Wayne Rawlins cherishes the serenity he feels as he waits for the sun to set; it fills him with a sense of piety and oneness with the Creator.

Rawlins, of Miramar, is observing Ramadan, the annual Islamic month of fasting when Muslims worldwide abstain from earthly pleasures such as food, drink and smoking between sun-up and sundown.

He has joined 70,000 other Florida Muslims in observing the holy month.

Fasting during Ramadan is one of five “pillars” or requirements of Islam that include the profession of faith, or shahada, declaring there is no God but God and Muhammad was His prophet; fasting during Ramadan; giving to charity or zakat; and the annual pilgrimage to Mecca known as the Hajj.

The observance began this year on Aug. 12 and ends around Sept. 11 with a festival called Eid-ul-Fitr.

For Rawlins, the experience of fasting is bittersweet: the strife in his country over his religion, the lessons of the month in restraint and submission to God’s will, and the difference in cultural perspectives on faith.

His experience is unique amongst American Muslims, especially so because of his heritage.

“I guess because of growing up in America as an African American I’m experiencing it very differently than people who immigrated here willingly,” Rawlings said. “We Americans adopted certain cultures; I say that plural because we take from a culture here and there, so I guess you can say there is a prism.”

Rawlins points to the camaraderie among the nation’s immigrant Muslims who tend to bond with those from their homelands. American converts don’t have that cultural luxury or familiarity with the religious “norms” of the season, just a spiritual understanding of the message of Ramadan: peace, empathy with those who are less fortunate and a renewal of commitment to God.

“For African Americans, we don’t have that cultural connection. One might think that the Muslims from Africa would have a natural bonding with the African Americans but that is not always the case,” he said. “Most African-American Muslims were not raised in a Muslim household; we have accepted Islam somewhere along our upbringing. It typically was not the religion of our parents. That is a very different prism that other Muslims that come to the United States have. I think we come with more of a vigor.”

Rawlins, who attends a mosque in Miami Gardens where the congregation tends to break their daily fast with an Asian meal of rice, [curried] goat and other delicacies not typical of a Southern, African-American cuisine, is doing something different this year. He is breaking his fast in the method of the Prophet Muhammad, with dates and a fluid, and then forgoing a large meal before prayers and bed time.

“I won’t eat a meal until morning before the sun rising; we will take some food then,” he said. One recent day’s meal was macaroni and cheese, chicken soup and water melon.

His reasons for not dining with his mostly Asian congregation?

“I wanted the spiritual atonements that go along with Ramadan; it’s to eat less, to speak less and to pray more, read more Qur’an,” Rawlins said. “This year I wanted the spiritual aspect of it all.”

Hamid al-Amin of Miami converted to Islam in 1992 while in prison and now devotes much of his time between looking for a job to helping the American Muslim Association of North America (AMANA) perform civic deeds while spreading knowledge of Islam in America.

Al-Amin was reared in Miami in a Southern Baptist home with a slew of siblings, some of whom also have adopted the Islamic lifestyle. He said the change has morphed his life into something wholesome.

He does not notice a difference between his ethnicity as an African American and the ethnicities of other Muslims. What he does notice, he said, is societal pressure because of what he said was misinformation being circulated about his adopted faith.

“With the media and other people talking about Islam being a terrorist religion, everything you hear is negative. But that’s not true. If that were the case, I would not be Muslim. I don’t condone violence,” he said.

Like many Muslims, al-Amin is reminded of his duty and of the religious commandments during Ramadan.

“It teaches you restraint; it teaches you how to be patient and tolerant. There are so many, many things that help the individual spiritually, mentally and physically,” he said.

Sheikh Rafiq Mahdi, 55, the Imam or prayer leader of Masjid al-Iman in Fort Lauderdale, followed an intellectual path to Islam that involved spiritual exploration. A native of Knoxville, Tenn., Mahdi grew up in a traditional Christian, African-American household whose members were devout church-goers.

The majority of his congregation are from elsewhere and the only difference in the Ramadan experience he can see between those who have been Muslims for generations and African Americans who have embraced the faith on their own lies in the fact that the Americans did not grow up with the cultural traditions associated with Ramadan. Those traditions may vary from country to country, he said.

Ramadan brings familiar feelings to Mahdi that he used to have during Christmas with his family.

“When I think back on it, it was a very good beginning for me and, when I fast in Ramadan, some of the feelings of warmth, of inclusiveness, of having a home, they come back,” he said.

