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"We want to debunk the myth that American Muslims are not concerned with securing our homeland," said Marayati
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LOS
ANGELES, May 29 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - Several U.S.
Muslim organizations have embarked on an anti-terror campaign, vowing
to cooperate with authorities in tracking down any suspicious
activities.
"We
want to debunk the myth that American Muslims are not concerned with
securing our homeland," Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of
the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC), told the Washington Post
on Friday, May 28.
The
campaign will be in coordination with F.B.I. Director Robert Mueller
and jointly announced at a Los Angeles mosque in the form of a
"grass-roots Muslim initiative against terrorism".
It
includes newspaper advertisements, a petition drive and public
commitments to work hand in hand with law enforcement agencies, the
American daily said.
Al-Marayati
said the MPAC will work with the FBI to denounce terrorism, control
"belligerence" at mosques and improve communication between
Muslims and U.S. authorities.
"We
have zero tolerance to the notion that Muslims are not doing their
job. We're not going to allow that," Reuters quoted as saying
Maher Hathout, senior adviser for the MPAC.
Speaking
at a press conference at the Islamic Center of Southern California in
Los Angeles, he said the campaign was launched primarily in reaction
to the recent announcement
by Attorney General John Ashcroft that al-Qaeda may be 90 percent
prepared for a terrorist attack in the United States later this year.
"The
danger is quite imminent," he said. "But we'd like to end
the false notion that Muslims are a specimen to be studied or a
community to be investigated. We are full-fledged participants in the
fight against terrorism in America."
The
Muslim activist further regretted that the Muslims in the U.S. still
feel discriminated against.
"Things
are being said about Muslims that nobody could say about any other
religion in America and get away with it," he said.
According
to a Senate report released earlier in the month, the U.S. Muslim
community has
taken the brunt of the Patriot Act and other
federal powers applied in the aftermath of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
In
its ninth annual
Muslim civil rights report , the Council on
American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) documented an unprecedented increase
of 70 percent of anti-Muslim violence over the previous year.
In
Northern Virginia, Kamal Nawash, a lawyer and Palestinian immigrant,
launched last week the Free Muslim Coalition Against Terrorism
campaign.
Crucial
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"We have zero tolerance to the notion that Muslims are not doing their job. We're not going to allow that," said Hathout
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U.S.
officials said the help of the Muslim community in the anti-terror
drive is crucial, said the American daily.
"Within
the Islamic community, they are going to know much better who is
suspicious and who is not," said John Miller, who heads homeland
security operations for the Los Angeles Police Department.
"The
best information we can get about the fringe in the Muslim community
will be from the Muslims."
As
part of the U.S. Muslims wider campaign, CAIR posted on May 15 an
online petition for Muslims to disassociate Islam from
violent acts carried out its name by few.
The
petition maintains that those who commit acts of violence in the name
of Islam "are not only destroying innocent lives, but are also
betraying the values of the faith they claim to represent".
"We
repudiate and dissociate ourselves from any Muslim group or individual
who commits such brutal and un-Islamic acts," it reads.
On
Wednesday, May 26, CAIR also published a full-page advertisement in
the Los Angeles Times titled "No to terrorism, No to
bigotry."
Hussam
Ayloush, head of CAIR's Southern California office, said five Los
Angeles-area Muslim businessmen paid for the Ad.
Fundraising
for similar advertisements is underway in other cities, including New
York, Houston and St. Louis, he said.
The
Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) had recently championed a similar
campaign in Britain to "isolate and stop tolerating
those spreading hatred against the country using the name of
Islam."
The
MCB made the unprecedented move of sending letters to mosques and
community leaders, urging concerted effort to work for the peace and
security of all in Britain.
"It
particularly urges imams to observe the utmost vigilance against any
mischievous or criminal elements from infiltrating the community and
provoking any unlawful activity," the group said in the letter
posted on its website.
