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Raising funds is no easy task. In a post-9-11 America, it
gets even harder for U.S.-based Muslim charities to continue their efforts.
While Ramadan, 1422 (November-December, 2001), was the most lucrative
month in years for American Muslim charities, several million dollars
will never reach the hungry for which they were intended; the money has
been frozen where it sits in U.S. banks in the government’s latest
attempt at cracking down on terrorism.
Closures and Accusations
On December 4, 2001, President George W. Bush issued an
executive order, using his extended powers under the U.S. Patriot Act,
to freeze all assets, close all offices, and confiscate all documents
and records of the Holy Land Foundation (HLF), the largest Muslim charity
in the United States.
Along with al-Aqsa Islamic Bank and Beit el-Mal Holdings, HLF was named
one of a number of “Specially Designated Global Terrorists”
by the Office of Foreign Asset Control (OFAC). In a press release on the
day of the closure, Under Secretary of the Treasury, John Taylor justified
the closure by labeling HLF and the other charities “three Hamas-controlled
organizations that finance terror.” Specifically regarding Holy Land,
he added that it “masquerades as a charity while its primary purpose
is to fund Hamas.”
While no specific charges have ever been presented to HLF officials or
revealed to the general public, shortly after the closure the FBI released
an unofficial 49-page “memo” to the media listing numerous allegations
against HLF. This memo constituted the bulk of the information reported
in the media, but many doubt the authenticity and reliability of such
a memo. “Much of the information in this memo was supplied by Israeli
intelligence through interrogations of detained Palestinians in the West
Bank and Gaza,” explained HLF board member Riad Abdelkarim. “It
is no secret - even to U.S. officials – that Israel routinely employs
torture methods to extract ‘confessions’ from Palestinian detainees.
Hence, over 90 percent of the information in this FBI memo should be immediately
disqualified by responsible analysts.”
Ten days after the HLF closure, on December 14, a second executive order
was issued halting the work of two other American Muslim relief organizations,
Global Relief Foundation (GRF) and Benevolence International Foundation
(BIF). Under directions from the Treasury Department, all records and
all financial assets of the two organizations were blocked, rendering
them incapable of carrying out any duties “pending investigation”
of links to terrorism. The same day, GRF co-founder Rabih Haddad was arrested
on visa violations and since then his wife has also been served a deportation
notice.
HLF, BIF and GRF all immediately denounced the accusations made against
them and any links to terrorism and offered to fully cooperate with investigations.
GRF even offered to take proactive steps to insure that funds were not
being deterred to terrorists. To date, neither GRF or BIF has received
official notice of the factual or legal basis of the closures. Unlike
HLF, GRF and BIF have not yet been completely closed down. Both continue
to maintain active web sites and legally receive donations (which automatically
become frozen and inaccessible). Neither is able to maintain a staff or
continue financing its relief projects. In fact, nothing can be spent
without permission. One BIF staff member explained, “In the blocking
order they made it clear that we would still be able to operate after
issuing a certain budget through a license which we have applied for,
but unfortunately there was no response. This has shown us that the bureaucratic
system of our government is making us suffer.”
All three relief organizations were recently allowed to use a portion
of their funds to pay legal fees, but the rest of the millions initially
intended for the poor remain frozen.
The Community Response
Disbelief, Frustration, Anxiety
Immediately after the closures, the Muslim American community
was stunned. How three of the nation’s largest Muslim charities could
be made inoperable at the peak of the giving season of Ramadan seemed
unbelievable. In a joint statement following the closure of HLF, eight
national American Muslim organizations wrote, “Islamic charities
in this country help American Muslims fulfill their religious obligation
to help orphans and the needy. The frozen assets therefore belonged not
to HLF, but to the entire Muslim community. This action is particularly
disturbing, coming as it does during the Islamic holy month of Ramadan,
a time when Muslims make many of their annual charitable donations.
“We ask that President Bush reconsider what we believe is an unjust
and counterproductive move that can only damage America’s credibility
with Muslims in this country and around the world and could create the
impression that there has been a shift from a war on terrorism to an attack
on Islam.”
The Muslim community did not accept the closures as a legitimate crackdown
on terrorism.
When ‘Id al-Fitr (Festival of the Fast-breaking) arrived two days
after the BIF and GRF closures, marking the end of Ramadan, khutbahs (sermons)
across the nation focused not only on spiritual development and community
issues, but also decried the closures. With no evidence, and no opportunities
for the relief organizations to hear the accusations and respond to them
in a court of law, the abrupt actions of the government could hardly be
sanctioned.
The uproar was not limited to the continental United States. On January
25, 300 Palestinian and Lebanese orphans protested the closing of HLF
in downtown Beirut in front of United Nations Headquarters. One banner
read, “Is it wrong to make us smile? H-L-F again NOW,” referring
to the aid HLF provided to orphans and refugees in that region of the
world. At least 10,000 Palestinian and Lebanese families in Lebanon had
received regular donations from the organization.
In addition to the frustration felt by the community at this latest affront
to their religious institutions, many Muslims also became wary of being
affiliated with any kind of Muslim relief agency.
