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Feed me<\/div>\n

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What\u2019s a charitable Muslim to do? Without guidelines<\/a> on which Muslim charities are and are not suspected of links to terror, and with executive orders signed by the White House that criminalize<\/a> donations to certain charities, American Muslims are once again holding back<\/a> on charitable donations this Ramadan. This week, in response to requests from the Los Angeles-based Muslim Public Affairs Council and the New Jersey-based American Muslim Union for assistance in identifying Islamic charities that were free of suspicion of terrorist ties, the Justice Department called the request \u201cimpossible to fulfill.\u201d \u201cWe\u2019re not in a position to put out lists of any kind,\u201d said DOJ spokesman Bryan Sierra. \u201cIf the government knows there are charities that are misleading the American Muslim community,\u201d countered AMU lawyer Sohail Mohammed, \u201cit\u2019s their obligation to help protect these innocent Americans.\u201d The rejection comes at a time when more Muslim charities are shutting down amid anti-terror investigations. Yesterday, the St. Louis-based Islamic American Relief Agency<\/a> shut its doors in the wake of a massive<\/a> FBI investigation that involved nearly half<\/a> of the agencies national field offices. (Half the nations offices? Aren\u2019t there borders that need protecting?) The IARA is suspected of links to al-Qaida, despite abiding by Treasury Department \u201cbest practices\u201d guidelines. The group joins several other charities, including the Dallas-based Holy Land Foundation<\/a> and the Chicago-based Global Relief Foundation<\/a> and Benevolence International<\/a>, although none<\/a> of the raids has led to terrorism-related criminal convictions. Muslims observing Ramadan\u2019s injunctions to donate to charity are left with local options, leaving many disappointed. \u201cWe are trying to do the right thing and we asked for a little help,\u201d said AMU president Mohamed Younes of the effort to get DOJ assistance. \u201cAt least we tried.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/p>\n

Shahed Amanullah is editor-in-chief of altmuslim.com.\n<\/p>\n

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