Protect Free Speech in Universities:

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By Lisa Kosowski and Dima Khalidi

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Immediate Action Needed:

Stop Passage of Bill in IL State Legislature to Defund Public Universities because of Faculty Political Speech

IL State Senator Ira Silverstein has introduced a bill – SB 3017 – that would prohibit public universities and colleges from using any state funds on groups that have made statements in support of, or that participate in boycotts of Israeli academic institutions. Universities that do so would lose all of their state funding for that year. For instance, state aid could not be used for travel, lodging or membership dues for a faculty member attending the conference of an academic association that made a statement in support of a boycott of Israel. This law will lay the groundwork for other attempts to silence debate and opposition on other controversial issues.

Legislation similar to this has been introduced in New York and Maryland and in the U.S. Congress, and in some states non-binding resolutions have also been brought to the legislative bodies. These are all part of an effort to target and punish the American Studies Association (ASA) because it recently passed a resolution endorsing an academic boycott of Israeli academic institutions. Wherever these bills are being introduced, they are being met with active campaigns challenging the constitutionality of the legislation.

Things in the IL legislature are moving quickly. The Higher Education Committee of the State Senate will hold a hearing on this bill as early as TODAY, Tuesday March 4, 2014. Even though time is short, we need to make sure the members of that committee hear from as many people as possible.

Now is the time for action! This assault on free speech and academic freedom must be stopped today!

WHAT CAN YOU DO?:

1) Contact your State Senators that are members of the Higher Education Committee.

See a list of Committee members’ contact information and Talking Points below.

If you don’t know your State Senator, click here: http://www.elections.il.gov/districtlocator/addressfinder.aspx and type in your address to find out.

2) If your State Senator is not in the Higher Education Committee, contact, in this order:

• FIRST: State Senate President, John Cullerton (D). CALL (217) 782-2728.

• SECOND: Chairman of the Higher Education Committee, Senator Michael W. Frerichs (D). CALL (217) 782-2507.

3) Help spread the word.

• Share this message as widely and as quickly as you can!

• Try to get this information to people throughout the state…it important that this be a state-wide effort.

• Send a letter to the editor in your local paper to express your opposition to this legislation.

TELL STATE SENATORS:

I am calling to oppose the Higher Education Committee Amendment 1 to Senate Bill 3017.

This amendment proposes that the legislature defund an Illinois state university which provides funds for membership, travel or lodging for any employee to attend activities of an academic entity which has issued a public resolution or statement supporting boycotting a country which is a member of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) or higher education institutions in that country.

This bill is unconstitutional because the Supreme Court has ruled that boycotts are protected First Amendment activities.

The State cannot deny funding to universities because certain legislators don’t like the views that faculty and staff are expressing through protected First Amendment activities like boycotts.
Legislative intrusion in academic decision-making undermines academics’ abilities to associate and exchange views with their colleagues.

It is fiscally irresponsible and unconstitutional to condition funding for the Illinois university system on the university’s censorship of academic associations’ political viewpoints.

MEMBERS OF THE HIGHER EDUCATION COMMITTEE AND THEIR CONTACT INFORMATION:

Illinois Senate Higher Education Committee: http://www.ilga.gov/senate/committees/members.asp?CommitteeID=1219

Chair: Senator Michael W. Frerichs (D) 52nd District (note: former teacher)

CALL Springfield Office (217) 782-2507

District Office: 45 E. University Avenue, Suite 206 Champaign, IL 61820

Vice Chair: Senator Pat McGuire (D) 43rd District (note: former teacher and school board member)

CALL Springfield Office (217) 782-8800

District Office: 2200 Weber Road Crest Hill, IL 60403

Senator Daniel Biss (D) 9th District (note: lives in Evanston – former U of C math professor)

CALL Springfield Office (217) 782-2119

District Office: 3706 Dempster Street Skokie, IL 60076

Senator Melinda Bush (D) 31st District

CALL Springfield Office (217) 782-7353

District Office: 10 North Lake Street, Suite 112, Grayslake, IL 60030

Senator Dan Kotowski (D) 28th District

CALL Springfield Office: (217) 782-3875

District Office: 350 S. Northwest Highway, Suite 300 Park Ridge, IL 60068

Senator Kimberly A. Lightford (D) 4th District

CALL Springfield Office: (217) 782-8505

District Office: 10001 West Roosevelt Rd Suite 202 Westchester, IL 60154

Senator Andy Manar (D) 48th District

CALL Springfield Office: (217) 782-0228

District Office 103 West Main Street P.O. Box 33 Staunton, IL 62088

Senator John M. Sullivan (D) 47th District

CALL Springfield Office: (217) 782-2479

District Office 926 Broadway, Suite 6 Quincy, IL 62301

Senator Chapin Rose (R) 51st District

CALL Springfield Office: (217) 558-1006

District Office 510 S. Staley Road, Suite D Champaign, IL 61822

Senator David S. Luechtefeld (R) 58th District (note: former teacher)

