: US Airport Dragnet Still Snaring Law-Abiding Muslims

“You picked a bad day to fly,” said an FBI agent apologetically last Thursday, September 11th, as he interrogated – and then handcuffed – a prominent Canadian Muslim cleric who was on his way to Florida to give a lecture on the dangers of fanaticism in the Muslim world. Ahmad Kutty, a scholar at the Islamic Institute of Toronto who is on record for preaching tolerance and peace for over 20 years, is bitter about being grilled by 10 officials, jailed, and then sent back to Canada. “We have gone through a traumatic experience,” said Kutty, who is urging fellow Canadian Muslims to avoid travel to the US until the situation improves. The arrest is part of a pattern of blanket detentions at airports which do not seem to have any investigative foundation. Muslim professors with long histories of moderation, diplomats from Muslim countries that are allies in the war on terror, and even Muslims paid by the US to promote democracy in the Muslim world are being caught in the ever-widening net. “If things are going to continue like this, why should I come to this country?” said Yahya al Habari, a member of Yemen’s legislature who had come at the invitation of the US State Department to discuss the importation of US crops but found himself interrogated and fingerprinted. “I’d rather import Australian or Canadian wheat and save myself problems.” Another person who is working closely with the State Department was Radwan Masmoudi, president of the Center for the Study of Islam & Democracy, who received a National Endowment for Democracy grant to bring democratic values to the Middle East. “We support the government.com%2FVaccines.html”>vaccinations to Internet chatrooms to musical instruments will continue to baffle simple-minded clerics and produce more PR disasters like the above SMS divorce.

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