Photo: Wayne Rawlins

http://www.sfltimes.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=5162&Itemid=144

Twenty local leaders joined together Thursday against the Sept. 11 plans
By Chad Smith
Staff writer

Published: Friday, September 3, 2010 at 6:01 a.m.
Last Modified: Friday, September 3, 2010 at 12:02 a.m.
( page of 3 )

Twenty religious leaders representing three faiths and a number of denominations stood together on the steps of City Hall at noon Thursday as a show of solidarity against a small Gainesville church that has commanded worldwide attention for its plan to burn the Quran on Sept. 11.

With the city at the “center of a spiritual storm,” the Rev. Larry Reimer, the minister of the United Church of Gainesville, called for citizens to rally around Muslims “in a time when so much venom is directed toward them.”

While the nationally debated “ground zero mosque” wasn’t mentioned by name, the increasingly virulent discussion about Islam in this country was clearly implied.

The stated common enemy, though, was Terry Jones, the senior pastor at Dove World Outreach Center, a 50-member church nestled among quiet neighborhoods in northwest Gainesville.

To mark the ninth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks, Jones and his congregation have planned to burn the Muslim holy book on their church’s lawn.

The stunt has made international headlines and has provoked a number of death threats.

While Muslim leaders from Cairo to Orlando have

condemned Jones, some have also condemned the threats of violence against him.

In a statement released Wednesday and signed by 15 imams and Ahmed Al Mehdawi of the Islamic Center of Gainesville, the American Muslim Association of North America called “all Muslims, friends and associates to stop any plan for any sort of violence against the Dove World Church in Gainesville, Florida.”

Ziad Ghanimi, the spokesman for the Gainesville Muslim Imitative, formed about a month ago to counter the growing anti-Islam rhetoric, issued a similar statement, calling for Muslims to “see this challenge as an opportunity to engage our respective communities in constructive discussions about the true principles of Islam which include freedom of religion and tolerance.”

In an interview Thursday, Ghanimi said media outlets like CNN have given Jones a platform to spread his message against Islam and others, like The Wall Street Journal, have given him a false boost in stature by calling Dove World a “mega-church.”

Now, he said, the Qatar-based international news network Al Jazeera is planning to cover the Quran burning.

“We have to put things into context,” Ghanimi said. “It is a group of 30 people.”

But containing this to a local issue is next to impossible in the age of social networking, as Dove World has taken to YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to promote itself.

It didn’t take long for the world to notice.

“In this day and age, an event happening in a small town can have effects around the globe,” Wajeeh Bajwa, the president of the Orlando chapter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, said at City Hall.

The event on Thursday, though, was a hopeful one for Saeed Khan, a former president of the Muslim Association of North Central Florida.

“More than 30 years ago, we as a family — me and my wife — decided to settle here,” Khan told the crowd. “Looking back, looking at all of you, looking at how Gainesville is responding to this, we made an excellent choice.”

Later, during the City Commission’s meeting, Mayor Craig Lowe issued a proclamation declaring Sept. 11 “Interfaith Solidarity Day.”

The Rev. Milford Lewis Griner, the pastor at Hall Chapel United Methodist Church in Rochelle, gave what was one of the more rousing addresses, calling for the community to “rise up with boldness and swift determination and show forth love, peace and understanding at this time in our history.”

“Let it be declared,” Griner continued, “that we stood together and spoke and prayed as one community and collectively became a new biblical David that brought down a new and threatening Goliath with a spiritual stone of humanity.”

To show the commonalities among the three Abrahamic religions, Rabbi David Kaiman of Congregation B’nai Israel quoted passages from the Torah, Bible and Quran that referenced their belief in one God and concluded: “Peace. Shalom. Salaam.”

Ziad Ghanimi, the spokesman for the Gainesville Muslim Imitative, formed about a month ago to counter the growing anti-Islam rhetoric, issued a similar statement, calling for Muslims to “see this challenge as an opportunity to engage our respective communities in constructive discussions about the true principles of Islam which include freedom of religion and tolerance.”

In an interview Thursday, Ghanimi said media outlets like CNN have given Jones a platform to spread his message against Islam and others, like The Wall Street Journal, have given him a false boost in stature by calling Dove World a “mega-church.”

Now, he said, the Qatar-based international news network Al Jazeera is planning to cover the Quran burning.

“We have to put things into context,” Ghanimi said. “It is a group of 30 people.”

But containing this to a local issue is next to impossible in the age of social networking, as Dove World has taken to YouTube, Facebook and Twitter to promote itself.

It didn’t take long for the world to notice.

“In this day and age, an event happening in a small town can have effects around the globe,” Wajeeh Bajwa, the president of the Orlando chapter of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community, said at City Hall.

