A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today called on law enforcement authorities to treat an assault this morning on a Virginia Muslim woman as a hate crime.
The Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) reported that a 23-year-old Muslim woman, who is 8 months pregnant and wears and Islamic head scarf, said she was out for her morning walk in Arlington, Va., when three white men in a pick-up truck began screaming anti-Muslim and racist slurs at her. According to the victim, the men shouted, “You terrorist b*tch, go back to your country. . .You n*gger b*tch.” (The woman is African-American.) The truck drove away and then returned as the woman continued on her walk. One of the men, who was wearing military-style clothing, allegedly got out of the vehicle and began shoving the woman and preventing her from moving away. During the assault, he shouted, “You terrorist b*tch. . . We’re going to kick your a*s. . . you’re nothing.” The other men then called the attacker back to the truck and it sped off.
“We believe these types of incidents are the direct result of the growing level of virulent anti-Muslim rhetoric Americans are exposed to on the Internet, in newspaper editorial pages and on radio talk shows,” said CAIR Communications Director Ibrahim Hooper. “Our nation’s political and religious leaders must begin to challenge Islamophobic hate-mongers.” Hooper noted that a Washington, D.C., radio talk show host was recently suspended without pay for stating repeatedly that “Islam is a terrorist organization.” He added that an Illinois man was arrested just last Friday for threatening to bomb CAIR’s Capitol Hill headquarters. In July, a national council of American Muslim religious scholars issued a “fatwa,” or formal Islamic legal ruling, against terrorism and religious extremism. That fatwa has been endorsed by some 200 Islamic groups, leaders and institutions.
As you might anticipate, there is the usual racist crap: “… the real intention of this apparel is to denigrate women and deny them their individuality. As a Western woman, I regard this apparel as insulting to my sex, my religious beliefs and my cultural mores. If Muslims wish to enjoy the manifold benefits of living in the West, they must both respect and observe our customs as well as our rules.” (Katherine Barlow, Vienna, Austria)
The Guardian has learned that a radical Muslim group, Hizb ut-Tahrir, which the prime minister intends to ban, is not involved in violence or terrorism, according to a leaked unpublished government report prepared for Tony Blair.
MAB calls for the formation of a broad coalition made up of elements throughout society, that will work to defend and uphold our civil liberties and freedoms. MAB has begun making contacts with a number of groups and organisations in this regard and will be making further contacts over the coming days and weeks, ensuring that this coalition reflects the diverse and colourful face of Britain and its people.
“In an August 29, 2005 article in the London Arabic-language daily Al-Quds Al-‘Arabi, titled ‘The London Bombing: Harm Is Brought Upon the Muslims Only by Their Own’, British Islamist Dr. ‘Azzam Al-Tamimi argues that Muslim critics are Islam’s worst enemies….