My #torture statement at ACLU blog

57 Organizations Call on White House to Investigate Offensive FBI Trainings Today, Muslim Advocates, working in coalition with 56 Muslim, Arab, and South Asian organizations, requested that the White House create an interagency taskforce to investigate bigoted and offensive trainers and materials used in trainings for counterterrorism agents and law enforcement. Wired magazine first reported in July that the FBI was using materials that stated that Prophet Muhammad was a "cult leader," and that Islam is a religion that "transforms [a] country's culture into 7th-century Arabian ways." Recently disclosed materials show that these grossly inaccurate and inflammatory training materials extend…

Q: History of Muslims in US two things weren’t mentioned. Internal history was mentioned, but not overseas history, i.e. Islamism. Local history as well, meaning context of action and reaction. A: Khan: Assumption that b/c we live in free society we can be more creative in our interpretation and export it back to Muslim majority countries. Jury is still out on this matter. Islamist movements have clearly been influencing debate here. ISNA started as front of Ikhwan, now it’s MAS. Authenticity is still tied to movements “back home,” even amongst reverts. Need to be comfortable in our Islamic identity. Cesari:…

In a stunning turn of events in India, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s BJP party was upset by Mrs. Sonia Gandhi’s Congress Party. As an American Muslim of Indian descent, I have some strong feelings about India in general and about the communal violence between Hindus and Muslims in India over the past few years. Though the majority of Indian citizens are Hindu, people quickly forget that there are more Muslims in India than in Pakistan (approx 100 million). I believe that the ousted party bears some responsibility for the communcal violence, but the reason I am posting this information…