CALL Springfield Office: (217) 782-8137

District Office 700 North Front Street Okawville, IL 62271

Senator Wm. Sam McCann (R) 50th District

CALL Springfield Office: (217) 782-8206

District Office: 221 Dunlap Court Jacksonville, IL 62650

Senator Kyle McCarter (R) 54th District

CALL Springfield Office: (217) 782-5755

District Office: 310 W. Gallatin Vandalia, IL 62471

 

16-11

Mohammed Khan Runs for Illinois Seat

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community-Mohammed KhanMohammed Khan, a twenty eight year old law student, is seeking the Democratic nomination for Illinois’ 20th District state representative seat. If nominated he is likely to face the incumbent Rep. Michael McAuliffe (R-20th) in the November general election.

Khan grew up  in Park Ridge and is a Maine South High School graduate. He holds an Accounting degree from the University of Iowa and currently is pursuing a degree from Loyola University Chicago School of Law. In 2008, he served as a Traveling Aide to Hillary Clinton during the 2008 Presidential campaign.

Khan’s campaign focus is on job creation and education. He believes the state must do more to build educational opportunities in digital technology and encourage college students to start their own businesses.

16-11

The Forgotten Day!

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By Dr. Tariq Momand

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Today 3rd March, 90 years ago, the then British Foreign Minister Lord Curzon warned, “We must put an end to anything which brings about any Islamic unity between the sons of the Muslims. The situation now is that Turkey is dead and will never rise again, because we have destroyed its moral strength, the Caliphate and Islam.”

The 3rd of March is a date that is etched into the history of the Muslim Ummah as one of its darkest days ever. It was on this date in the fateful year of 1924 CE that the last vestige of legitimate Islamic rule was ended. The office of Caliphate was abolished by Mustafa Kamal and the Muslim Ummah has since then been plunged in to darkness and humiliation.
This was the beginning of the humiliation that the Muslim world has suffered to this very day. The Ummah was set to be subjected to numerous tragedies that would involve against it murderous wars, foreign occupation, economic strangulation, political manipulation as well as a cultural colonialism that sought to distance the Muslim world from the concept of Islamic ruling and the obligation of living under the Caliphate.

With the removal of the sole legitimate leadership of the Muslims, the Caliphate, the lands of Islam were divided into numerous statelets and disputed territories. These new entities were established along the lines of ethnicity, sectarianism and racism by the colonialist powers of the day in an attempt to ensure that the Muslim Ummah would never rise again. Nationalism that was nurtured by the colonialists in the run up to the destruction of the Caliphate helped to ensure that these new entities would remain at loggerheads, never to think of uniting again. Any attempts to replicate the power of a unitary leadership of the Muslim world were replaced by pathetic and impotent bodies such as Arab League and the Organisation of Islamic Countries (OIC). These organizations were designed to perpetuate disunity and division as they preserved the borders and barriers between Muslims that the colonialists had established. These states have never had the interests of Islam and the Muslims at heart.

Western colonialism put in place a motley crew of dictators, monarchs, autocrats that have served them in a manner more loyal than their own populations. The Muslim world has indeed seen destruction, devastation and calamity for the past 90 years, despite the fact that the Muslim ummah is the richest in natural resources, manpower, army, land, technological capability, wealth and most importantly iman in Allah (swt).

Looking at the devastating performance of capitalism, the world is looking forward to an ideological change that could fill the vacuum created by Capitalism. Islam by having a track record of ruling the world successfully not for decades but for centuries, could replace and fill this vacuum expediently.

To know that Khilafah had been a great state for centuries and that it was a superpower on the world stage, the statement given by the father of modern economy is a great testimony.

Adam Smith, the 18th Century founder of modern economics whose picture is printed on the current UK £20 note, was exceedingly inspired by the Islamic method of governing. He proclaimed that:

“…the empire of the Caliphs seems to have been the first state under which the world enjoyed that degree of tranquility which the cultivation of the sciences requires. It was under the protection of those generous and magnificent princes, that the ancient philosophy and astronomy of the Greeks were restored and established in the East; that tranquility, which their mild, just and religious government diffused over their vast empire, revived the curiosity of mankind, to inquire into the connecting principles of nature.” *

(* Adam Smith, ‘History of Astronomy’, The Essays of Adam Smith (London, 1869), p. 353)

Sultan-Abd-Al-Hamid-the-second-the-last-caliph-of-the-Ottoman-era

Sultan Abdul Hamid II, the 99th caliph and the last sultan to exert effective control over the Ottoman Empire.

