FBI required mosques to preach a state-sanctioned version of Islam

Evidence

Reda Shata learned firsthand why it doesn’t pay to associate with the law enforcement establishment. He worked with the FBI and the police, inviting officers to his mosque for breakfast and even dining with Mayor Bloomberg. He personified everything that American imperialism has defined as a “good Muslim.” Yet an undercover police officer and an informant were assigned to spy on him and to keep tabs on his mosque. — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 586 (#expands, via linked claim)

The logic underlying these cases is that Muslims are naturally “predisposed” to commit violent acts and should therefore be put away. Downs explains that “to prove predisposition, the government claims that routine, normal behavior of the defendants––dress, religious observances, Islamic financial transactions, literature, etc.––indicates a ‘predisposition’ to commit terrorism, based on the false stereotype that all Muslims are predisposed to commit terrorism. If they are sufficiently ‘Muslim,’ they are sufficiently ‘predisposed.’” — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 463 (#expands, via linked claim)

Categorization

• XREF: connects to: Even Muslims who cooperated with the FBI were placed under surveillance — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 586; US administrations used symbolic inclusion of Islam to recruit Muslims into state interests.; FBI surveillance drives Muslim congregations to self-police and Americanize (+3 more)

Related

• Even Muslims who cooperated with the FBI were placed under surveillance (similarity 0.85)
• The FBI treated black Islam as a political sign regardless of actual loyalty (similarity 0.83)
• Routine Muslim religious practice is legally treated as evidence of terrorist predisposition (similarity 0.82)
• Fear of black Muslims uniting with colonized peoples drove FBI surveillance. (similarity 0.82)
• Routine Muslim religious practices trigger FBI terrorism suspicion under radicalization theory (similarity 0.80)
• Courts legitimize treating an entire religious community as suspicious (similarity 0.80)
• Courts treated ordinary Muslim religiosity as evidence of terrorist predisposition (similarity 0.79)
• Even high-ranking Muslim American officials were surveilled without criminal cause (similarity 0.79)
• The FBI surveilled the Moorish Science Temple for anti-imperialist and anti-racist activism (similarity 0.78)
• Terrorism and extremism are treated as exclusive to Islam (similarity 0.78)
• Preemptive FBI strategy assumed Muslims were guilty and induced latent terrorist tendencies. (similarity 0.78)
• FBI surveillance drives Muslim congregations to self-police and Americanize (similarity 0.78)
• Muslims are presumed predisposed to terrorism, making entrapment defenses fail. (similarity 0.78)

Broader Connections

• FBI surveillance drives Muslim congregations to self-police and Americanize #expands (0.60)
• Even Muslims who cooperated with the FBI were placed under surveillance #expands (0.55) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 586
• US administrations used symbolic inclusion of Islam to recruit Muslims into state interests. #complicates (0.50)
• The Bush administration criminalized a mandatory Islamic religious practice by shutting down Muslim charities #complicates (0.50) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 465
• Routine Muslim religious practice is legally treated as evidence of terrorist predisposition #expands (0.50) — Deepa Kumar, Islamophobia and the Politics of Empire, 463
• The state authorizes citizens to racially profile Muslims under national security #expands (0.45) — , Selod, Saher - Forever Suspect_…, 424