Date Posted: Wednesday, January 21, 2004

By Siraj Islam Mufti, Ph.D.

It is ironic that human rights should become an issue for American Muslims in a country dubbed “The Land of Free.” However, Japanese-Americans faced internment during World War II, and African-Americans have a history that clearly illustrates the lack of freedom. Media reports bear witness to Muslim rights being violated after 9/11. As a result, the Council of American–Islamic Relations (CAIR), a Muslim rights advocacy group, has gained a degree of prominence during this period. This article highlights some of the major events of this sad saga and what American Muslims must do to restore their rightful place in American society.

A Review of Major Events

It all happened after that ignominious day of 9/11, when some terrorists attacked the U.S. American Muslims had nothing to do with it, but nevertheless are all held as suspects and singled out in the war on terrorism. Thus, the crime of a few malevolent individuals has caused clear a violation of the constitutionally guaranteed rights of American Muslims and Arab-Americans. As a result, these most law-abiding citizen groups now live in constant suspicion and fear.

This is the case despite the fact that 358 of the estimated 3,000 fatalities were Muslims, and that within hours of the attack, the Muslim American society (MAS), Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) and Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), issued a statement, endorsed by every major Muslim organization, which read in part: “American Muslims utterly condemn what are vicious and cowardly acts of terrorism against innocent civilians. We join with all Americans in calling for the swift apprehension and punishment of the perpetrators. No political cause could ever be assisted by such immoral acts.”

The organizations then asked their respective communities to provide all necessary help to authorities involved in investigations, and also offered congregational prayers for the victims as well as continuing help and assistance for the suffering families.

Immediately after the attacks, more than 5,000 people were rounded up based on collective suspicion and subjected to criminal proceedings without any evidence. As many as 1,100 were detained – and some still are – on the basis of secret evidence, which no one could question or verify, and denied access to their lawyers. In addition, many Islamic centers were raided without due cause.

Most deplorable was the raid by the U.S. Customs Department, the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS), and the FBI on the highly reputed and world-renowned International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) and its affiliates. Their valuable research files were confiscated, and their computers were trashed. The homes of several staff members were also broken into and searched, while the people who had happened to home at time where held at gunpoint.

All of this was the result of a biased tip that could not be verified, a mere allegation that could have been cleared up in a more honorable ways To date, no apology or a decent explanation has been offered for this dishonorable intrusion. Moreover, several Islamic charities have been shut down and their accounts frozen. And so the many needy and vulnerable people that they served remain uncared for in their pitiable condition during these hard times.

Muslim Americans and Arab-Americans routinely suffer the humiliation of false arrest, deboarding from airplanes, as well as inappropriate property searches and seizures. Others are discriminated against when it comes to employment or at work place, and face business setbacks and social hatred. Some immigrants returning after visits from abroad are denied entry based on racial profiling or mere suspicion. And, many decent people from Muslim countries hesitate to come here, not due to any implication in some criminal activity, but because they are targeted for interviews, registration, and fingerprinting.

In November, the INS asked persons with visas from the Middle East and South Asia to report to its offices for registration. Thousands of those who did so were arrested on arrival. No attempts were made to verify their legal status, and they were let go only after being interviewed and fingerprinted. Thousands of others were imprisoned on frivolous charges or subjected to deportation proceedings. As a result, thousands of Muslims fled to Canada. Observing this situation, the UN High Commission on Refugees called on the Bush administration to stop such detentions of men, especially when the families would be left stranded.

All colleges and universities must now submit information on foreign students in a new online tracking system, and Arab and Muslim students are specifically subjected to new registration requirements. Following these new guidelines, the INS recently arrested students who were not signed up for enough credit hours.

And, despite the recent announcement by immigration officials that parts of the contentious registration program have been dropped, critics say that thousands are still being deported and many others face onerous screening procedures when they travel. Furthermore, the procedure is fundamentally biased and is not working, because it has not led to a single terrorist prosecution.

