DEARBORN, April 25, 2006 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - A leading American Muslim scholar urged the Bush administration to review its security policies which are unfairly targeting Muslim Americans, as a British Muslim student had to pay extra for security checks when applying for a US visa because his name was Mohammed.

"I really hope that the American government and the current administration -- that occasionally took a hard line in dealing with the dignity of the Muslim community -- would review its policies and would have a more friendly approach to the Muslim community," Imam Hassan al-Qazwini told Reuters in an interview.

The Shiite scholar of the Islamic Center of America, located in Dearborn, said the policies that result in unfair treatment include domestic wiretapping, civil rights, immigration and the Patriot Act.

The bill, which was rushed through Congress after the 9/11 attacks, is harshly criticized by rights groups and minorities in the US as threatening civil liberties.

A May 2004 report released by the US Senate Office Of Research concluded that the Arab Americans and the Muslim community have taken the brunt of the Patriot Act and other federal powers applied in the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks.

Though is no scientific count of Muslims in the US, the six to seven million is the most commonly cited figure.

The Detroit area, which includes Dearborn, is home to one of America's largest Muslim communities.

Qazwini, an Iraqi-born US citizen who holds regular talks with officials, praised recent government efforts to launch a "permanent dialogue" with Muslim leaders.

"We Muslims are looking for substantial meetings where we can achieve results, not photo opportunities where we meet with the officials, they take pictures, they hug us, sometimes we are served dinner or breakfast, and then nothing happens."

The FBI held on Thursday, April 13, its first nationally televised townhall meeting with Muslim and Arab Americans in an effort to overcome misconceptions and enlist their help in fighting terrorism.

The meeting, broadcast on Bridges TV, an independent, commercial US television network for a primarily Muslim American audience, also sought to recruit Muslim Americans as FBI agents and as FBI employees."

"Now I am worried I may not get a visa and travel to the States because of my name," said the British Muslim student.

Qazwini admitted that "extremists" existed in the Muslim community, dismissing them as a small fraction of US Muslims.

He said these US-based extremists espouse radical views but do not advocate violence and do not represent the mainstream.

"Why do we always have to be in the position of someone who is viewed with a suspicious eye?" Qazwini said.

"We are sick and tired of the fact that we always need to prove our loyalty to this country simply because others have committed attacks against this country."

A Washington Post/ABC News poll released in March showed that a majority of Americans have a negative view of Islam.

A US News and World Report article recently said that US officials had secretly monitored radiation levels at Muslim sites including mosques and private homes.

Concerned that Muslims are unfairly demonized in American popular consciousness, the Dalia Lama met on Saturday, April 15, with prominent US Muslim leaders to wash away misconceptions about a much demonized Islam.

Qazwini, who leads one of the largest US mosques, said domestic wiretapping, civil rights transgressions, immigration crackdowns and unexplained bans on some Muslim scholars visiting the US made Muslim Americans feel targets of post-Sept. 11 racism.

A US federal judge criticized Thursday, April 13, the Bush administration for being inconsistent in handling the visa application of Tariq Ramadan, one of Europe's best known Muslim intellectuals.

The case, filed by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), the country's leading civil rights organization, accuses US officials of wrongfully blocking Ramadan's entry using the US Patriot Act's ideological exclusion provision.

Thousands of Muslim and Arabic men were rounded up and questioned in the weeks and months following the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

Some of the detainees have sued the US government after their release for inhumane and degrading treatment and a total blackout of communications in detention centers on the US soil.

The administration agreed in February to pay $300,000 to settle an illegal detention lawsuit brought by an Egyptian man who was rounded up after the attacks.

In a related development, a Muslim student in the Manchester Metropolitan University had to pay an extra $80 (£45) for security checks when applying for a visa to visit the United States because of his name, reported the BBC News Online.

Mohammed Umar Haleem Khan, 22, was told by US Embassy officials in London that "a lot of bad people" shared his name.

"I was totally speechless. I didn't know what to say," said the student who was planning to work for the Camp America project in Philadelphia.

"Now I am worried I may not get a visa and travel to the States because of my name."

The umbrella Muslim Council of Britain criticized the US embassy measure.

"This is a worrying incident and seems to fit a recent pattern whereby the USA appears to be treating all Muslims as potential terrorists just because of their religion," said spokesman Inayat Bunglawala.