The event on Thursday, though, was a hopeful one for Saeed Khan, a former president of the Muslim Association of North Central Florida.

“More than 30 years ago, we as a family — me and my wife — decided to settle here,” Khan told the crowd. “Looking back, looking at all of you, looking at how Gainesville is responding to this, we made an excellent choice.”

Later, during the City Commission’s meeting, Mayor Craig Lowe issued a proclamation declaring Sept. 11 “Interfaith Solidarity Day.”

The Rev. Milford Lewis Griner, the pastor at Hall Chapel United Methodist Church in Rochelle, gave what was one of the more rousing addresses, calling for the community to “rise up with boldness and swift determination and show forth love, peace and understanding at this time in our history.”

“Let it be declared,” Griner continued, “that we stood together and spoke and prayed as one community and collectively became a new biblical David that brought down a new and threatening Goliath with a spiritual stone of humanity.”

To show the commonalities among the three Abrahamic religions, Rabbi David Kaiman of Congregation B’nai Israel quoted passages from the Torah, Bible and Quran that referenced their belief in one God and concluded: “Peace. Shalom. Salaam.”

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100903/ARTICLES/100909873/1118?p=1&tc=pg

By Chad Smith

Published: Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at 1:20 p.m.
Last Modified: Wednesday, September 1, 2010 at 1:20 p.m.

To read more posts by Chad Smith, visit the County Lines & City Limits blog here.
Muslim organizations have responded to the death threat against Dove World Outreach Center’s pastor that was mailed to The Sun by condemning any violence against the church, which plans to hold a Quran burning on Sept. 11.

In a statement signed by 15 imams and Ahmed Al Mehdawi of the Islamic Center of Gainesville, the American Muslim Association of North America called “all Muslims, friends and associates to stop any plan for any sort of violence against the Dove World Church in Gainesville, Florida.”

“We would like to remind that Islam calls for vigorous condemnation of such hateful acts, but always within the margins of law and order. It is of the utmost importance that we react, not out of emotions, but according to our religion. It was God Almighty, who said in the Holy Qur’an, ‘Good and evil are not the same. React to your enemy with what is better so that your enemy may become your good friend,’” the statement, released Wednesday, said.

The group still made it clear that it was adamantly opposed to Dove World’s plan.

“We also strongly believe that, although a legal right of expression, a call to burn the Qur’an on September 11 still doesn’t reflect American values,” the group said. “In fact their plan mimics the mentality of those extremists they claim to be their enemies. We condemn this type of hatred and bigotry no matter who it comes from.”

The local Muslim community also reacted with a similar statement.

“The Muslim community of Gainesville strongly condemns violence of any form against Pastor Terry Jones or The Dove Outreach Center and its members,” wrote Ziad Ghanimi, the spokesman for the Gainesville Muslim Imitative. “Muslims of Gainesville are calling all Muslims in the United States and abroad to refrain from violence and see this challenge as an opportunity to engage our respective communities in constructive discussions about the true principles of Islam which include freedom of religion and tolerance.”

THE PRESS RELEASE:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
September 1, 2010

AMANA, THE AMERICAN MUSLIM ASSOCIATION OF NORTH AMERICA CALLS ON ALL MUSLIMS IN AND OUTSIDE THE US NOT TO USE ANY FORM OF VIOLENCE AGAINST THE DOVE WORLD CHURCH.

RE: International Protests Begin Ahead of Sept. 11 Qur’an Burning Event in Florida
About 100 Indonesian Muslims protested outside the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta on Friday 27, 2010, Agence France-Press reported, with some threatening of war if the plan to burn Qur’an on the ninth anniversary of the 9l11 terror attack!

(Miami-September 1, 2010) AMANA, the American Muslim Association of North America calls all Muslims, friends and associates to stop any plan for any sort of violence against the Dove World Church in Gainesville, Florida.

It is clear to us that this Church’s leadership is not only totally ignorant of the message of the Qur’an, but also clearly ignorant of the teachings of Jesus Christ who said, “But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies, do good to those who hate you, bless those who curse you, pray for those who mistreat you”. (Luke 6:27-28)

Whereas burning the Qur’an will hurt the feelings of more than 1.7 Billion Muslims around the globe;

Whereas burning the Qur’an will bring more hate between Americans; and also may bring hate and
violence against Americans abroad;

Whereas throughout the Qur’an Muslims are urged to be merciful and just. Allah (SW) mentions in the Qur’an the great quality of the Muslim who controls his/her anger;

Whereas Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon Him) said: “Even at war you must not attack or
damage any place of worship” (Churches, Synagogues, Mosques and others)

We would like to remind that Islam calls for vigorous condemnation of such hateful acts, but
always within the margins of law and order. It is of the utmost importance that we react, not
out of emotions, but according to our religion. It was God Almighty, who said in the Holy Qur’an,
“Good and evil are not the same. React to your enemy with what is better so that your enemy may become your good friend.” (41:34) The consensus of our scholars teach us that this verse means that we should use forbearance, wisdom and a good standard of character to all non-violent provocations.

