www.amperspective.com Online Magazine
Executive Editor: Abdus Sattar Ghazali
Chronology of Islam in America (2017)
By Abdus Sattar Ghazali
November 2017
American Muslims fear backlash after New York attack
Nov 2: The seven-million strong American Muslim community feared a backlash after yesterday’s attack in New York when Uzbek-boarn Sayfullo Saipov ploughed a truck through crowds in lower Manhattan killing eight and injuring a dozen more. Imam Mohammad Qatanani, spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Passaic County (N.J.), said: “People here feel they will be blamed as a religion and as a people. Because this guy was a Muslim, Muslims will be blamed anywhere and everywhere.” According to Pittsburg Post-Gazette the Islamic Center of Passaic County had already received eight telephone threats, prompting police to assign extra patrols to the area. “They say they’re going to kill us, they’re going to burn the place down, all using extremely foul language,” said the mosque’s president, Omar Awad. “They say, ‘We’re going to come rip your ... beard off.‘” The New Jersey office of the Council on American Islamic Relations reported threats had also been made against the Omar Mosque, next door to the apartment house where lived Sayfullo Saipov, the man who is accused of plowing a rental truck into bikers and pedestrians. Tensions have flared within the Muslim community as well, with two men getting into a fistfight at a mosque in a dispute over the cause of Saipov’s alleged radicalization, according to Post-Gazette. “When we figured out he was from Paterson, we knew trouble was coming,” Rami Abadi, a 32-year-old graphic designer told Washington Post. Abadi attends the mosque next to the apartment building where Saipov was living. “All eyes are going to be on Paterson now. Because of one psycho,” he added. Paterson is home to one of the largest Muslim populations in the United States. Islamic leaders in the city of 147,000 people estimate Paterson’s Muslim population at 25,000 to 30,000. [AMP Report]
If a guy named Mohammad blew up Texas church?
Nov 6: 'If a guy named Mohammad blew up that church yesterday. O my God, O my God, Washington would be on fire," says MSNBC Moring Joe Host. Joe Scarboroug was alluding to yesterday’s shooting at First Baptist Church in Sutherland Springs, Texas that killed at least 26 people and injured 19. Just last week after New York attack by president immediately talked about terrorism, talked about death penalty, attacked political opponent, Chuck Schumer, and called for radical vetting, Joe said adding: He attacked America's judiciary after these gun incidents that happened more often than the acts of terrorism, and killed so many more people ... all we get is pray. You cannot talk about gun...this is a mental issue." President Trump said that the South Texas shooting that killed at least 26 people wasn't "a guns situation," and blamed it instead on the gunman's mental health. During a news conference in Tokyo, where President Trump is on the first leg of a five-nation Asia trip, he was asked if he thought stricter gun laws could help prevent such mass shootings. “I think that mental health is your problem here,” Trump said. “Based on preliminary reports, a very deranged individual, a lot of problems for a long period of time,” he said. The massacre in Sutherland Springs, which is 30 miles southeast of San Antonio, was the deadliest ever at a house of worship in the United States. The shooter was later found dead. Law enforcement officials identified him as Devin Patrick Kelley, 26, of neighboring Comal County. Kelley was a former member of the Air Force, discharged for bad conduct in 2014. Ann Stefanek, a spokeswoman for the Air Force, confirmed that Kelley was court-martialed in 2012 on two charges of assaulting his spouse and their child. He was confined for a year and reduced in rank to airman basic E-1 before his discharge, she said. While Trump termed the Church massacre as mental health problem major US newspapers called for gun control. [AMP Report]
Muslims decry double standard after NYC-Texas attacks
Nov 7: In the days after the recent terror attack in New York City, Paterson mosques fielded death threats, and Muslim Americans were again called to explain the actions of one individual whose violent acts don't reflect the tenets of their faith. Having to denounce an act committed in the name of their faith is a double standard, say Muslim leaders, who reluctantly step into that role even as other groups aren't asked to do the same. “Every time one of these idiots does something they claim to be doing in whatever religion, our community is forced — there's a sense of obligation — that we have to come out and condemn it, which I believe is unfair,” said Salah Mustafa, outreach director at the Islamic Center of Passaic County, a mosque in Paterson. “It’s not as if other communities have to condemn these acts.” On Sunday, those concerns were even more apparent, when Devin Patrick Kelley, a non-Muslim man, opened fire at a Texas church, killing 26 people and wounding about 20 others. The event has not been labeled terrorism, and no faith leaders are being asked to condemn the person’s actions. Similarly, Stephen Paddock, who killed 58 people at a country music festival in Las Vegas on Oct. 1, has not been labeled a terrorist. It stands in contrast with the attack a week ago, when Sayfullo Saipov allegedly struck and killed eight people with a rented truck in lower Manhattan on Halloween. Saipov, who