Muslim Charities in the US
In November 2003, about two-dozen FBI agents raided the headquarters of the Illinois-based Global Relief Foundation, then the country's second largest Islamic charity. The agents didn't have a warrant, but they removed the foundation's records and froze $900,00 of its assets. In 2004 the US based Foundation Centre stated that the charity was one of three Islamic charities that were forced to close before they were formally declared "specially designated global terrorists" as part of the US government's campaign to deprive terrorists of money.
In the same month, the Bush administration designated the Dallas, Texas based Holy Land Foundation (HLF) a terrorist organisation. According to the Muslim Public Affairs Council, President Bush made this move four days after a request from Israeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon. The HLF was designated a terrorist organisation, the US government explained because it was providing assistance to Hamas in the Occupied Territories. The US government has designated Hamas a terrorist organisation. The HLF challenged the US government's action in court, but lost. It appealed, lost again and then appealed to the US Supreme Court, which refused to hear the case. Today, the pressure is still on the Muslim charities. In fact, a Muslim charity can be apparently cleared of any wrong doing and still remain a target. In 2004, the US Senate Finance Committee announced that 25 Muslim charities in the US were under investigation. One of those was the Ohio-based KindHearts, whose mission is to support needy Palestinians in Lebanon, the Gaza and West Bank. The charity had become one of the country's largest Muslim charities, collecting more than $4 million annually in donations.
For all latest news, follow The Daily Star's Google News channel. But being successful has raised Kindhearts profile, and its activities have come under close government scrutiny, worrying the group's officials. Last December, Jihad Smaili, a lawyer for KindHearts told Reuters: "Donors and charities have a lot of things to fear. It's not just fearing unsubstantiated accusations that a charity may be connected to a terrorist group, but also fearing the mere suspicion of a witch hunt."
Smaili said that KindHearts has been very careful of its moves in charity giving, but testimony before the Senate Finance Committee showed that the group had made what Smaili conceded were "mistakes." One of the mistakes involved working with the Islamic Association for Palestine, a group that has been rendered civilly liable for Hamas's shooting of an American citizen in the West Bank.
The Senate Finance Committee heard testimony from KindHearts and other 24 Muslim charities being investigated for possible links to terrorist groups. Last November, the committee made a statement, declaring that it "did not find anything alarming enough that required additional follow up beyond what law enforcement is already doing."
Two weeks later, the committee reversed its decision. Senator Charles Grossly (R-IN), the committee's chairman, indicated that the committee had finished reviewing the financial rules it requested two years previously." But he added: it "does not mean that these groups have been cleared by the committee."
Why the about face? It's not clear, but being put in a state of legislative limbo had frustrated many US Muslims who complain that the suspicion has hampered them from fulfilling their religious obligation to perform the charitable acts of "zakat" and "sadaqa". Muslim groups have asked the US government to provide a list of approved groups so they can make charitable donations abroad without fear that they will become suspected of having terrorist ties.
Rabiah Ahmed, a spokesman for the Center for American-Islamic Relations, told the Associated Press: "Many Muslims are giving to local mosques because it's easiest to know how the money is used, but there are really needy people overseas who are also easily affected by this cloud cast over all Muslim charities."
Despite the intimidating environment, Muslims in America are still rising to the occasion when need be. For example, after the big earthquake struck the Kashmir region of Pakistan and India last fall, Islamic Relief USA, the largest US Muslim international aid agency, raised $3 million in donations for earthquake relief. In comparison, the American Red Cross raised $1.2 million. Worshippers who gathered at one San Francisco mosque for Ramadan evening prayers last October 12 raised $152,000 in 15 minutes! But four and half years after 9/11, the Bush administration needs to move to make it easier for Muslim charities to fulfil their mission. It can be done without compromising national security.
In the wake of 9/11, the Bush administration made much of the closing down of the Global Relief Foundation and the Benevolence International Foundation, another prominent Chicago based Muslim charity, touting the move as a victory in the War on Terrorism. Yet the 9/11 Commission has stated in one of its reports that the closing of the two charities "raises substantial civil liberty concerns." No one associated with either group has been found guilty of a terrorism related crime, but they remained closed. The 9/11 Commission findings beg an answer to an important question: why is the Bush administration, in the name of the War on Terrorism, still abusing the civil liberties of some Muslim charities and making life difficult for most of them as they try to do good works?