We also strongly believe that, although a legal right of expression, a call to burn the Qur’an on September 11 still doesn’t reflect American values. In fact their plan mimics the mentality of those extremists they claim to be their enemies. We condemn this type of hatred and bigotry no matter who it comes from.

Therefore let it be clear that we Muslims are not allowed to use any form of violence
against the Dove World Church.

IMAMS WHO SUPPORT THIS STATEMENT:
IMAM Ibrahim Dremali, AMANA Advisor
IMAM Rafiq Mahdi, Al Iman Mosque
IMAM Ismet Accin, Miami Gardens Mosque
IMAM Nasir Ahmed, Al Ansar Mosque
IMAM Foad Farahi, Shamsuddin Mosque
IMAM Saad Odeh, Belle Glade Mosque
IMAM Zakaria Badat, An Noor Mosque
IMAM Roshan Ali, Miami Downtown Mosque
IMAM Khalil Hussien, Jamaat Al Mumineen Mosque
IMAM Qasim Khan, Muslim Alliance of North America
IMAM Munir Khan, Islamic Movement of S. Florida Mosque
IMAM Hassan Sabri, Islamic Center of South Florida Mosque
IMAM Rasheed Mohammad, Islamic Center of Broward Mosque
IMAM Yahya Ederer, Islamic Foundation of S. Florida Mosque
IMAM Mohamed Al Darasani, Islamic Center for Peace Mosque
President Ahmed Al Mehdawi, Islamic Center of Gainesville

MEDIA CONTACT:
Sofian Zakkout: (305) 898-9314

END OF MESSAGE

AMANA, 183 NE 166 Street, Miami, FL 33162, Tel. 305-898-9314
E-mail: amanavoice@gmail.com – Website: www.amanavoice.com

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100901/ARTICLES/100909964

By Chad Smith
Staff writer

Published: Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 3:05 p.m.
Last Modified: Thursday, September 2, 2010 at 3:05 p.m.
Twenty religious leaders representing three faiths and a number of denominations stood together on the steps of Gainesville’s City Hall at noon Thursday as a show of solidarity against a small church that has commanded worldwide attention for its plan to burn the Quran on Sept. 11.

Muslim, Christian and Jewish clergy members and religious leaders emphatically denounced the 50-member Dove World Outreach Center and its senior pastor, Terry Jones, whose plan to burn copies of the Muslim holy book on the church’s front lawn has sparked promises of violence.

Larry Reimer, the minister the United Church of Gainesville, said the city is in the “center of a spiritual storm” and called for area residents to rally around Muslims “in a time when so much venom is directed toward them.”

Looking at the few dozen people gathered in front of City Hall, Saeed Khan, a past president of the Muslim Association of North Central Florida, said he was glad to see the community coming together.

“More than 30 years ago, we as a family – me and my wife – decided to settle here,” said Khan, a professor of pathology at the University of Florida. “Looking back, looking at all of you, looking at how Gainesville is responding to this, we made an excellent choice.”

The Rev. Milford Lewis Griner, the pastor at Hall Chapel United Methodist Church in Rochelle, gave what was one of the more rousing addresses, calling for the community to “rise up with boldness and swift determination and show forth love, peace and understanding at this time in our history.”

“Let it be declared,” Griner continued, “that we stood together and spoke and prayed as one community and collectively became a new biblical David that brought down a new and threatening Goliath with a spiritual stone of humanity.”

Sources: http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100902/ARTICLES/100909904/1118?Title=Religious-leaders-call-for-solidarity-against-Quran-burning

By Jerry Markon
Washington Post Staff Writer
Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Muslim leaders are debating the wisdom of inviting FBI agents to mosques to provide protection at a time of rising anti-Muslim rhetoric and debate about the proposed Islamic community center near Ground Zero.

The issue surfaced Tuesday as word spread of a Nashville mosque’s decision to host two FBI agents at a prayer service last Saturday night. The agents discussed the investigation of a fire, suspected to be arson, at a planned mosque in nearby Murfreesboro, a project that has also triggered vehement opposition. The agents then silently observed prayers from the back row.