recently moved to Paterson and who authorities say was inspired by ISIS, was immediately labeled a terrorist. After the attack in New York, three New Jersey mosques reported that they received calls threatening violence and arson, and local Muslim residents said they felt singled out for scrutiny over their faith....In the hours after the shooting Nov 5, many flocked to social media to question why the Las Vegas and Sutherland Springs attackers weren’t being called terrorists. “You’d be hard-pressed to tell me those people were not terrorized,” said James Sues, executive director of the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “Those people in Las Vegas at that concert were certainly terrorized. The fact they were not called terrorist by everybody — that kind of exposed the fact that 'terrorism' is a word reserved exclusively for Muslims.” Authorities say the shooting on Sunday did not appear to be fueled by racial or religious issues. They noted that there had been domestic problems and that the shooter had sent threatening messages to his mother-in-law, who attended the church. Dylan Roof did not face terrorism charges for his killing spree at a historic African-American church in Charleston, South Carolina, in 2015. Instead, he was charged with hate crimes. [Northern Jersey Record]
The truth about radical Islam by Tony Cartalucci
Nov 7: The source of terrorism is not the Qu’ran – a book that few critics of Islam have even picked up let alone genuinely read – but rather a very easily traced money trail that leads to Washington and London. It is indeed the Western World that has created, branded, and marketed “radical Islam,” which is for all intents and purposes a strictly political tool designed to provoke direct Western military interventions where possible, and fight conflicts by proxy whenever direct military intervention is not possible. Indeed, under the pretext of “fighting terrorism,” the United States and much of Europe has been transformed into an invasive police state and despite stripping away the freedom and liberty of the Western World for the promise of security – the peoples of the West find themselves with neither. And “radical Islam” does not exist in a vacuum. It requires a medium to interact with. That includes a equally extreme, but opposite “radical ignorance” and fear sown across the Western population. Together, the two feed each other creating a perpetual pretext for foreign war, a perpetual sense of injustice against Muslims to which US-armed and funded terrorists can rally around, and perpetual fear and hatred spread across the Western World. It is the age-old political tool of empires – divide and conquer – honed to perfection and supercharged through information technology – particularly social media. Each and every terrorist attack that unfolds across North America or Europe is followed by a tidal wave of propaganda aimed at further bolstering a “clash of civilizations.” The fearful public either cowers or lashes out against Muslims – led by establishment voices including the newly christened “alt-right.” Muslims and Islam are blamed and the same collection of elementary talking points are rolled out to fan the flames of hatred and hysteria. Points of logic including the number of Muslims on Earth versus the actual number of terrorists are never discussed. Also never discussed is the fact that terrorists – particularly those either members of the self-titled “Islamic State” (ISIS) and Al Qaeda, or those inspired by such groups – are indoctrinated, radicalized, armed, funded, and supported by Washington, London, Brussels, and a collection of the West’s closest allies in the Middle East – namely Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Turkey, Jordan, and Israel.
Salafist principality
* It was in a leaked 2012 US Defense Intelligence Agency (DIA) memo that revealed the US and its allies’ intent to create what it called a “Salafist principality” in eastern Syria. The memo would explicitly state that (emphasis added): If the situation unravels there is the possibility of establishing a declared or undeclared Salafist principality in eastern Syria (Hasaka and Der Zor), and this is exactly what the supporting powers to the opposition want, in order to isolate the Syrian regime, which is considered the strategic depth of the Shia expansion (Iraq and Iran). On clarifying who these supporting powers were, the DIA memo would state: The West, Gulf countries, and Turkey support the opposition; while Russia, China, and Iran support the regime. The “Salafist” (Islamic) “principality” (State) would indeed be created precisely in eastern Syria as US policymakers and their allies had set out to do. It would be branded as the “Islamic State” and be used first to wage a more muscular proxy war against Damascus, and when that failed, to invite US military forces to intervene in the conflict directly. In 2014, in an e-mail between US Counselor to the President John Podesta and former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, it would be admitted that two of America’s closest regional allies – Saudi Arabia and Qatar – were providing financial and logistical support to ISIS. The e-mail, leaked to the public through Wikileaks, stated: …we need to use our diplomatic and more traditional intelligence assets to bring pressure on the governments of Qatar and Saudi Arabia, which are providing clandestine financial and logistic support to [ISIS] and other radical Sunni groups in the region.
