March 24, 2010 | Read Time: 1 minute
More than 20 American Muslim charities sent a letter to President Barack Obama this week urging him to move forward on a pledge he announced in Cairo last year to make it easier for Muslims to give.
The charities said that many Muslim donors are still afraid to support charities because they worry about attracting scrutiny from law enforcement. Complex laws about how to provide aid overseas, as well as the surveillance and prosecutions of some Muslim nonprofit groups, have curbed lawful, well-intentioned nonprofit activities, the charities wrote.
Signatories to the letter included local and national organizations such as American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, the Center for Arab American Philanthropy, the Islamic Shura Council of Southern California, and Muslim Advocates.
The charities noted that June will mark the one-year anniversary of Mr. Obama’s speech in Egypt, in which he said he was “committed to working with American Muslims to ensure that they can fulfill zakat,” their religious obligation to give.
“As the one-year anniversary of your historic commitment to protect religious freedom and charitable giving approaches, it is our sincere hope that you will take concrete steps to remove legal hurdles that have chilled well-intentioned American Muslim charitable activities for too long,” the organizations wrote in the letter.
