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| Ft. Hood shootings unsettle Muslim community |
 Ft. Hood shootings unsettle Muslim community
By Meir Rinde
November 06, 2009, 8:24PM
Even before he heard that the suspect in the shooting deaths of 13 people in Fort Hood, Texas, was a Muslim, Morad Abou-Sabe prepared for additional bad news.
“Every ethnic group begins to worry when something like this happens, ‘I hope this has no association with us,’” said Abou-Sabe, a Hopewell resident and president of the Arab-American League of Voters of New Jersey. “I thought, ‘Oh my god, I hope it is not a Muslim or an Arab American or anything like that.’”
Since the identity of the suspected gunman, Army psychiatrist Nidal Malik Hasan, was announced Thursday, members of Arab and Muslim organizations have been bracing for what they say would be an unfair and unwarranted backlash.
Abou-Sabe said he has already seen a guest on a national television show, Larry King Live, making inflammatory comments about the suspect’s ethnicity.
“People that might say this on television might have an impact on less learned people, lay people in the street,” he said. “Some of them may already have repulsive feelings about Muslims and Islam, and this would give them a false confirmation of their fears. That can translate into action, and it has before.”
“It’s not that I’m worried, but there is reason to worry. The media should really be in the forefront to let people know that this should not be interpreted in the way, of, ‘You get a gut feeling, and you say this is related to his religion,’” he said. “The religion has nothing to do with what the guy did.”
http://www.nj.com/mercer/index.ssf/2009/11/ft_hood_shootings_put_muslim_c.html |
| Attack leaves US Muslims fearing backlash |
Attack leaves US Muslims fearing backlash
Saturday, November 7, 2009
NORTHJERSEY.COM
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
As word spread that a gunman had opened fire at Fort Hood leaving a trail of carnage, a chilling realization swept across the U.S. Muslim community: He has an Islamic name.
From a professor who just testified in Congress, to a White House adviser appearing before a Jewish group and a former Marine driving home from work, Muslims across the country were shocked, angry and afraid that the attack would erode efforts to erase anti-Islamic stereotypes.
Many Islamic leaders said the Fort Hood tragedy that left 13 dead and 30 wounded including the alleged gunman, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, could likely post the sternest test for U.S. Muslims since the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.
"A lot of us work very hard for this country, to make America a better place," said Muqtedar Khan, a progressive Muslim scholar who has just given Congressional testimony on U.S. foreign policy in Afghanistan before Thursday's attack. "And this one nut like Maj. Hasan comes along and in one crazy episode of a few seconds he undermines these years and years of hard work we are doing to make American Muslims part of the mainstream in the community."
http://www.northjersey.com/news/national/Another_attack_leaves_US_Muslims_fearing_backlash.html |
| Area mosques step up security after massacre |
Area mosques step up security after massacre
Friday, November 13, 2009
BY ELIZABETH LLORENTE
THE RECORD
STAFF WRITER
At the Dar-ul-Islah mosque in Teaneck, congregants are being extra vigilant these days — looking for anything that might signal a potential attack or vandalism.
Mosque officials have also asked Teaneck police to patrol the surroundings more.
In Paterson, mosque officials at the Islamic Center of Passaic County are also stepping up scrutiny of suspicious activity around the mosque, even if it's just an unfamiliar car in the parking lot or on the street near the place of worship.
Across the nation, mosques are taking heightened security steps following the shooting last week at Fort Hood, Texas, that left 13 dead and dozens of others wounded. Muslim and Arab organizations advised mosques to increase security after learning that the suspected shooter, Maj. Nidal Malik Hasan, an Army psychiatrist, was Muslim — and that they could be at risk of bias attacks.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/state/69940562.html |
| Please do not call me! Being an American Muslim when tragedy strikes |
Please do not call me! Being an American Muslim when tragedy strikes
By Aref Assaf/ NJ Voices Guest Blogger
November 13, 2009
I woke up last Friday morning, the day after an army doctor killed and wounded over forty people in Texas, to seven urgent messages on my voice mails. All were from news organizations anxious to quote the Muslim community's reaction about the recent heinous killings of Army Dr. Nidal Malik Hasan.
They all wanted my reasons for what drove a 39-year-old Muslim to go on a killing spree. "Isn’t he a native born," someone pointed out. “Did not he take an Army oath to obey his command and serve his country?” “He's an educated man, he's a doctor." What triggered him to do it?
It took but a few moments to figure their reasoning for calling me. For I have been called before to reflect on acts of terror committed by fellow Muslims here and around the word. Truthfully, I was expected to again disassociate myself from the killings and secondly to explain what Islam is. I guess I fit their criteria of a person who has these qualities: I am a Muslim American of Palestinian descent. Consequently, I know what each one out of the 1.5 billion Muslims around the globe is thinking or doing at any given moment.
http://blog.nj.com/njv_guest_blog/2009/11/please_do_not_call_me_being_an.html |
| Flu fears prompt many to skip Hajj |
Flu fears prompt many to skip Hajj
BY ELIZABETH LLORENTE
Herald News
Wednesday, November 18, 2009
The spread of the H1N1 flu, in addition to worries about the struggling economy, is expected to keep many Muslims from participating this month in the holy pilgrimage to Mecca known as the Hajj, say community leaders and Saudi officials.
The Saudi Ministry of Health is urging senior citizens, children 12 and younger, pregnant women and people with serious health conditions to forgo the Hajj because of H1N1, the predominant flu virus in most countries. In addition, some nations, such as Tunisia, are banning their citizens from attending the Hajj – where millions of people stand in close proximity – because of fears that people will return infected.
Last year, travel agents who arrange Hajj travel saw a drop in the number of people going and attributed it to the ailing economy. Now, travel agents say they have booked even fewer trips than last year.
http://www.northjersey.com/news/Flu_fears_prompt_many_to_skip_Hajj.html
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