Some Recent Events

At the time of this writing, 660 adults and three teenagers, mostly captured during the war in Afghanistan, are interned in the federal prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. They are held without any charge or a prisoner-of-war status, and thus are denied recourse to any legal system. In fact, three American Muslims recently assigned to work at this prison were accused of violating classified prison procedures.

A much-publicized case, and one worth examining, is that of Captain James (Yousef) Yee, an Islamic chaplain serving in this prison. He was arrested on September 10, 2003, and kept illegally in isolation for a month without being charged. He was then charged with “mishandling classified information after authorities found maps of the prison and information about detainees in his possession” – nothing new for a chaplain. Despite these minor charges, he was held in maximum security until his attorney’s protests resulted in his transfer to a minimum security facility. To top it off, the authorities involved could not back up their allegations in court hearings.           

Meanwhile, another furor developed: The training received by Muslim chaplains generates extremism. At present, Muslim chaplains are trained at two institutions: the Graduate School of Islamic Social Sciences (GSISS), situated in Leesburg, Virginia, and affiliated with IIIT, and the Islamic American University in Southfield, Michigan. These two schools were raided (the first for the second time) on the accusation that they bred Wahhabi extremism (allegedly associated with a specific, narrow, and exclusionary agenda). Senator Schumer (D-NY) was in the forefront of these accusations.

There is nothing in the curricula or the training that could give rise to such a charge. The students and faculty of GSISS, while being interviewed by National Public Radio, dwelled on its open and thought-stimulating approach to scholarship, emphasizing that it very much encouraged, rather than stifled (the opposite of radicalism), personal exploration.   

The groundless nature of the trumped-up charges against Captain Yee is exposed by the facts that all of them were dropped and that he was reinstated as a chaplain at a mainland facility. In order to smear him, however, he is now being charged with downloading pornography and adultery.

The Aftermath of the US PATRIOT Act

Much of the above happened as a result of the euphemistically entitled US PATRIOT Act, which was enacted hastily in the aftermath of 9/11 and rammed through Congress, by the administration, without much discussion or debate. And since the American Muslim community lacks political clout, Congress easily acquiesced to the administration’s demand for additional powers to fight terrorism. The result, amply illustrated above, was sacrificing the constitutional protections provided to Arabs and Muslims so that they could be subjected to wholesale scrutiny.

Yet another bill, the Domestic Security Enhancement Act of 2003 (dubbed by many as PATRIOT II) leaked out by the Justice Department, would have granted the government sweeping powers to deport and secretly spy upon, wiretap, imprison, and punish American citizens and legal immigrants under the terms of a broadly defined war against “terrorism.” Needless to say, this generated a great deal of criticism, and Attorney General John Ashcroft eventually withdrew this further violation of civil liberties.

On December 18, 2003, two federal appeals courts dealt a double blow to these policies by ruling that the government had violated the civil rights of detainees. The Second Circuit Court of Appeals in New York held that the administration does not have the power to detain an American citizen seized on its soil as an “enemy combatant,” ruling that only Congress can authorize such detentions.

And in San Francisco, the U.S. Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that the U.S. cannot imprison “enemy combatants” indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay: “Even in times of national emergency – indeed, particularly in such times – it is the obligation of the Judicial Branch to ensure the preservation of our constitutional values and to prevent the Executive Branch from running roughshod over the rights of citizens and aliens alike,” the Ninth Circuit panel said. 

Opposition to Civil Rights Violations

The Founding Fathers, who established this country on the principles of freedom, justice, equality, and democracy, framed the constitution in a way to ensure that the rights of citizens would be protected. Unfortunately, the trauma of 9/11 has given rise to laws that violate these rights.   

However, such civil rights watchdog groups, including the prominent ACLU, immediately challenged these laws. The ACLU opposed many provisions of the PATRIOT Act and, along with the Center for National Security Studies, sued the Bush administration over its secret detention of suspected terrorists after 9/11. Sensing an erosion of civil liberties, several local civil rights groups increasingly began to raise their objections to the PATRIOT Act. Toward the end of 2003, about 300 cities and other jurisdictions had passed resolutions challenging the provisions of this act.