“I don’t think it’s really appropriate to station agents in mosques,” said Ibrahim Hooper, a spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington. “It has a chilling effect on a house of worship, and we would have concerns that agents would also be gathering information on ordinary worshipers.”

The dispute reflects the tensions between the FBI and some Muslims since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks. The FBI has reached out to Muslims but also tried to keep tabs on their community, staying alert for signs of terrorist plots. A coalition of leading Muslim groups last year threatened to suspend contacts with the bureau over what it called inappropriate infiltration of mosques.

But others are welcoming the FBI’s presence at a time of intense debate over U.S. Muslims and their houses of worship. A recent Time magazine poll found that 43 percent of Americans hold unfavorable views of Muslims amid controversy over the proposed Islamic centers near Ground Zero and in the Nashville suburbs.

“I think people felt reassured that the FBI is helping us and supporting us and will make sure that nothing happens to our mosque,” said Amir Arain, a spokesman for the Islamic Center of Nashville, which invited the two agents in response to Saturday morning’s fire at the construction site of the Murfreesboro mosque.

“That was a hate crime, so the FBI needs to be involved,” said Arain, who said the fire was the third incident of vandalism at a Nashville-area mosque this year.

Supervisory Special Agent Scott Augenbaum, a spokesman for the FBI’s Nashville office, said agents attended the prayer service “because we were invited guests” and to reinforce that “hate crimes and violations of civil rights are very important priorities for the FBI.”

“We have a long-standing relationship with the Muslim community,” said Augenbaum, adding that the FBI’s outreach “is important for us to build bridges, to build relationships out there.” FBI and other federal officials met with local Muslim leaders Monday at the U.S. attorney’s office in Nashville, seeking to ease their concerns about violence.

The FBI, along with local officials and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, is investigating Saturday’s fire. Glenn Anderson, special agent in charge of the ATF’s Nashville field division, said the early morning blaze destroyed a dump truck at the mosque site and damaged three other construction vehicles.

He said that gasoline was apparently poured over the vehicles and that officials “are leaning toward arson,” pending laboratory results.

Saleh Sbenaty, a spokesman for the planned 52,900-square-foot Islamic center, which will include a school and swimming pool, said congregants are “really scared” but determined to proceed with construction. “This is our constitutional right,” he said.

Sbenaty said that there should be a law enforcement presence at prayer services but that it should be police, not the FBI. “There is some sensitivity about the FBI,” he said. “People think the FBI is quicker to investigate terrorism than when someone is terrorizing the Islamic community.”

But Agha Saeed, national chairman of the American Muslim Taskforce on Civil Rights and Elections – a coalition of leading Muslim groups – said he “applauded and welcomed” the FBI’s presence at the Saturday prayers.

“That’s the FBI’s job: to protect citizens,” said Saeed, whose organization threatened to suspend contacts with the FBI last year and who still says the FBI’s relationship with the Muslim community is “troubled.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/31/AR2010083106071.html

By DAVID E. MILLER | THE MEDIA LINE

Published: Sep 1, 2010 01:53 Updated: Sep 1, 2010 01:53

CAIRO: Egyptâ??s most senior Coptic Christian cleric, Pope Shenouda III, may be summoned to court and forced to release an alleged convert to Islam.

A group of Islamist lawyers has appealed to Egyptâ??s administrative court demanding that the Coptic Church release Camillia Shehata, the wife of a Coptic preacher, whom they allege has been forcibly incarcerated by the church. The court hearing is scheduled for Nov. 2.

Shehata, 24, left her home at the southern city of Dir-Moas in July and disappeared for five days. She was eventually found by Egyptian security forces and delivered to the church, where she is said to be currently held.

Originally, rumors surrounding Shehataâ??s possible kidnapping and forced conversion to Islam sparked anti-Muslim protests by Copts in the Egyptian capital Cairo and in Shehataâ??s province of Minya.

This week, human rights organizations and Muslim demonstrators reversed the charges, demanding that the Coptic Church expose Shehata to the public eye.

â??We are concerned for Shehataâ??s safety and personal liberty,â? Hossam Bahgat, Executive Director of the Cairo-based Egyptian Initiative for Human Rights, told The Media Line. â??Shehata left her family home willingly and was nevertheless forcibly returned to her family. There is no legal basis for an adult citizen to be transferred to their religious community or his family.â?

Bahgat added that the forced return of Shehata to her family would only exacerbate existing sectarian tensions.

â??The state and the Church may think that by returning her they will preempt sectarian tension, but in fact we warn that this behavior will only add to tensions in an alarmingly tense atmosphere,â? Bahgat said. â??The Coptic community is already vulnerable and exposed to sectarian violence. This may escalate the situation to disturbing levels.â?