Radical Islam problem is manufactured and perpetuated by the West
* In other words, the problem of “radical Islam” is manufactured and perpetuated by the West. Without the money, weapons, and support provided by the US and Europe to nations like Saudi Arabia, their toxic political tools would quickly dull and be swept into the dustbin of human history. As seen in Syria itself, where hundreds of trucks per day from NATO territory are no longer able to supply ISIS positions within the country, ISIS is unable to sustain itself. It lacks genuine popular support in a region where the vast majority of Muslims, Christians, and the secular remain united against it and has no means of sustaining itself without immense and constant state sponsorship. “Radical Islam,” or Wahhabism is no different. Both continue to exist through the intentional and malicious foreign and domestic policy of Western governments and the special interests that influence them. For those that believe that “radical Islam” is real and an enduring threat to “Western civilization,” they would be wise to heed the words of ancient warlord Sun Tzu who said, “know yourself, and know your enemy and you will never be defeated.” This means identifying the true source of “radical Islam’s” power by tracing weapons, money, and leadership to their sources. For those that believe “Islam” is the fundamental problem, indulging in cherry picked Qu’ran verses is monumentally irresponsible. A true enemy must be honestly studied which means cherry-picked versus must be put into context, the Qu’ran as a whole, must be read, and deep and objective study must be undertaken to truly “know one’s enemy.”Meeting and talking with Muslims, observing their communities, and learning their ways – if one truly believes Islam is a threat – is also fundamental in order to “know one’s enemy.”
* For those with the moral integrity to do so, a genuine look into “radical Islam” will reveal a much more troubling and real enemy. One that does not menace us with a foreign culture, religion, or ideology from abroad, but one that lies right in our midst, cloaked in patriotism, humanitarianism, and all that passes for “Western civilization” today. [New Eastern Outlook]
Maryland School Board's decides to close schools on Eid holiday
Nov 7: The Baltimore County Academic calendar was amended Tuesday (Nov 7) to shift one professional development day to June 5, which is the Muslim holiday Eid al-Fitr. Classes are not held on professional development days. Bash Pharoan, a Baltimore County surgeon, has been asking the board to recognize the Muslim holidays as equal for the past two decades. He said board member Kathleen Causey’s amendment represents “a step forward.” “It is not equal, but nonetheless it is a positive step,” he said. “We just want our children to feel included. That would make a positive impact on the psyche of our children.”The Baltimore County school board voted Tuesday to approve an academic calendar that keeps schools closed next year on the Jewish High Holy Days. The board’s decision comes after heated debate within the community about whether to require students to attend classes on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. The Supreme Court has ruled schools cannot close for religious reasons but may close on religious holidays if widespread absences would make it difficult to operate efficiently. Some school board members called for more updated and accurate data about the religious breakdowns of the student population. [Baltimore Sun] The Maryland Outreach Department of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, welcomed the Baltimore County Public School's (BCPS ) Board of Education decision to keep county schools closed for Jewish holidays, and to give BCPS students the day off on Eid ul-Fitr 2019. [CAIR]
85 Percent of Virginia Muslim Voters Supported Gov. Northam
Nov 8: The Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), in partnership with the Virginia Council of Muslim Organizations (VCMO), today released the results of an exit poll indicating that Muslim voters in Virginia strongly supported now governor-elect Ralph Northam in yesterday’s election. The poll, conducted by an independent interactive voice response survey provider on behalf of CAIR and VCMO, indicated that 76 percent of registered Virginia Muslim voters turned out to the polls in the off-year election. CAIR said the more than 300 Muslim voters surveyed indicated the following preferences: (1) Ralph Northam (D) 85% (2) Ed Gillespie (R) 13% (3) Cliff Hyra (L) 2% "High Muslim voter turnout and higher than average support for now governor-elect Ralph Northam reflect voters -- including American Muslims and their neighbors -- embracing inclusive campaigns and shows once again that candidates who decide to fear-monger about minority communities will lose," said CAIR Director of Government Affairs Robert McCaw. "Virginians have spoken and they reject division and hatred. We are proud of Virginia Muslim turnout and involvement in this election," said Rafi Ahmed, VCMO Interim President. CAIR also applauded the historic election wins by minority candidates across the nation in races ranging from school board and city council, to mayor and Lieutenant Governor in Virginia. Such victories included:
* Ravi Bhalla, New Jersey's first ever Sikh-American mayor elected in Hoboken; * Democrat Justin Fairfax was elected lieutenant governor of Virginia; the second African-American candidate to win the post; * Mazahir Salih, first American Muslim woman and immigrant on the Iowa City Council; * Fartun Ahmed, first American Muslim elected to Hopkins School Board in Minnesota; * Zak Idan, American Muslim elected to Tukwila City Council in the state of Washington; * Abdi Warsame, first Somali-American Muslim to serve in a municipal office was reelected to Ward 6 City Council Member in Minneapolis, Minnesota; and others. [CAIR]
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