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Muslims Speak Out: Citizenship before civil rights
Mansoor Ijaz
Washington Post Thursday, April 04, 2002
Do America's Arabs and Muslims have a responsibility to stand up to greater scrutiny and to offer more transparency by assisting U.S. authorities in unearthing potential terrorist sleeper cells planning attacks against the United States? After recent raids on Islamic charities from Texas to Northern Virginia and last month's Justice Department decision to widen the interrogation net for Arab males entering the United States from countries where al Qaeda is known to have a presence, many of America's Arabs and Muslims are debating the merits and limits of their civic duty.
On March 20, federal agents armed with guns and warrants searched 16 homes and an Islamic institute in Northern Virginia, seizing computers, financial records and documents detailing the charities' worldwide activities. Raids of these long-established 501(c)3 groups caused outrage among Muslims throughout the United States.
"This war, even though they claim it is against terrorism, is against Muslims," said Mohammad Omeish, president of the Success Foundation, one of the latest probe's targets. Louai Safi, director of research at the International Institute of Islamic Thought, also a target, described the raids as "the Treasury Department trying to destroy a moderate voice in this country."
These latest moves by U.S. authorities follow a decision last month by a Texas-based Muslim charity, Holy Land Foundation, to sue the United States over charges that the nonprofit had funneled some of the $13 million it raised in 2000 to Hamas, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization. Federal agents had raided the foundation's offices late last year and allegedly found financial ties to the Palestinian group.
But the anger of U.S. Arabs and Muslims, while heartfelt, is irresponsible and misplaced. Rather than becoming beacons for America's ideals by showing a willingness to submit to federal law enforcement questioning instead of grandstanding about racial profiling, we are hiding behind the guarantees afforded to us by the very Constitution the terrorists sought to dismantle on Sept. 11. Our anger demonstrates an inability to put citizenship before religious and ethnic allegiances and U.S. national security interests before dubious claims of civil rights violations.
Tragic as the events of Sept. 11 were, they have provided the single greatest catalyst and opportunity for moderate Muslim voices to correct the distorted view of Islam throughout the world. Even if the allegations against the Holy Land Foundation are proved untrue in court, using America's legal system to prove a point -- one that was far better demonstrated by a management decision to open up financial records for examination and audit -- has done irreparable damage to the important work of legitimate Muslim charities throughout the United States. After all, shutting off terrorist financing through nonprofits, whether the charities know whom they are funding or not, is a paramount objective in America's war on terrorism.
The Muslim charities and other tax-exempt institutions dotting America's landscape today are testimony to the growing political activism of Arab and Muslim Americans. Yet membership in these nonprofit organizations represents a mere 5 percent of the 6 million Arabs and Muslims living in America today. The actions of these groups distort America's view of its Arab and Muslim communities much the same way al Qaeda's terrorists have hijacked and distorted the image of Islam globally.
The repeated denials by Muslim nonprofits about foreign sources of funding to operate their diverse and often dubious agendas are no longer enough. Neither are simplistic claims that they fund legitimate causes abroad when the U.S. government -- which they increasingly lobby and help to elect -- has clear evidence to the contrary. If these groups want to lead America's Arabs and Muslims, they must lead first by setting an example for transparency and scrutiny.
Some simple but important steps can be taken to improve the financial monitoring of 501(c)3 charities, regardless of their orientation or objectives.
Legislation should be enacted that limits foreign sources of funds to run U.S. tax-exempt organizations to 10 percent of their annual budgets. Full disclosure of foreign-source income should be required, linking the donations directly to contributors rather than accepting front organizations at face value. Rules governing disclosure could be adapted from existing legislation that governs foreign-registered agents lobbying the U.S. government on behalf of foreign entities. U.S.-source income, traditionally protected by anonymity considerations, should at least be certified by the charities as coming from U.S. citizens or legal residents.
America's Arabs and Muslims bear a special responsibility at this moment not to play the role of aggrieved victims. Rather, we should offer ourselves as resources to federal law enforcement agencies interested in learning more about the complexities of our religious and ethnic roots; we should police our communities for sleeper agents; and we should stop the flow of foreign money -- and its corrosive influence -- into our political and religious nonprofit organizations.
The writer, a New York financier and member of the Council on Foreign Relations, is an American-born Muslim of Pakistani descent.
© 2002 The Washington Post Company
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