SPEAKING FREELY Why charity does not
begin in America By Amir Butler
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Like
most religions, Islam places an emphasis on the giving
of charity and feeding the poor. However, since
September 11, 2001, 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 United States government has
closed many of America's most respected Islamic
charities, seizing donations and forcefully stopping
their operations.
The Islamic American Relief
Agency, Holy Land Foundation, Global Relief Foundation,
Help the Needy, Benevolence International and the
al-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.
Required by their religion to give charity,
Muslims find themselves in a difficult position.
Historically, they 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 US Federal
Bureau of Investigation; a fear not alleviated by the
refusal of the US Department of Justice to provide
existing Islamic charities with guidelines nor 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 America's "war on
terror", no terrorist-related charges have ever been
laid. In fact, all investigations have centered only 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 was placed on a United Nations list of terrorist
financiers and, two 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. Al-Buthi, an agricultural engineer, 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
Osama 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
September 11, when genuine terrorists and their
sympathizers were hand-wringing with delight over the
blow inflicted on the US and her people, al-Buthi was
lobbying the Saudi religious establishment to join his
call for peaceful coexistence.
Although al-Buthi
has neither been charged with a crime or 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 itself neither 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 US
is waging a war against Islam. The US government is
trading tomorrow's security for today's political gain
and in doing so is ensuring that a pervasive,
deep-seated and irreconcilable rage against the United States will
be inculcated in the Muslim world for generations to
come.
Is it unreasonable to believe that the
orphans thrown on to the street by US closures of
Haramain orphanages will grow up desiring revenge
against the one who sacrificed their future on the altar
of political self interest? Will anyone be surprised
that a nation of 1 billion people who view the United
States through a prism of injustice of the kind meted out to
al-Buthi will always view the US and her people as an
inextricably hostile enemy of Islam and Muslims?
If the US genuinely wishes to fight terrorism,
then it must change its approach to Islamic charities.
With charity a religious duty for the world's Muslims,
the unwarranted hindrance of Islamic charities is an
obstacle and hindrance to the practice of religion
itself. By creating hardship for hundreds of thousands
of poor Muslims, the US has created a fertile atmosphere
for the recruitment of terrorists and the radicalization
of a generation. The consequences may not be felt
immediately but will almost certainly be felt in the
future.
Of course, no one can deny the US 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 - if not for the
sake of America's own integrity, then at least for the
sake of raw self-interest and preventing what seems like
almost certain disaster.
Amir Butler
is executive director of the Australian Muslim Public
Affairs Committee (AMPAC).
(Copyright 2004
Amir Butler.)
Speaking Freely is an Asia
Times Online feature that allows guest writers to have
their say. Please click hereif you
are interested in contributing.
