American Muslim leaders urge community to be on alert for radicals

By: RACHEL ZOLL - AP Religion Writer | Sunday, July 24, 2005 5:56 PM PDT ∞

American Muslim leaders say they have already taken up the challenge facing British Muslims after this month's deadly suicide bombings -- helping law enforcement root out extremists. But their efforts face a similar problem; getting support from all the faithful.

The Muslim Public Affairs Council, an advocacy group based in Los Angeles, last year started the "National Anti-Terrorism Campaign," urging Muslims to monitor their own communities, speak out more boldly against violence and work with law enforcement officials.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a Washington-based civil rights organization is running a TV ad and a petition-drive called "Not in the Name of Islam," which repudiates terrorism.

And Muslims in New York and several other cities have joined FBI advisory committees to resolve complaints about law enforcement and educate government agents about the religion.

"It's a proactive way to deal with this problem, rather than waiting for catastrophic events to happen then pick up the pieces afterward," said Salam Al-Marayati, director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council.

But winning broader support for these undertakings among the nation's more than 2 million Muslims has been difficult. Hostility toward Islam after the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks has discouraged participation, leaders say.

Muslims have felt unfairly targeted by anti-terror measures adopted after the four suicide hijackings, such as the USA Patriot Act, which gave law enforcement broad, new powers. The Bush administration considers the law essential to national security.

"I used to talk about internal policing two years ago after 9/11, and people used to get really upset," said Muqtedar Khan, a political scientist and author of "American Muslims." "They said, `Are you asking us to turn in our brothers?"'

Muslims have also been discouraged by American leaders who consider the entire community suspect, and dismiss condemnations of terrorism from major Muslim organizations as a public relations-ploy, said Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

"The assumption by people outside our community is that we're overrun with extremists," Hooper said. "The new thought of the Islamophobes is you can't be a good person if you're a practicing Muslim. The only good Muslim is one who doesn't follow the faith."

Timothy Herlocker, assistant special agent in charge of the FBI's New York office and chairman of its Muslim advisory committee, said he is aware that many Muslims would be reluctant to call law enforcement.

"We tell all the congregations this: `If you are afraid to come to the FBI with this information, go to your mosque leadership, go to your community leadership and have them talk to us,"' Herlocker said. Hooper said CAIR instructs its members to do the same.

Yet Khan believes Muslim willingness to monitor their own mosques is increasing as terrorist attacks continue and the number of innocent victims rises -- both in the West and in Iraq, where many Muslims civilians have been killed by insurgents.

Al-Marayati said he was encouraged that more mosque leaders have been inquiring about his council's anti-terror campaign since the London bombings.

Said Khan: "9/11 was one event and people hid behind all kinds of denials and now it's impossible to do that."

On the Net:

Muslim Public Affairs Council: http://www.mpac.org/

Council on American-Islamic Relations: http://www.cair-net.org/

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