATE ANTI-SHARIA EMAILS -TOP
Ian Millhiser, ThinkProgress, 4/16/12
More than twenty state legislatures are considering bills that ostensibly prohibit judges from following foreign law, but which are actually part of a nationwide Islamophobic campaign to combat the nonexistent problem of American courts relying on Sharia law. As the Topeka Capital-Journal explains, however, this effort has been much less effective in convincing Kansas lawmakers' actual constituents to support an anti-Muslim bill than it has been in simply harassing those lawmakers with out-of-state emails:
"I had a large number of emails -- like in the thousands -- during the last couple weeks of session (before the current break)," said Sen. Jeff King, R-Independence.
King said he had to instruct his assistant to funnel them into a separate folder and further separate the emails that actually came from his constituents, which he said narrowed the number to "dozens."
Sen. Tim Owens, R-Overland Park, recently said his inbox also was full of anti-Sharia emails, most of them from out-of-state.
It's really no surprise that there aren't many actual Kansans worried about the threat of creeping Sharia. As ThinkProgress previously explained, a judge is about as likely to replace American law with "the laws of ancient Rome or the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons second edition rules" as they are to suddenly decide to embrace Sharia law. (More)
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SCHOLAR CALLS ANTI-SHARIA LAWS 'CRAZY' TOP
NPR, 4/16/12
Sadakat Kadri is an English barrister, a Muslim by birth and a historian. His first book, The Trial, was an extensive survey of the Western criminal judicial system, detailing more than 4,000 years of courtroom antics.
In his new book, Heaven on Earth, Kadri turns his sights east, to centuries of Shariah law. The first parts of his book describe how early Islamic scholars codified -- and then modified -- the code that would govern how people lead their daily lives. Kadri then turns to the modern day, reflecting on the lawmakers who are trying to prohibit Shariah law in a dozen states, as well as his encounters with scholars and imams in India, Pakistan, Syria, Egypt, Turkey and Iran -- the very people who strictly interpret the religious and moral code of Islam today. And some of those modern interpretations, he says, are much more rigid -- and much more draconian -- than the code set forth during the early years of Islamic law.
Islamic law is shaped by hadiths, or reports about what Prophet Muhammad said and did. The hadiths, says Kadri, govern how Muslims should pray, treat criminals and create medications, among other things. (More)
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ISLAMIC CHARITY EVENT SERVES TAMPA'S LOW-INCOME - TOP
Keith Morelli, The Tampa Tribune, 4/16/12
TAMPA -- As many as 3,000 people are expected at Riverfront Park off North Boulevard today, collecting clothes, shoes, food and getting medical checkups, all for free.
The Islamic Charity Festival, which marked its 15th year, has been growing every year, said chairman and event co-founder Husain Nagamia.
Indigent and homeless people stood in what were long lines by noon, waiting their turns to get new shoes or second-hand clothes. Free bottles of water were being handed out under the bright Florida sun, and the aroma of barbecue teased everyone downwind of the smoker.
Children slid down a huge inflatable slide and bounded in a bounce house. Many – if not all – had signed up for a drawing in which 125 brand new bicycles were to be given away. (More)
SEE ALSO:
MN: SOMALI ORGANIZER, CHURCH BUILD BRIDGES TOGETHER TOP
James Warden, Patch.com, 4/16/12
When Fartun Weli and other Somali women approached Shepherd of the Hills about using the Edina church for an after-school program, Senior Pastor Scott Searl was happy to open the doors to them and Weli was happy to accept.
But many in the Somali community remained suspicious of their Christian neighbors. The other women with Weli were scared to have the program in a church and one of them even ran away, she said. The church's follow-up offer to use space in a separate building didn't change their minds because the Muslim women worried about the Christian symbols inside.
Weli wasn't deterred, though. The Hopkins resident apologized for the others' response--but boldly asked Searl if the church had office space she could use in her role as executive director for The Isuroon Project.
Since that time six or seven months ago, Weli has been using space donated by Shepherd of the Hills for her work with the Somali women's health program. On Sunday, she stood before the congregation to talk about interfaith cooperation.
"I said, 'Look, we're not that different--meaning Christians and Muslims. We care about the old, the sick, the poor, our neighbors,'" she recalled. "Everybody wants to love and be respected and be comfortable in their homes." (More)
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MUSLIMS ON WALL STREET, BRIDGING TWO TRADITIONS - TOP
Kevin Roose, New York Times, 4/16/12
NAIEL IQBAL'S co-workers couldn't figure him out.
