Michigan Muslims

Today on Stateside, what the Wayne State University police chief says needs to happen to regain public trust as the nation erupts in protest over the killing of George Floyd. Plus, a theater director speaks about the role of art in articulating black pain amid civil unrest. 

For the first time in 25 years, Imam Abdul Latif Azom has closed the doors to the Islamic Center of North Detroit, or Masjid Al-Falah. It’s Ramadan, the month of fasting from dawn until dusk. Masjid means mosque.

“The greatest loss [to] our congregation is we can't go to the mosque,” said Azom.

As the Democratic presidential contest intensifies and Super Tuesday looms, campaigns are seeking the support of particular communities or demographics. In Michigan, and the nation as a whole, many Arab Americans are aligning themselves with Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders.

Today on Stateside, Michigan lawmakers are considering legislation that would ease penalties on Concealed Pistol License holders that are charged with carrying their weapons in gun-free zones like schools or stadiums. Plus, the upcoming exhibit "Halal Metropolis" series highlights the cultural contributions of Muslims in southeast Michigan.

What exactly is a "halal metropolis"?

According to Razi Jafri, it's "a region in which Muslims can live freely, practice their faith, contribute to society, with all of their creative and entrepreneurial and all kinds of skills that they have." And he says that Detroit, and Southeast Michigan more broadly, fall squarely into that category.

The U.S. Supreme Court this week upheld President Trump’s ban on travel from seven countries: North Korea, Venezuela, Syria, Iran, Yemen, Libya, and Somalia. Five of these countries are majority-Muslim nations where many Michigan residents have family members.

Now, the Council on American-Islamic Relations - Michigan (CAIR) and the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) are partnering to look at how the upheld travel ban will impact Muslims living in Michigan. 

More than a thousand people filled the grand hall of Burton Manor in Livonia to celebrate Eid, which marks the end of Ramadan. The event was organized by the Muslim Community of the Western Suburbs of Detroit whose director and Imam, Sheikh Ali Suleiman Ali, delivered the prayer.

The end of the holy month also marks the end of daylight fasting. To celebrate the occasion, the faithful hopped in their cars and drove up the street to IHOP, or should we say IHOb?

The holy month of Ramadan begins this evening. For the next month, Muslims around the world will fast from sunrise to sunset and devote more time to reading the Holy Koran.

Samar Baydoun Bazzi of Dearborn wanted to make the holy month a little festive for her family. After years of seeing Christmas trees and other holiday decorations, she came up with a Ramadan tree. She joined Stateside to talk about how she came up with the idea and its reception by her family and local community.

This story is a part of Mornings In Michigan, our new series about the sounds of morning rituals in our state. 

In Dearborn many residents wake up to the sound of a sacred chant from a local house of worship. It’s the adhan, or call to prayer, that’s broadcast five different times during the day over a loudspeaker on top of the American Moslem Society. 

Michigan Radio's Lauren Talley visited the mosque at dawn.

Ku Klux Klan leader David Duke says this is why he loves President Trump.

British Prime Minister Theresa May, meantime, is leading a chorus of criticism aimed at the president, who pushed right back on Twitter, telling the Prime Minister to take care of her own house.

All of this over the president's re-tweeting of anti-Muslim videos from a group called Britain First, which May calls "a hate group."

It is an interesting, and also tough, time to be both black and Muslim in Michigan.

Anti-Muslim rhetoric in politics and media seems to be intensifying, and there are daily reminders of our nation's long, painful – and still unresolved – history of race relations. 

Dr. Halim Naeem​, a psychologist based in Livonia, and Tahira Khalid, head counselor at Muslim Family Services in Detroit, joined Stateside to share their perspectives on what it means to be both black and Muslim in Michigan.

Marine Gunnery Sergeant Joseph Felix will soon face a general court martial at Camp Lejeune, North Carolina.

The former drill instructor is facing charges including hazing and maltreatment — violations of military discipline — and drunk and disorderly conduct.

He is being tried for his alleged involvement in the March 2016 death of Marine recruit Raheel Siddiqui.

