IN the months following the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, the US government launched its “global war on terror” which appeared to target Muslims groups and Muslims nations. The following months became reminiscent of the McCarthy witch-hunt era during which hundreds of citizens were eventually “blacklisted” and lost their jobs. Congress made membership in the Communist Party a criminal offense. Muslims in the West after the 9/11 attacks have been under a siege of hate, in which institutionalized racial profiling, discrimination, defaming of mainstream Muslim organizations and raids on Muslim charities have become the norm.
The war on terror not only targeted Muslims but also the most vulnerable, dispossessed poor around the world. After 9/11, government surveillance began to focus not only on Muslims, but also the financial practices of charities serving Muslim communities both in the US and abroad. Over the past five years, federal authorities have raided and shut down many major Islamic charities, all without due process; donors have been frightened off, many because of the fear of finding FBI agents at their doors asking about specific checks they had written.
The fear of ending up on some government watch list for aiding terrorism has threatened donations to American Muslim charities that usually benefit from zakah — a religious obligation to give two and half percent of their assets as alms. Muslim organizations say members are afraid to give money to Muslim charity organizations and many are opting to donate cash instead of checks.
Virtually all Islamic charities in the United States have been closed down; however the situation is not so bad in Britain where a number of Islamic charities operate successfully under the regulations of the Charity Commission.
However one British Islamic charity set up to bring aid to Palestinians, Interpal, has been designated as a terrorist entity by the US government. Though it is a respected charity in Britain and has already twice been cleared of wrongdoing by the Charity Commission, it is currently facing the threat of being closed.
The latest news is that Lloyds TSB has served notice to Islamic Bank of Britain that Lloyds TSB is to cease all dealings with Interpal. The notice came into effect on Dec. 8 last year. After this time “All transactions into or out of Interpal accounts will be blocked and IBB will be at further risk of all its customer payments being suspended.” IBB offered its total support to Interpal but has been apparently powerless in this situation.
According to Ibrahim Hewitt Chairman of the Board of Trustees of Interpal: “By acting in this way, Lloyds TSB has treated IBB with contempt. Their action sent a signal to other Muslim charities — as well as the bank’s 50,000 Muslim account holders — that their accounts could be closed down without warning or explanation at any time.”
While the US campaign applies to all domestic nonprofit organizations, its main aims appear to be groups that support Muslim causes and, as in Interpal’s case the Palestinian cause — a thorn in the side of the American Jewish Lobby.
The government’s pursuit of not-for-profit groups that support Muslim causes has caused a dramatic decrease in contributions and has left donors and volunteers confused about which organizations and institutions they can trust.
The fact that Muslim charities were targeted after 9/11 attacks meant that America believed, without any real evidence, that “Muslim charities aided terrorists.”
While the onslaught on Muslim charities continues, the West expects the world to turn a blind eye to the fact that the Western aid system is deeply connected to national foreign policies and security concerns where humanitarian action often provides a fig-leaf for military intervention, while at the same time Christian missionaries are operating in Third World countries using aid as a tool for conversion. One charity that has been operating for 35 years is the World Assembly of Muslim Youth (WAMY), set up in 1973 and known for its charity projects around the world. After 9/11 it suffered greatly when America linked it to ‘terrorist activities’ and closed down its operations in the US and began investigating its many donors.
WAMY is a Saudi-based charity and an international nongovernmental organization with its aims being to aid the development and integration of youth. Its motto is “Youth are half the present and all of the future.”
Few would argue that education opens the door to better jobs, improved health and prosperity; therefore it is little wonder that 70 percent of WAMY’s budget is spent on youth education, training and development.
Dr. Salah Al-Wohaibi, Secretary- General of WAMY explains: “Education remains an elusive dream for millions of children, who are denied a chance to shape their futures. The grinding poverty and famine, particularly in parts of Africa, are the result of economic oppression and exploitation worsened by ethnic conflict and regional wars, which has made millions of people refugees in their own homeland.”