He'd just started at a Midtown Manhattan hedge fund -- the kind of elite enclave where overachievers in button-downs go to make a few hundred grand before heading off to Harvard Business School. But Mr. Iqbal, 27, a graduate of the Wharton School, wasn't acting like a typical finance guy. He didn't introduce himself around the office. Nor did he grab lunch with the other traders.
In fact, he didn't eat at all. Or drink. Not coffee, not soda, not even a sip of water from a Nalgene bottle on his desk. All day, he just sat there, staring into his Bloomberg terminal. Was he sick? Nervous? A modern Bartleby?
None of the above: It was Ramadan, and Mr. Iqbal, a Muslim, was exhausted from fasting daily till sundown.
"I'm actually a huge foodie," he recalls with a laugh. "When Ramadan ended, I was, like: 'Guys, let's go to this restaurant! Let's go to that one!' Nobody had seen that side of me."
Mr. Iqbal -- who doesn't drink or smoke -- is among a growing number of young Muslims who are disrupting Wall Street's old-boy culture. Seen from a certain angle, the Street can still look like a monolith -- a cohort of white males with Ivy League degrees and Roman numerals attached to their names. (This is especially true the higher you look; there are, for example, no black, female or openly gay chief executives at the nation's largest banks.)
But as the Street adapts to greater regulation, lower profits and tighter costs, it is also experiencing change within its ranks. Among entry-level financiers, especially, a years-long recruiting effort at major banks has resulted in a diverse group of aspiring Masters of the Universe. (More



FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CAIR Seeks Probe of Whether FBI Sought Torture of U.S. Muslim
Oregon man now seeks asylum in Sweden because of fear of U.S. actions
(WASHINGTON, D.C., 4/17/12) -- The Council on American-Islamic Relations(CAIR) today called on the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) Civil Rights Division to investigate whether an American Muslim citizen detained last year in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) was tortured at the behest of the FBI.
In its letter to the DOJ, CAIR cites an exclusive report by Mother Jones magazine about the case of Yonas Fikre, an Oregon Muslim who was detained and tortured while visiting the UAE last June. The letter was also signed by Fikre's attorney Thomas Nelson.
[MEDIA ADVISORY: Yonas Fikre will take part in a news conference about his case on April 18 in Stockholm, Sweden, at 4 a.m. Pacific Daylight Time. For more information, contact Thomas Nelson, 503-709-6397, E-Mail: nelson@thnelson.com or CAIR Staff Attorney Gadeir Abbas, 202-742-6410, 720-251-0425, E-Mail: gabbas@cair.com]
Fikre reports that he was "beaten on the soles of his feet, kicked and punched, and held in stress positions while interrogators demanded he 'cooperate' and barked questions that were eerily similar to those posed to him not long before by FBI agents and other American officials who had requested a meeting with him."
According to Fikre's lawyer: "When Yonas [first] asked whether the FBI was behind his detention, he was beaten for asking the question. Toward the end, the interrogator indicated that indeed the FBI had been involved."
Fikre said he had previously rejected an FBI demand that he act as an informant. He is currently seeking asylum in Sweden because he fears what U.S. officials may do to him if he returns.

CAIRAmerican Muslim Alleges FBI Had a Hand in His Torture
"This disturbing case fits a pattern of proxy detention in which American Muslims are detained in other nations or prevented from returning home in a manner that is clearly designed to circumvent their constitutional rights," said CAIR Staff Attorney Gadeir Abbas and Thomas Nelson in their letter to the DOJ.
The letter also seeks assurances from the FBI that Fikre's constitutional right to counsel be respected and his safety guaranteed should he return to the United States.
Abbas noted that earlier this year, CAIR called on the DOJ to investigate acts of "coercion and intimidation" allegedly used by the FBI's Portland Field Office to pressure Muslim citizens into giving up their constitutional rights if they wished to return to the United States from overseas. Fikre is originally from Portland.
Last year, CAIR filed a lawsuit against the DOJ and the FBI seeking a court order to allow a Virginia Muslim teenager who had been detained in Kuwait and placed on a U.S. government no-fly list to return to the United States.
CAIR has assisted a number of other American Muslim citizens who have been stranded overseas by government actions.
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.
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CONTACT: CAIR Staff Attorney Gadeir Abbas, 202-742-6410, 720-251-0425, E-Mail: gabbas@cair.com; CAIR National Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper, 202-744-7726, E-Mail: ihooper@cair.com; CAIR Communications Coordinator Amina Rubin, 202-488-8787, 202-341-4171, E-Mail: arubin@cair.com