Like most religions, Islam places emphasis on the giving of charity and feeding the poor. However, since Sept. 11, the US-led war on terror has dramatically affected the ability and willingness of Muslims to give charity. Ostensibly in the name of protecting Americans, the US government has closed many of America’s most respected Islamic charities, seizing donations and forcefully stopping their operations. Islamic American Relief Agency, Holy Land Foundation, Global Relief Foundation, Help the Needy, Benevolence International and Haramain Foundation have all been closed, and yet, as the 9-11 Commission itself has concluded in its Staff Monograph, no terrorism-related prosecutions, let alone convictions have resulted from the broad campaign.
Historically, Muslims have relied on charitable institutions to spend their money in parts of the world most at need. However, there is a pervasive fear that a donation may invite the attention of the FBI — a fear not alleviated by the refusal of the US Department of Justice to provide existing Islamic charities with guidelines or to publish a list of “approved” charitable institutions. In February, the US Treasury Department froze the assets of Haramain Foundation, an Oregon-based Islamic charity. Its office was raided, computers seized and financial records confiscated. A lien was placed on the charity preventing the sale of any assets.
Although the raid on the charity was couched in terms of war on terror, no terrorist-related charges have ever been laid. In fact, all investigations have centered on irregularities in the filing of taxation and financial documentation.
Despite this, a Saudi national named Soliman Al-Buthi, Haramain’s treasurer, has been accused by US officials of being a funder of terrorism, his name placed on a UN list of terrorist financiers and, three weeks ago, his assets were seized. However, there has never been nor is there currently any evidence that Al-Buthi was involved in terrorism, political violence or indeed political activism of any stripe. An agricultural engineer, Al-Buthi became involved with Haramain as a volunteer motivated by a desire to explain Islam to the people of the West.
Al-Buthi has been an outspoken critic of all forms of political violence — a vociferous critic of Bin Laden and someone who has dedicated thousands of hours to building bridges of understanding between the Muslim world and the West. In the aftermath of Sept. 11, when terrorists and their sympathizers were hand-wringing with delight over the blow inflicted on the United States and its people, Al-Buthi was calling for peaceful coexistence.
Although Al-Buthi has neither been charged with a crime nor appeared before a court, he has no right of appeal to his designation as a funder of terrorism despite the fact that this designation is based on his role with an organization that has not been charged or prosecuted with any terrorism-related offense.
The treatment of these charities, those who dedicate themselves to run them, and those who have depended on them provide a powerful validation of the Al-Qaeda critique that the United States is waging a war against Islam.
Of course, no one can deny the United States its right to protect its people from terrorism, but the US government must start to apply the same standards of justice to Islamic charities and those who run them as it does to other areas of public life.
— Amir Butler is executive director of the Australian Muslim Public Affairs Committee (AMPAC).