When supporters of Islamic Relief, a Burbank, California based Muslim
charity, went masjid hopping across the country to raise funds this past
Ramadan, they were met by an unprecedented level of anxiety in the Muslim
community. “Some people would only donate indirectly through their
masjid, and not directly to the relief organization,” said Mudafar
Al-Tawash, office manager of the Burbank headquarters. Southern California
representatives of Life for Relief and Development, an Islamic charitable
organization affiliated with the United Nations, also met with a hesitant
community in their attempts to raise funds for the needy, said Natiional
Special Events Coordinator, Abdul Ghafoor Mahboob. Both organizations
have received calls from members asking to be removed from their mailing
lists. After the closure of three of the most lucrative American Muslim
charitable organizations this past December, many people are simply afraid
to give to another Muslim relief agency. In a climate of closed military
tribunals, airline profiling, and Immigration and Naturalization Service
(INS) crackdowns, fear and anxiety are becoming common in the American
Muslim community.
For the most part, however, the Muslim community has continued to be supportive
and in some cases has simply diverted donations from the closed charities
to others. Islamic Relief, for example, experienced a 35 percent increase
in revenue over the previous year. Life for Relief has also experienced
an increase in donations over the last Ramadan.
Why did this Happen?
While the government called the closures part of its crack
down on funding terrorism, several national organizations have alluded
to ulterior reasons. In the joint statement referred to earlier, the eight
organizations pointed to “politically-motivated smear campaigns by
those who would perpetuate Israel’s brutal occupation” as the
reason behind the closures.
Coincidently, the HLF shutdown followed just two days after Israeli leader
and condemned war criminal Ariel Sharon completed a guest visit to the
White House. The weekend before there had been a bombing that killed 26
Israelis, and Hamas had claimed responsibility. Although no evidence was
ever provided, the government had linked HLF to Hamas as the dominant
funding source. In a public statement, the Office of Public Affairs said
that “Holy Land supports HAMAS activities through direct fund transfers
to its offices in the West Bank and Gaza that are affiliated with HAMAS
and transfers of funds to Islamic charity committees (‘zakat committees’)
and other charitable organizations that are part of HAMAS or controlled
by HAMAS members.” The same statement also says that Mousa Mohamed
Abou Marzook, a political leader of HAMAS, “designated the Holy Land
Foundation as the primary fund-raising entity for HAMAS in the United
States” and that it funds schools that instruct children in “suicide-bombing.”
None of these accusations, however, were ever backed up by evidence or
delivered directly to HLF to allow them an opportunity to defend themselves.
The accusations against GRF and BIF were even sketchier; in fact only
mention of possible links to terrorism has put them under investigation.
In the mean time, they are effectively closed.
The government was only able to take these actions against charity groups
through its broad powers under the U.S. Patriot Act, signed into law in
October 2001. The Act increased the government’s domestic intelligence
gathering and surveillance capabilities, international intelligence information
(e.g., Israeli Mossad), wiretapping, and gave it the ability to levy harsher
penalties against those assisting terrorists. Above all, under this law
no public explanation is required for any associated government actions.
Legal Action
In January, GRF filed a lawsuit in a Chicago federal court
alleging that officials have not offered a sufficient case against them.
In the suit, they requested release of $900,000 in assets, return of computers,
documents, and other equipment. They also sued several major media agencies
for slander, including the New York Times, ABC News and Associated Press.
BIF shortly followed with their own lawsuit against the government in
Chicago federal court. This suit called government actions improper and
unfair in that no hearing was ever granted and no evidence was ever brought
forth. All cases are still pending.
What Needs To Be Done
Although legal action will help give each charity a day
in court to defend itself against the accusations brought against it;
it is vital for the Muslim community to seize this opportunity and prepare
itself against further attack.
The community must insist that if investigations need to take place, funds
must be freed and documents and equipment returned. Because until proven
guilty, these organizations are innocent of any involvement with terrorists
and have the right to perform their duties because they have the liberty
of property, just as the poor, weak, and hungry have the liberty of life.
As the national organizations emphasized in their statement, “No
relief group anywhere in the world should be asked to question hungry
orphans about their parent’s religious beliefs, political affiliations
or legal status. Those questions are not asked of recipients of public
assistance whose parents are imprisoned or executed in the United States,
and they should not be a litmus test for relief in Palestine.”
To prevent further encroachment on the civil liberties of Muslim Americans,
we must work diligently to repeal the Patriot Act; otherwise this is exactly
what happens when we give broad powers to people who tend to act irresponsibly.
We must flood our representatives in Congress, Secretary of the Treasury,
Secretary of State and President with letters and phone calls insisting
on these principles.
Where one charity has been destroyed, ten more should arise in its place,
each ten times as strong. While the government may have collapsed the
organizational structures of these charities, the essence and spirit of
the charities continue to thrive.
Above all, we must make constant du’a (supplication) for the release
of our donation funds and the continued sustenance of the people who are
kept alive through them. Allah is the All-Powerful, Self-Subsisting and
only through Him can we hope to succeed. •
Dalia Arafeh contributed to this article.
Mirza, former editore of Al-Talib, is a graduate
of UCLA in Arabic. Qazi is a senior studying political science at UCLA.
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