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Boxer Muhammad Ali Calls for Tolerance
By Ayub Khan
CHICAGO, Sept 14 (IslamOnline) - Boxing legend Muhammad Ali, the most recognizable face among America's more than seven million Muslims, pleaded with fellow Americans to not to condemn all Muslims for the attacks on New York and Washington.
Amid reports of increasing attacks against Muslims throughout North America, Ali proudly declared, "I am a Muslim. I am an American."
Meanwhile in Chicago, where the imposing Muhammad Ali mosque is housed, fresh incidents of hate attacks against Muslims occurred, as Chicago police were still looking for three men who beat up a Muslim taxi driver late Tuesday.
In suburban Lake County, vandals spray-painted the words "USA" and "NO FORGIVENESS," on the exterior walls of Al Huda Islamic Center.
Abuzaffer Abdulbasith, head of the Qur'an department at Islamic Cultural Center of Lake County, said he called police Wednesday after receiving a threatening phone call. The caller, who asked for him by name, was told Abdulbasith was not home. The caller replied, "Don't hide from us. We know who you are."
In Bridgeview, where Muslims constitute 30% of the town's 15,000 residents, white teenagers again held demonstrations Thursday shouting anti-Muslim slogans and waving U.S. and Confederate flags .
One teenager wrapped in an American flag shouted, "Kill the Arabs." Others shouted similar insults at passing cars whose occupants appeared Muslim to them. Bridgeview Police arrested three demonstrators expected to be charged with disorderly conduct.
In the light of Friday's Jumuah prayers, when most of Chicagoland's 350,000 Muslims flock to mosque's and masjids, security was tightened and police increased their presence.
Mirroring U.S. President George W. Bush's call for tolerance, Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley said that no attacks against Muslims or Arabs would be tolerated.
"There is no place for hatred in Chicago," the mayor said.
Cook County State's Attorney Richard Devine warned that, "if anyone threatens them [Muslims or Arabs] or harms them, we will seek to hold them [the perpetrators] responsible to the full extent of the law."
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