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American politics of foreign issues top concern for US Muslims
Alexandria (Virginia), June 09: Before the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Islamic immigrants generally felt so safe in the United States that they focused much of their political activism on helping Muslims back home.
Alexandria (Virginia), June 09: Before the Sept. 11 terror attacks, Islamic immigrants generally felt so safe in the United States that they focused much of their political activism on helping Muslims back home.
A meeting this weekend of the spiritual leaders of US
mosques indicates an abrupt shift. With some of their civil
rights restricted by the war on terror, they're now lobbying
to protect themselves.
"There is fatigue among some Muslims about these foreign issues. They realise the American Muslim community can be victims, too," said Muqtedar Khan, a political scientist at Adrian College in Michigan and author of "American Muslims: Bridging faith and freedom."
"The American government itself has become a threat to our civil rights," he said.
Khan was a speaker at the conference, which aimed to enlist mosque leaders, called imams, in the fight to roll back some of the broad new enforcement powers that authorities are using in the domestic hunt for terrorists.
Speakers decried the government's shutdown of some Muslim charities in the US, lengthy detention of terrorism suspects and immigrants and the surveillance of mosques.
The event was organised by the Washington-based American Muslim Council, among several Islamic advocacy groups searching for candidates in the 2004 elections who will give importance to Muslim civil rights problems in their camp Bureau Report
"There is fatigue among some Muslims about these foreign issues. They realise the American Muslim community can be victims, too," said Muqtedar Khan, a political scientist at Adrian College in Michigan and author of "American Muslims: Bridging faith and freedom."
"The American government itself has become a threat to our civil rights," he said.
Khan was a speaker at the conference, which aimed to enlist mosque leaders, called imams, in the fight to roll back some of the broad new enforcement powers that authorities are using in the domestic hunt for terrorists.
Speakers decried the government's shutdown of some Muslim charities in the US, lengthy detention of terrorism suspects and immigrants and the surveillance of mosques.
The event was organised by the Washington-based American Muslim Council, among several Islamic advocacy groups searching for candidates in the 2004 elections who will give importance to Muslim civil rights problems in their camp Bureau Report