Portrait of Tariq Ramadan in the New York Times, 6 October 2004
Category Archives: USA
Poll: 1-in-4 Americans holds anti-Muslim views
According to a poll released today by a prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group, 1-in-4 Americans believes a number of anti-Muslim stereotypes and negative images of Muslims are 16 times more prevalent than positive ones.
SEE: http://www.cair-net.org/downloads/pollresults.ppt
The poll, sponsored by the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and conducted by an independent research firm, was designed to understand what Americans think about Muslims, identify variables associated with anti-Muslim prejudice and to seek out ways in which to combat the Islamophobic prejudice that often leads to discrimination or even hate crimes.
Is Cat Stevens a terrorist? Pretty much, says Stephen Schwartz
“On Tuesday, US authorities diverted a United Airlines London-Washington flight to Bangor, Maine, where the ex-pop singer formerly known as Cat Stevens, now as Yusuf Islam, was questioned by federal security agents, and then ordered deported back to Britain. Yusuf Islam, it turns out, is on the official ‘no-fly list’.
“This action will doubtless provoke loud and prolonged guffaws from those who consider American security policies to be excessive. But a look at the career and associations of Yusuf Islam since he became a Muslim in 1977 shows that the decision was correct.”
Stephen Schwartz in Front Page Magazine, 23 September 2004
US jet sent 600 miles to keep Cat Stevens away
American officials diverted a transatlantic flight 600 miles in the belief that the presence of Yusuf Islam, the charity worker and pop star formerly known as Cat Stevens, posed an imminent threat to national security, it emerged yesterday.
The 56-year-old was escorted off the plane by FBI agents after customs officers realised that his name was on a “watchlist”. He was due to be deported to the UK last night after questioning. His daughter, 21, was allowed into the US.
Mr Islam, who is best known for hits such as Morning Has Broken, Wild World and Peace Train, last visited the United States in May. His name was added to the list subsequently and a US government source said he was refused entry because of fears that he had financially supported Hamas.
“He was placed on the list because of concerns about activities that could potentially be related to terrorism,” said a spokesman for the Department of Homeland Security.
It is not clear why officials chose to divert the flight – at substantial cost and delaying other passengers for six hours – rather than detain Mr Islam on his arrival in Washington.
Muslim leaders on both sides of the Atlantic condemned the US decision, with the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) describing it as “a slap in the face of sanity”.
MCB raises Yusuf Islam detention with FCO minister
MCB Deputy Secretary General Dr Abdul Bari met today, with Foreign & Commonwealth Office (FCO) Minister of State Douglas Alexander to raise the grave concerns of the Muslim community about the detention of Yusuf Islam in the US.
Dr Abdul Bari said “Yusuf Islam is a deeply respected and very popular British Muslim figure and his detention by the US authorities is completely unacceptable.”
Mr Alexander assured Dr Abdul Bari that the British Government were taking these concerns seriously, and the Foreign Secretary, who is currently in the US, raised the issue with US Secretary of State Colin Powell. The Minister further stated that he understood from the US Authorities that Mr Islam would be departing from the US later today.
Muslim scholar barred from US preaches tolerance
“If the US government is serious about winning hearts and minds in the Muslim world and avoiding a clash of civilizations, it might consider sitting down for lengthy discussions with Tariq Ramadan, rather than barring his entrance.”
Jane Lampman in the Christian Science Monitor, 21 September 2004
Why was this man barred from the US?
“Have you read or listened to any of my material? Can you prove your allegations?” Prominent Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan was left asking these questions when the U.S. Department of Homeland Security revoked his visa in August.
Ex-Muslim’s site trashes Muhammad
“Claiming Muhammad’s teachings are the root of terrorism, a website founded by an ex-Muslim attempts to dispel the oft-quoted statement ‘Islam is a religion of peace’. Headed by Ali Sina, FaithFreedom.org presents articles and commentaries that debunk much of the Quran and charge that Islam’s founder, Muhammad, was a rapist, pedophile, mass murderer and an ‘evil man’. On the site, which features the description ‘Islam and Quran denounced by ex-Muslims as the root of terrorism’, Sina promises that if anyone can prove him wrong in his assertions about Muhammad and Islam, he will take the site off the Internet.”
Tariq Ramadan denied US visa to teach at Notre Dame
Interview with Tariq Ramadan on Democracy Now! 13 September 2004
Fouad Ajami on Tariq Ramadan
“The liberty of an open society can never be a suicide pact, and the freedom of the academy is never absolute.” Predictably, Fouad Ajami adds his voice to the chorus of right-wingers supporting Professor Ramadan’s exclusion from the US.
Wall Street Journal, 7 September 2004
For a profile of Ajami – “the bigot’s favorite native, always ready to provide the needed soundbites to rationalize the latest racist thinking or imperial adventure” – see Muslim WakeUp! 7 September 2004