Muslim groups torn over funding

All he had to do was say yes.

It was the 1980s, and Maher Hatout needed money for the Muslim community in Los Angeles. Saudi Arabia, Libya and other foreign governments were offering millions of dollars to help build mosques and Islamic schools in America.

But Hatout saw danger in this helping hand. He refused the donations.

"We are working for an American Muslim identity," he said. "We cannot be an extension of, or serve the agenda of, any other country."

These days, debate among U.S. Muslim leaders about whether to accept money from foreign sources has gained urgency as the community has been scrutinized - unfairly, its members say - for any links to extremists because of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks and Iraq war.

It is a complex issue for American Muslim organizations. They face their greatest demands ever to defend adherents' civil rights, and they need money to better establish themselves in the United States. The depressed economy has hurt fundraising, and many U.S. Muslims have been withholding donations for fear any gift will seem suspicious to law enforcement.

The Muslim Public Affairs Council, the national advocacy organization in Los Angeles that Hatout founded, has accepted no foreign money since it was created in 1984, and it advertises this policy in its pitch to donors.

By contrast, the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington, perhaps the best-known Muslim advocacy group, said it takes no aid from foreign governments but does accept money from individual donors overseas - a position that can cause controversy.

Critics said accepting a $500,000 donation from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal fed the misperception that American Muslims are foreign agents. Omar Ahmed, chairman of the council's board, countered that the donation came with "no strings attached" and had no effect on his group's work. The money helped pay for books on Islam the council sent for free to U.S. public libraries.

Some Muslim leaders say individual donors often are acting on behalf of their governments. Naeem Baig, secretary general of the Islamic Circle of North America, said foreign countries usually do not offer money directly, but through a philanthropist.

Mahmoud Ayoub, professor of Islamic studies at Temple University in Philadelphia, said it is well known that donations from the Saudi and Libyan governments have come with restrictions. "They expected you to be grateful and not to criticize them," Ayoub said.

Sayyid M. Syeed, secretary general of the Islamic Society of North America, said up until the 1990s several foreign governments tried unsuccessfully to pressure his group into taking money for promoting extreme forms of Islam.

"We refused," Syeed said.

Ahmed said foreign donations comprise "less than 20 percent" of his council's budget. He would not reveal the total budget amount for the group's Washington headquarters and 21 chapters in North America, but said the Washington office alone spends $3.5-million annually.

As the Muslim community develops in the United States, its need for overseas money will diminish, but now is a difficult time for leaders to refuse all aid from foreign individuals, Ayoub said.

"What I hope will happen is that the Muslim community will find its American feet, to become acclimated," Ayoub said. "But it is not yet self-sufficient."

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