Anan Ameri has made her mark here in Michigan.  She is the founder of the Arab American National Museum in Dearborn, an inductee into the Michigan Women’s Hall of Fame, and she is the founder of the Palestine Aid Society of America.

Now, Ameri is making a new mark as an author. Her new memoir is titled, The Scent of Jasmine: Coming of Age in Jerusalem and Damascus and she joined Stateside to talk about her upbringing. 

Anti-Islam protestors are gathering in Lansing tomorrow for the March Against Sharia.

It’s one of a couple dozen such protests across the nation. There has not been a lot of media coverage about it, and the only coverage we've seen on the Michigan march has been in the MetroTimes.

These anti-Islam protestors point to the atrocities of ISIS and to the Dearborn cleric Ahmad Musa Jibril, whose YouTube videos might have inspired one of the men involved in last week's London terror attack, as proof that Islam is a violent religion. 

But Imam Sohail Chaudhry of the Islamic Society of Greater Lansing said protestors aren’t seeing the full picture.

When mental illness strikes a loved one, the first person many families turn to is often a faith-based leader: a priest, a minister, a rabbi, or an imam.

The Ninth Annual Muslim Mental Health Conference aims to help clergy do a better job of helping members of their congregation who are suffering from mental illness.

The conference will run April 13-14th at the Michigan State University Department of Psychiatry.

In the last few weeks, intimidating acts have been aimed at Jewish and Muslim communities in Michigan. In Ann Arbor, a bomb threat forced the evacuation of a Hebrew Day School. In Dearborn, threats have been called into Muslim community centers and mosques.

A federal appeals panel in the 9th U.S. Circuit has upheld a lower court’s ruling against an executive order by President Donald Trump. That order temporarily banned people of seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. The three-judge panel suggested the executive order did nothing to make the nation safer, and that the Trump administration didn’t present any evidence that people from the seven countries were a threat to the U.S.

Dawud Walid, executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Michigan, joined Stateside to talk about the ruling it's effect on the Muslim community.

Since Donald Trump was elected to be the 45th President of the United States, the reactions, both for and against, have been forceful. 

Many Americans are afraid of life under President Trump, based on campaign messages that regularly targeted people based on religion, gender, ethnicity, and race.

And they wonder: why would someone vote for a candidate whose rhetoric was so often hateful?

One possible conclusion is that those who did vote for Trump must share those hateful views.

Saeed Khan, a lecturer at Wayne State University who also teaches a course on Muslim-Christian diversity at Rochester College, is encouraging a more measured view.

In the past week, middle school students in Royal Oak chanted “Build the Wall,” a Canton police officer was suspended over a racist Facebook post, and a University of Michigan student reported she was confronted by a man who threatened to set her on fire if she didn’t remove her hijab.

These are just some of the incidents reported since last week’s election of Donald Trump, which came after a long campaign that often focused on Muslims.

Islamaphobia has been rampant in the dark corners of the internet for a long time. It rears its head in real life as well, and as close as Dearborn, where we've seen armed protestors stand outside mosques and libraries protesting "radical Islam" or simply voicing their anti-Muslim sentiment. 

But there's a small enclave of Muslims in the Upper Peninsula that says they've been welcomed, and feel safe there. 

They asked for permission to build a mosque in the city of Sterling Heights. After weeks of debate, the city denied their request.

Now, the leaders of the proposed American Islamic Community Center are suing the City of Sterling Heights, accusing the city of bias against Muslims and seeking damages. 

  In Cleveland later this morning, a coalition of Muslim groups plan to hold a news conference to "Challenge the GOP’s  'Politics of Fear'."

Concern about growing islamophobia has led to a push to get more Muslim Michiganders to the polls in November. 

Last month, services at mosques in Michigan were crowded with people observing Ramadan.

On the final Friday of Ramadan, as worshippers gathered at a mosque in Canton, they were greeted by volunteers trying to get them registered to vote.

This is the holiest season of the year for Muslims: Ramadan.

It's a time of self-examination and increased religious devotion. It's also a time of giving.