Gamal â??Id, director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information, went further, calling Shehataâ??s disappearance an â??abductionâ? by the Coptic Church. In a press conference marking â??the International Day against Enforced Disappearanceâ? he blamed the Egyptian government for allowing the Church to function as a â??state against the stateâ?.

On Saturday hundreds of Muslims demonstrated across from the Nour mosque following evening prayers, calling on Shehata to â??return to the Muslim community.â?

The protesters carried pictures of Shehata wearing a black veil and signs reading â??I will die a Muslim,â? reported the Egyptian daily Al-Masry Al-Youm.

Copts are said to comprise some 9 percent of Egyptâ??s 80 million strong population.

Dalia Ziada, director of the American Islamic Congress in Cairo, blamed the current crisis on both Muslims and Christians.

â??Both sides are exaggerating,â? she told The Media Line. â??The problem in our society is that both sides try to play God and decide for people which religion to have. This reflects a problem of absence of religious tolerance.â?

â??In the end,â? she said, â??itâ??s a matter of personal choice for Shehata.â

Source: Arab News

http://www.sauditelegraph.com/news/newsfull.php?newid=409776

By Tom Rivers trivers@batavianews.com | 0 comments

CARLTON — A Holley teen-ager was charged with a felony count of criminal possession of a weapon after allegedly firing a shotgun outside a mosque in Waterport on Monday night.

Mark Vendetti, 17, of Holley was incarcerated in lieu of $10,000 bail or $20,000 bond for the incident that frightened the Muslim congregation on Fuller Road. Vendetti and four other Holley teens — Tim Weader, 17; Dylan Phillips, 18; Jeff Donahue, 18; and Anthony Ogden, 18 — also were charged with disruption of a religious service. Two other teens, 16 or younger, also may face charges, Sheriff Scott Hess said.

The Holley youths allegedly drove two vehicles outside the mosque and were yelling obscenities and beeping a car alarm while members were inside the mosque praying. When the noise persisted, some members went outside. The two vehicles were driven next to each other, going north down the dirt road.

One church member David Bell, 29, was near the road and was struck by one of the vehicles. He had a gash in his tongue, a swollen bottom lip and sore hip on Tuesday morning. Hess said deputies are investigating the hit-and-run.

Bell and about a dozen members of the mosque stayed outside the Sheriff’s Department all night and until about 10 this morning.

“I don’t want to see it swept under the rug,” Bell said Tuesday morning before going to the hospital. “It was a very ugly act.”

Bell and other members of the mosque said the site has frequently been a target of hate crimes, but nothing as serious as Monday night. Members often endure obscenities screamed by passing motorists. Sometimes cars will do figure 8s on the church property, squeal their tires and honk their horns to disrupt prayer services.

“Unfortunately it seems to periodically occur,” District Attorney Joseph Cardone said about the crimes against the Muslim community.

Cardone and Hess met with the church members Tuesday morning following their all-night stay at the parking lot in the Public Safety Building.

“We’re going to give our full time and attention to the situation,” Cardone said. “This is something we’re taking very serious and it will be addressed.”

The district attorney and the Sheriff’s Department want to prevent further escalation of the crimes against the Muslim community, Cardone and Hess said.

Bilal Huzair, 39, praised the District Attorney’s Office and Sheriff’s Department for the quick action. Huzair has been attending the World Sufi Foundation mosque for 20 years. The congregation has grown to about 100 members since the mosque was founded in 1974.

Huzair said the immediate neighbors respect the mosque members.

“Our neighbors are very friendly,” he said. “They see there’s no difference in who we are. We’re people just like they are. It’s not our neighbors who did this.”

Cardone, speaking before several Rochester television cameras on Tuesday, didn’t want Orleans County to get a bad reputation because of Monday’s act.

“This is not something that is predominant in our community,” he told the television reporters. “This is a great community we have in Orleans County.”

The Holley youths are due to appear in Carlton Town Court at 6 p.m. on Sept. 6.

http://thedailynewsonline.com/news/article_6c37059e-b4fa-11df-bd11-001cc4c03286.html

By Tara Bahrampour
Washington Post Staff Writer
Tuesday, August 31, 2010

As expression of anti-Muslim sentiment has risen across the United States in recent weeks, Muslim leaders say they are stepping up efforts to unify their communities and push for greater public and political engagement.

While some U.S. Muslim groups tried after Sept. 11, 2001, to promote greater dialogue between Muslims and non-Muslims, recent events make it clear that not enough has been done, said Salam Al-Marayati, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), who spoke Monday at an interfaith news conference at Western Presbyterian Church in the District.

