March 6, 1999

To the directors of ISNA, ICNA, AMC, MPAC, CAIR & MSA:

Assalaamualaikum; I am writing to you for the first time to express my deep concern about your behavior regarding Shaykh Kabbani and his organization. I have known Shaykh Kabbani and his family for many years and never saw anything to make me doubt his sincerity. The shaykh's tireless work on behalf of Islamic causes is well known everywhere, in America and around the world. No one has done more to advance the situation of the Muslims, and his friends and supporters are numbered in the thousands.

It is common knowledge that the perception of Islam and Muslims by the American People and their government is not good. TV and movies give a biased and very negative picture to their viewers. As a result, the public is ready to blieve any wrong thing they hear about us and is being conditioned to accept that retaliatory, suppressive measures may need to be taken against Muslims living and working in this country.

Behind the scenes, the situation is even more dangerous. Under the mounting threat of terrorist attack by rogue nations and extremist organizations, the government has mounted an active surveillance campaign of masajjid and Islamic organizations. Our Islamic meetings are being monitored, and our religious fund-raising activities are closely scrutinized to detect links to organizations and individuals, both foreign and domestic, who are on their list of suspects.

The danger is that the American security agencies will conclude that the problem is endemic - in other words that there is no way to separate out the terrorists from the ordinary Muslims. While we, as Muslims, know that the overwhelming majority of us are peaceful and law-abiding, the government may see things differently.

It will take a conscious act by the Muslim community in this country to separate itself from the extremist, foreign-financed element amongst us. Unless this is done, and done soon, Muslims, as a group, may face a very difficult situation, not unlike that faced by the Japanese-Americans during World War II. We must make relationships with officials of the American government, and take measures to ensure that we are perceived, correctly, as peaceful, broad-spectrum people, and not as threats. That this perception be accurate is vital to our survival as a group in this country.

Therefore, it is disheartening, to say the least, when a respected member of our Islamic community, such as Shaykh Hisham Kabbani, is vilified for taking the initiative in presenting a moderate Islamic view to the general public. That his words should be twisted and taken out of context in order to slander him and cause others to hate him is a terrible thing. That this deed should be perpetrated by Muslims is inexcusable. That we should see this type of behavior time and again from what are supposed to be our major Islamic organizations makes one think the unthinkable.

Abdul Haqq Sazonoff