Hence it was a leading state in economy, science, technology, commerce, architecture and jurisprudence. The Khilafah provided peace and security for its citizens, allowing them to live in harmony together as a single state. The Khilafah even provided sanctuary for those who were persecuted because of their beliefs.

3rd March is therefore an extremely significant day to remember because of its prominence and implications upon the world, specifically the Muslim world.

By Khaama Press

16-11

Who Defines us? Who are We?

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By Dr. Aslam Abdullah, TMO Editor-in-Chief

imagesA debate has been going on within certain circles of the Muslim community about defining or redefining Islam and its followers.

Several terms have been designed to make a distinction among Muslims’ various theological and sociopolitical schools of thought. These terms sometimes appear attractive, especially in the state of confusion in which we live. They provide us with different approaches to identify ourselves. However, when we look at these terms deeply, we begin to realize that they are meant to define us in the mold of our thinking influenced by our social and political milieu.

Terms that are in fashion currently are moderate Islam, progressive Islam, enlightened Islam, modern Islam, extremist Islam, liberal Islam, conservative Islam, reformed Islam, orthodox Islam, fundamentalist Islam, medieval Islam, political Islam, radical Islam and obscurantist Islam, etc.

What is interesting is that these terms emerge from the limitations of our own readings of Islam controlled by our own social-political experiences. For instance, in the context of the U.S. and the West, it is now fashionable to use terms such as progressive Islam and moderate Islam.

When asked to define these terms, their proponents say that “moderate” or “progressive” Islam opposes violence, accepts the universal charter of human rights, promotes gender equality and recognizes the idea of pluralism.

Dialectically, what they are saying is that there is an Islam that does not recognize the value of non-violence, that rejects the universal charter of human rights and that opposes the idea of gender equality and pluralism. If this is the basis of redefining Islam, then it is a weak premise.

Islam is a faith divinely given to human beings to live their lives according to certain values originally defined by the Divine. People have a choice to reject them or to accept them because they are responsible for their own actions. Islam does not advocate violence. Those who use violence as a means to achieve their goals, however noble their goals may be, are essentially in violation of their faith. They are the ones who are deviating from the path of Islam.

Why should their deviation cause some Muslims to redefine Islam and form a separate category of moderate or progressive Islam in order to make a distinction between the two? There are always people and groups who use their faith to promote their own political and economic agenda. This is true with all religions. The most effective way to confront such people is to develop a sound argument on the basis of a comprehensive understanding of the divine values and prophetic teachings.

This is a struggle that we all have to carry on within ourselves and in the society at large. Creating further divisions and categorizing ourselves in terms that refer to our own political expediencies will not serve the real purpose of the faith. Islam, that, after all, demands from every Muslim to be a witness to the truth.

The truth is clear in Islam. We cannot change it for our political purposes. Thus, the coinage of these terms is primarily a weak strategy that defeats the very purpose of the faith.

The questions that ought to be raised, then, are: what is this truth and how do we discern it from falsehood? The truth will emerge from our quest of knowledge, experiences, wisdom and guidance from the Divine. The truth is not necessarily reflected in a few sound-bites of political or theological leaders.

In the case of Islam, the truth, as perceived by Muslims based on their general readings of the Qur`an, is that Islam is a divinely revealed faith that commands its adherents to follow the principles of monotheism, justice, progress, equality, and peace in all aspects of their life.

We have to understand our world in the context of these divinely revealed truths and develop suitable instruments to ensure that they are shared with the rest of the world.

Thus, our struggle is to be a witness to these truths and to challenge all those who are in violation of these regardless of what label they assume.

In the Qur`an, the Divine tells us of people who would call themselves Muslims, yet, would do everything that is contrary to the teachings of Islam. Thus, it is not a prudent strategy to say that because of the deviations of others, we are changing our self definition and coining a new term to describe our relation with our faith. Our commitment to our faith is based on the criterion of right and wrong.

The propagation of new terminologies by various Muslims is leading our community into a bewilderment of confusing ideas without realizing that the principles of faith cannot be compromised for our understanding or lack of understanding of sociopolitical realities.

Thus, we have two tasks at hand. First, internally–we have to challenge those who are distorting and destroying the foundation of Islam, and second we have to communicate to the rest of the world the real foundation on which our faith stands.

It is better that we spend our time and resources in these areas rather than wasting our energy in coining and re-coining terms that confuse us and others as well.

When we do what is expected of us in Islam, we will notice qualitative change in our own attitude as well as the attitude of the people in our and others faith.

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