“Definitely there is the need for an American Muslim narrative,” Al-Marayati said, adding that U.S. Muslims need to become more savvy technically and politically. “The story of what mainstream American Muslims stand for has not been told effectively. We as Muslim Americans need to do a lot of changing and soul-searching.”

The interfaith event was among a surge of responses to hostility sparked by a proposed Islamic center near Ground Zero in Manhattan. Protesters have targeted mosques under construction elsewhere in the country; a Florida church announced that it will burn Korans on Sept. 11; and a Muslim taxi driver was stabbed in New York.

On Tuesday, the Congressional Muslim Staff Association will hold a panel on Capitol Hill titled “Muslims in America: Myths and Realities: A discussion on faith in the Wake of the Park 51 Controversy,” and on Monday, a grass-roots organization called My Faith My Voice unveiled a public service announcement showcasing diverse Muslims discussing their religion.

Although Muslims have made some inroads into mainstream American politics and media in recent years, the pace has not been rapid enough, community leaders say, noting that the diversity of sects, native languages and ethnicities has made it harder for a unified voice to emerge.

The community in the United States is also relatively new, said Naeem Baig, executive director of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) Council for Social Justice, who also spoke at the interfaith event.

“For Muslim organizations, it’s still a learning process,” he said in an interview, adding that while past efforts to consolidate a message failed to gain traction, the current crisis has reminded Muslim groups of the necessity of renewing that push. Several groups, including the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), ICNA and MPAC, are working on forming a National Muslim Leadership Alliance, Baig said.

“What’s pushing us now to jointly work together, to come up with some strategy, is it is not affecting just one Muslim organization, it is affecting Muslims,” he said. “There’s a real serious threat of violence against individuals.”

Asma Hanif, chair of the Council of Muslim Organizations in the Washington area and one of the interfaith speakers, said community leaders may not have realized the lasting damage of the Sept. 11 attacks to Muslims’ image.

“We didn’t think it was going to have this kind of continuing effect, go on and on and on,” she said.

In addition, mainstream Muslims must combat the negative publicity created by those who commit terrorist acts in the name of Islam, Al-Marayati said.

“Our message isn’t as sensational as the extremists’ message,” he said, adding that better organization would help disseminate mainstream views.

“We’ve had scholars issue a fatwa against terrorism; we’ve had national grass-roots campaigns to fight terrorism. The substance is there, but not the reach, though it is improving.”

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/08/30/AR2010083005326.html

By Howard Simon
Benetta Standly

Published: Monday, August 30, 2010 at 6:01 a.m.
The Dove World Outreach Center plans to commemorate the September 11th terrorist attacks by burning copies of the Quran in a presumably sincere, but woefully misguided belief that America is at war with the Islamic faith.

Burning books conjures up images of a time when Nazi brutality against a religious minority was state-sanctioned policy. The community will surely respond as suggested by University of Florida President Bernard Machen; by condemning post-9/11 intolerance of Muslims and people of Arab and south Asian descent and reaffirming a commitment to religious and ethnic diversity. Such a reaffirmation is urgently needed at this sad period in American history, when Islamophobia (really, anti-Muslim bigotry) may be becoming mainstream political rhetoric.

The ACLU of Florida encourages its members to stand with others in the community to protect the Muslim community’s religious freedom to practice its faith.

It is important that the voices of decency not let the book-burners and taunts of the bigots dominate the conversation – and ensure that the German writer Heinrich Heine’s prophesy (“Where they have burned books, they will end in burning human beings.”) is not repeated.

But with the guarantee of religious freedom for all, the fundamental American right to protest – an essential element of the First Amendment’s guarantee of freedom of expression – should also be honored.

As the Constitution protects the right to burn an American flag as a political protest, for the Ku Klux Klan to rally at a state capitol, for neo-Nazis to march down an American street, then surely there is a right to burn a Quran or any other sacred symbol.

As the Supreme Court said more than 60 years ago, a principal “function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger.”

That constitutional principle protected freedom of speech for the racist and virulently anti-Semitic Father Terminello, who gave a racially charged rant to a restless crowd in Chicago in the 1940s. But it also protected the right of black college students to peacefully protest racially segregated restaurants in Louisiana – and Rosa B. Williams’ protests of racially segregated facilities and department stores in Gainesville, almost two decades later.

The Dove World’s religiously intolerant book-burning stunt should remind us that constitutional principles protecting their right to protest also protect everyone’s right to protest – including the Gainesville community’s right to protest Dove World’s intolerance.

