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San Jose Mercury News – September 23, 2007
Antioch 'March Against Hate' unites
wide range of faiths, cultures
By Tom Lochner
With religious strife rampant all over the world, one Contra Costa city made a vow Sunday that whatever pits community against community elsewhere, it must not and will not happen here.
A "March Against Hate" from Antioch City Hall to Antioch High School by Muslims, Jews, Christians, Sikhs, Baha'is, Zoroastrians and other believers was a denunciation of the torching of a mosque in Antioch last month. It also was a call to look past differences of doctrine to focus on ethics that are common to most of the world's religions.
It was not a simple call for tolerance, organizers said. "It's moving beyond tolerance to active respect -- to stand together as a community," said Father Tom Bonacci of St. Ignatius Catholic Church in Antioch. He also sits on the board of the Interfaith Council of Contra Costa County, which organized the event Sunday.
The Aug. 12 arson fire that destroyed the mosque of the Islamic Center of the East Bay on 18th Street was the latest in a string of attacks. Three times this year, the mosque was broken into and vandalized. Islamic Center officials said they have not decided whether to rebuild at the site or look for another property in Antioch.
Although police have not found evidence that the arson was a hate crime, they are working with FBI hate crime investigators. No one has been arrested.
The fire, Bonacci said, was an opportunity for the interfaith community and a diverse county "to meet itself." "We can go to the best of ourselves, to the best of our faith and meet one another with forgiveness, love and respect, and to work for the poor and the needy," Bonacci said.
The event Sunday began with a rally in front of City Hall that featured Muslim, Jewish and Christian prayers and words from state Sen. Tom Torlakson; state Assembly member Mark DeSaulnier; Antioch Mayor Donald Freitas, Councilman Reggie Moore and Police Chief Jim Hyde; Pittsburg Mayor Ben Johnson; and other dignitaries.
Dr. Amer Ariam of the Interfaith Council's executive committee chanted the Muslim call to prayer, facing northeast toward Mecca, Islam's holiest city. Many of the hundreds of marchers wore hijabs, yarmulkes, clerical garb and other identifying marks of their religions and cultures, as organizers had requested.
"It is a wonderful, great feeling for me," said Naveed Ahmed, a board member of the Islamic Center. In the days after the Aug. 12 arson, "We were very sad and depressed," Ahmed said, "but since we started getting support from the local community, from the (city) council and the police, we started feeling that we are not alone -- there are other people who want to share our grief, and they actually did."….
http://www.mercurynews.com/breakingnews/ci_6980495
Los Angeles Times – September 19, 2007
Muslim groups sue FBI over surveillance
H.G. Reza
Several Islamic groups in Southern California sued the FBI on Tuesday to force the agency to release more documents about the alleged surveillance of individuals and local mosques following the Sept. 11 attacks.
In May 2006, 11 Muslim leaders and community groups sent the FBI a Freedom of Information Act request for documents about suspected surveillance of them and sued after the bureau released just four pages, one of them largely blank.
The ACLU, which filed the request and lawsuit, believes the FBI is withholding information. The civil rights group said in a statement that the FBI "squandered an opportunity" to build trust with the Muslim community by not releasing the information.
The lawsuit was filed in U.S. District Court in Santa Ana and alleges that the FBI's document search was inadequate. The suit says there is concern that FBI investigations "threaten to erode the constitutionally protected freedom of religion that Muslim Americans enjoy." . . .
Last year, local Islamic leaders said they turned to the ACLU for help after the FBI provided little information in response to their concern about government monitoring. They said mosque-goers reported being questioned by the FBI about their religious practices and the sermons given during prayer services.
"We're baffled why this information is not being released. The onus is on them to show our community is not under surveillance," said Shakeel Syed, executive director of the Anaheim-based Islamic Shura Council of California. The council, identified in the suit as a federation of more than 60 mosques, and Syed are plaintiffs.
The four pages the FBI released pertain to Hussam Ayloush, executive director of the Southern California chapter of the Council of American-Islamic Relations, and his group. Two pages recount a 2006 meeting between Ayloush and an FBI agent about improving relations between the FBI and Muslims. Another page had four lines about an offending e-mail the group had received.
"We hope that CAIR has not been under surveillance, because every thing it's engaged in fits within the 1st Amendment," Ayloush said. "We have views that aren't popular around certain circles of government, but they are legal."
Ayloush said he asked the FBI for information about himself because "I want to know why I get stopped at airports every time I return from an overseas trip." He said he hoped to learn that "I'm being stopped for a reason other than I'm Muslim." He and CAIR are also plaintiffs….
http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/california/la-me-aclu19sep19,1,7421994.story
The Sentinel – September 28, 2007
Maryland: Pushing for a Muslim School Holiday
By Drew Pierson
There will be three religious holidays for which Montgomery County Public Schools will cancel classes this year: Rosh Hashanah, Christmas and Easter. Yom Kippur, which many MCPS students celebrated this week, began a half hour before sundown on Friday, thus forcing the rescheduling of several athletic and after-school events.
Yom Kippur calls for, among other things, a 12-hour fast to end on the following night. Jews believe it is a day of atonement for sin. When it falls on a school day, it is also a holiday for which MCPS will cancel classes.
But some community members are asking MCPS to recognize a similar religious holiday practiced by Muslims, though it's perhaps lesser known. It is Eid ul-Fitr, the end of the month-long period of fasting called Ramadan, which this year began at sunset on Sept. 12 and will continue until sunset on Oct 12.
During Ramadan, Muslims cannot have food during the daytime, so most wake up before dawn to eat and pray. Eid ul-Fitr, or Eid, is the celebration the day after Ramadan ends, commemorated by food, prayer and time at home with family.
"I know there is a large percentage of Muslims in school, and I know for a fact a lot of Muslims, especially kids who take AP classes, don't want to miss class," said Harris Akhtar, a senior at Seneca Valley High School who is Muslim. "At the same time they have this obligation to celebrate this day."
On Thursday, Akhtar and other members of the Muslim community, dressed in traditional Kufi (headwear) and Shalwar-Kameez (shirts), came to Quince Orchard High School for the first of two MCPS community forums this year to explain to the County Board of Education members what an important day Eid was for them.
"First of all not a lot of people know what Eid ul-Fitr is," Akhtar said. "Students know all about Jewish and Christian holidays, so if we get Eid off people will first be like, 'Woo-hoo!' But then they'll ask what the holiday is for."
Kate Harrison, a spokeswoman for MCPS, said that technically the County did not recognize religious holidays by canceling school for them.
"School is cancelled in recognition that there is a high rate of absenteeism among students and staff around a particular holiday," Harrison wrote via e-mail. "For example, Montgomery County Public Schools does not have school on Yom Kippur because so many staff members and students would be observing the holiday and thus be absent from school - in numbers that it would be difficult to carry on school operations . . . The reason is not to observe the religious holiday." …..
http://www.thesentinel.com/293311113118001.php
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