WAMY has over 450 youth organizations among its members which are all active and popular in their region. Al-Wohaibi explains: “These organizations have a network of branches which are active in most parts of the world. The societies from which most of us come from are still in the stage that is generally referred to as the “developing stage.” This means that we face the tremendous problems of backwardness, poverty, misery, illiteracy and lack of the basic necessities of life. These problems are not someone else’s problems. They are our problems.”
WAMY suffered a drop in revenues, after the US attempted to link it to terrorism. Al-Wohaibi explained how the organization’s youth-related activities had suffered due to the cutting back of the scholarship program for overseas students. He said the best way to wean youth away from undesirable activities was to instill sound values based on Islamic teachings. Al-Wohaibi said the activities of the WAMY branch office in Washington had also been substantially scaled down. WAMY and other charitable organizations suffered a loss of image as they were linked to terrorism by the Western, more specifically the American, media.
“This kind of hostile campaign is still going on in the American media. We are conducting a public relations campaign through the US media. With the help of some Saudi organizations, we have established Friends of Charity Association (FOCA), which is a lobbying group in Washington. It’s doing a good job in trying to reach out to government officials, congressmen and the media as part of our effort to explain our activities and remove misconceptions.”
Green and Chambers Consulting is a UK Muslim PR Company which works to create a positive image of Islam and Muslims in the West by encouraging positive civic participation between different communities in order to promote the common good.
Its founders and directors are two well-known people — Yusuf Chambers and Abdurraheem Green who between them have a combined experience of over 30 years in community-based work. Green and Chambers have worked actively with WAMY in promoting its outstanding work and achievements to the West.
Yusuf Chambers explains: “We have been working with WAMY to promote its good works and making people aware of the positive contributions WAMY has made in the field of charity works. The fact that Muslims charities have been unfairly labeled does not diminish all the good works they have done. Yes WAMY has strong Islamic foundations in that it promotes Islam in its works. Christian charities have been doing that for ages. Christian Aid does the same promoting Christianity, that is not a crime.”
Six years on, WAMY has worked hard to clear its name so it can continue its important charity work. In its operational procedures it has laid out new rules that show complete transparency in the collection and disbursement of funds.
WAMY is subject to various governmental authorities and institutions such as the Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA, the central bank), Ministry of Finance, and committees set up to monitor the flow and disbursement of funds among charitable organizations.
A series of regulations is also in place for the control of funds. WAMY has also set up an auditor’s office for the regular auditing of its accounts. They also include some well-known auditing firms such as RSM Middle East, a member of the RSM international company as well as McBladrey & Pullen, a professional firm from the United States.
Never more so than now WAMY has learned how important there is a need to foster ethical and social values among youth and enhance their cultural awareness for effective participation in the community. In line with UN directives, one of WAMY’s key priorities remains the welfare of the orphans; it has sponsored over 30,000 orphans.
It supports several orphanages around the world where hundreds of children receive education and vocational training.
Professor David Cole, a constitutional law expert at the Georgetown University Law Center, explains in his book, “Counterterrorism: Democracy’s Challenge”, “The United States law now makes it a crime to provide anything of support — from dues to volunteer services — to any organization or individual that the government has labeled ‘terrorist.’ The prohibition is not limited to those who intend to support the illegal or terrorist acts of so-called terrorist organizations. It criminalizes any and all support — including support that is otherwise entirely lawful, peaceful, and nonviolent.”
“Hundreds of individuals and groups have been placed on this ‘terrorist’ list since 2001,” Cole says, adding, “Remarkably, there is no definition in federal statutes of a ‘specially designated terrorist’ or a ‘specially designated global terrorist.’ Thus, the president and the secretary of treasury can apply this label to literally anyone or any group.”
As the new administration takes firm control under Barak Obama let’s hope that change is on the way and justice will finally prevail.