But defending the right of everyone to advance their point of view by whatever non-violent methods they choose does not mean we should refrain from condemning the objectives of the protest. Bigotry should be condemned for what it is.

Those of us who will use freedom of speech to condemn the burning of Qurans and the distressing intolerance that will be on display on September 11th also need to protect the constitutional right to engage in hateful and bigoted speech. The legal principles that protect the Dove World’s freedom of speech, as ugly and intolerant as it will be, also protect freedom of speech for everyone else. Weaken it for them, and we weaken it for everyone.

September 11th should be a reaffirmation of the principles that make America the beacon of liberty it still is – religious liberty and freedom of speech. We should demonstrate to the nation and the world how these uniquely American values work together.

Howard Simon is executive director, Benetta Standly is a regional director, and Sonya Rudenstine is a Gainesville board member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida.

As the Supreme Court said more than 60 years ago, a principal “function of free speech under our system of government is to invite dispute. It may indeed best serve its high purpose when it induces a condition of unrest, creates dissatisfaction with conditions as they are, or even stirs people to anger.”

That constitutional principle protected freedom of speech for the racist and virulently anti-Semitic Father Terminello, who gave a racially charged rant to a restless crowd in Chicago in the 1940s. But it also protected the right of black college students to peacefully protest racially segregated restaurants in Louisiana – and Rosa B. Williams’ protests of racially segregated facilities and department stores in Gainesville, almost two decades later.

The Dove World’s religiously intolerant book-burning stunt should remind us that constitutional principles protecting their right to protest also protect everyone’s right to protest – including the Gainesville community’s right to protest Dove World’s intolerance.

But defending the right of everyone to advance their point of view by whatever non-violent methods they choose does not mean we should refrain from condemning the objectives of the protest. Bigotry should be condemned for what it is.

Those of us who will use freedom of speech to condemn the burning of Qurans and the distressing intolerance that will be on display on September 11th also need to protect the constitutional right to engage in hateful and bigoted speech. The legal principles that protect the Dove World’s freedom of speech, as ugly and intolerant as it will be, also protect freedom of speech for everyone else. Weaken it for them, and we weaken it for everyone.

September 11th should be a reaffirmation of the principles that make America the beacon of liberty it still is – religious liberty and freedom of speech. We should demonstrate to the nation and the world how these uniquely American values work together.

Howard Simon is executive director, Benetta Standly is a regional director, and Sonya Rudenstine is a Gainesville board member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida.

Howard Simon is executive director, Benetta Standly is a regional director, and Sonya Rudenstine is a Gainesville board member of the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Florida.

http://www.gainesville.com/article/20100830/OPINION03/8301002/-1/opinion?p=1&tc=pg

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. — Supporters from across the country have called to give encouragement to a suburban Nashville mosque where a fire was the latest setback for a planned new building, officials said Sunday.

Authorities told mosque officials that four pieces of heavy construction equipment on the site were doused with an accelerant and one set ablaze, said Camie Ayash, spokeswoman for the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro. Federal investigators have not ruled it arson, saying only that the fire was being probed and asked the public to call in tips. Earlier, Ayash said that gasoline was poured on the equipment but later backed off that statement.

“No threats, not at all,” since the fire, Ayash told The Associated Press. “We’ve had a tremendous amount of calls of support.”

American Muslim leaders say the furor over the building of a mosque near ground zero has emboldened opposition groups to resist new mosques elsewhere.

Some say they oppose them because of infrastructure and traffic problems. Others have implied that the mosque would be a haven for terrorists.

The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro’s planned expansion has drawn increasingly vehement opposition from the community in recent weeks. The proposed center on 15 acres would serve some 250 families.

Digging had begun at the site where a sign that marks it as the future Islamic Center of Murfreesboro has been vandalized twice in the past several months. But Ayash said the fire “makes everybody really on edge.”

Ayash said Islamic Center officials were contacted by the sheriff’s department around 4 a.m. Saturday. Someone walking by called in the fire to 911 about 1:30 a.m.

Rutherford County resident Kevin Fisher has led protests against the mosque he says because of zoning issues, parking, traffic and a lack of transparency in the county’s planning approval process. He issued a statement Saturday to the Daily News Journal of Murfreesboro.

“We in this community believe strongly in the rule of law, and choose to settle our disagreements through peaceful deliberations and discussion, not vigilantism. … We who stand in opposition to this mosque have made our concerns known through proper legal channels and have conducted ourselves with dignity, respect and out of a spirit of love for our community, and we will continue to do so.”