Interfaith Dialog and Collaboration

One positive development that has come out of this whole experience is the rise of global movements standing for the common causes of humanity: protecting democratic and human rights and establishing peace and justice throughout the world.  

Another very positive development is that the Muslim community, which used to keep mostly to itself and rarely ventured out, has now become part and parcel of local and national organizations actively involved in interfaith communication. The need to join such activities finally became crystal clear to the Muslim community, which now realizes its responsibility, as a community, to communicate and collaborate with the broader American society. Muslims also have realized that in order to succeed in their efforts, they must work at the grassroots level by forming coalitions and alliances with other faith groups and working for common causes.

Several examples of these associations could be cited.  A most notable one is the relationship forged with the National Council of Churches of Christ, a denomination that immediately refuted and condemned the statements by various Christian fundamentalists, calling them “not only factually untrue and offensive, but also dangerous to the national security of every nation where Christians and Muslims are seeking a peaceful relation.”

Coordination within the Community

Although the last item in this discussion, coordination within the Muslim community is one of the most important undertakings that American Muslims must engage in if they are to achieve anything of significance for their community.

What are the strengths of American Muslim community? It has a tremendous diversity in racial, ethnic, cultural, linguistic, and national origin components, all of which give it the unique ability of interacting with various local segments. In addition, this diversity provides an international forum, for it is found within a common identity that, in general, conforms to the universal ummah.

Moreover, its numbers are substantial: 6 to 8 million, and growing at a rate of 6% versus 0.9% for the remainder. Muslims are among the best educated members of this country and are relatively well off in economic terms. And, in their commitment to Allah and humanity, Muslim doctors, lawyers, teachers, accountants, and businessmen are serving inner cities, as well rural areas, and are providing more than their due share to defending this country.

These are great portents for the future generations raised up in the American milieu. Moreover, as these young Muslims do not suffer from the great hindrance of their parents’ cultural baggage, they interact and cooperate freely across racial and ethnic bounds. Thus, there is great hope for a unified agenda on a common vision.

The Current Situation

Despite their vital strengths, however, American Muslims do not have much of a voice because they lack political clout. Communities with much smaller numbers carry greater political weight, and so their rights are well protected.

Granted that 9/11 has caused Muslims to realize that their various organizations and communities must come closer together so that they can consult and work with each other for their common good. However, nothing concrete has happened in this area yet, because they are still very much divided. Aminah McCloud, an African-American Muslim, author of several books on Islam in the U.S., and professor of Islamic studies at DePaul University in Chicago says: “It’s a mess. There is little unity, because everybody is fragmented along regional lines.”

Based on this, a recent article in Al-Ahram Weekly online captioned “Divided They Fall” concludes: “ American Muslims hardly speak with one voice, nor do they have any unifying body or council. To speak of the Muslim lobby is to speak of many different groups that do not necessarily share the same interests.”

All parties acknowledge that steps must be taken to rectify the situation. McCloud suggests that “risk takers” should come out and hammer together a unified front. Abdurrahman al-Amoudi, the now-imprisoned American Muslim Council’s (AMC) ex-executive director, said during an Islam Online interview: “The challenge is to establish common ground” and that the end goal was “not necessarily to unite the Muslim community – we are too diverse for such idealism – but to achieve results through coordination. Harmony is much more important than unity.”

This resonates very well with what other American Muslim community representatives, the likes of Dr. Ahmed Yousef, the executive director of United Association for Studies and Research, have been advocating for some time now.

During the Labor Day weekend in October 2003, the American Muslim Political Coordinating Council, which consists of CAIR and several other groups, announced that the top concern of American Muslims is the continued threat to civil rights, and that they must work to defend it for all Americans. Meanwhile, AMC announced that it would amalgamate with its parent organization, the American Muslim Alliance. But that soon fell through. CAIR has recently come up with a proposal to inform the community and build up momentum on this central issue. It is high time that American Muslims leave their petty bickering aside and concentrate on what serves the community’s higher good – an objective so very emphatically enunciated in the Qur’an and other Islamic sources.