Muslim Voice ARIZONA
december 2014
safar / rabi al awal
Monthly Newspaper
www.AZMuslimVoice.com
1436H
Vol.20 Issue No. 220
US Muslims Want Clarification on Terror List DALLAS – After the United Arab Emirates’ move to link American Islamic advocacy groups in a terror list along with Al-Qaeda, Boko Haram, Taliban and the so-called Islamic State, Muslim and nonMuslim leaders alike in America and abroad are pushing back and asking for answers. “We call on the United Arab Emirates to remove the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and the Muslim American Society (MAS) from their designated terrorist groups list,” Azhar Azeez, president of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the oldest and largest American Muslim umbrella organization, told OnIslam.net. “These mainstream American Muslim organizations are US based, with a rich legacy of service and dedication to protecting, promoting and supporting Muslim communities and defending the civil rights of Muslims in North America. “They are being inaccurately labeled and associated with terrorist groups,” she added. This is the same line taken by the MAS and CAIR, which are not deemed terrorist organizations by the United Arab Emirates.. In a statement released expressing shock over the designation, MAS said, “The Muslim American Society is a religious community service organization that serves people in the United
States. We have no dealings with the United Arab Emirates and hence are perplexed by this news.” Nihad Awad, the executive director and founder of CAIR, recently appeared on CNN expressing his surprise at what he called the UAE’s “bizarre move.” “This is quite frightening to us that a state like the UAE would designate (as a terror group) an American civil rights and advocacy organization like CAIR… and that’s why we’re seeking clarification (about why we were included on this list),” Awad said, emphasizing that CAIR is an independent American outfit and “one of the strongest opponents to extremism and terrorism.” He added that MAS and European advocacy groups also named as terrorist organizations are doing the same. CAIR and MAS joined 83 other groups on the list including the Muslim Brotherhood – the first group named –the Muslim Association of Britain, Islamic Relief Worldwide (IRW) and Islamic Relief UK (IRUK). As of press time the UAE had not stated its reasons for including these groups on its list. “Absurd” Sharif Aly, national spokesman for Islamic Relief USA which is not on the UAE terror group list, spoke out against Islamic Relief Worldwide’s inclusion, calling it “absurd.”
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“There’s no merit to it whatsoever,” Aly told OnIslam.net. “We have worked with (IRW) for years, and we find them to be an admirable partner who works and strives to serve people in poverty all around the world.” Islamic Relief Worldwide released a statement on November 17 strongly denying any involvement in terror activity, calling the listing a mistake and promising it will lobby for its removal from the list. “We abhor terrorism in all its forms, and we categorically refute any allegations of links to terrorism and any such accusations that have been made by the UAE.” Despite the UAE’s silence about how they compiled the list, the United States and other governments are looking for an explanation. It was announced that Norway’s foreign minister has made a public inquiry about why the Islamic Organization, his country’s largest Islamic group, made it to the list. In addition, the US State Department said Monday it would be seeking answers from the UAE, confirming it does not consider prominent Muslim American groups as terrorist organizations. Moreover, the Continued on page 4