: If You’re Muslim, American Express Won’t Take [i]You[/i]

American Muslims constitute one of the most affluent communities in the United States, with 26% of Muslim households earning more than $100,000 annually. You’d think that with 4-6 million Muslims in the US (and rising rapidly), they would be considered a lucrative market for financial services. However, a recent troubling trend among financial institutions who are wary of being inadvertently involved in financing terrorism has resulted in several Muslims having their accounts pulled or being refused service, despite stellar credit histories. Faizah Zuberi recounted a phone call from American Express asking for various documents (tax returns, employment records, financial statements) within two weeks or face cancellation of her card. “Why are you asking for all this?” she remembers asking. “How come I don’t have these problems with my other credit cards?” Hossam Algabri had the same thing happen with his Fleet card. “There was nothing wrong with my account,” he said. “All my money was spent here [in the United States], since my family is here. I had been with Fleet and its predecessor since 1992. I never had a bounced check, there were no problems with my account.” Investigations by the New York paper City Limits revealed 12 cases of Muslims with good credit who, despite having turned over financial records, had their American Express cards cancelled (The paper found no correlary among non-Muslim cardholders). One theory on the wave of cancellations is that an FBI list distributed just after 9/11 of people wanted for questioning somehow morphed into a “do no business” list, complete with typos and common names like “Muhammad Ali” that trigger suspicion of law-abiding American Muslims. Several groups are planning to file discrimination charges against Fleet Bank to stem the unfair cancellations. “We have striven to increase awareness of unfair banking practices within the Muslim community,” said Mahdi Bray of the Muslim American Society, “and have received an alarming response thus far by Muslims with legitimate complaints of unfair treatment.” Despite the buildup to a confrontation, Algabri remains optimistic. “I care about this country, I care about U.S. security like anyone else,” he said. “And I also trust this country. I trust the system here is fair and we will get over this.”

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.