Muslim Leaders Debate on Receiving Foreign Funds

May 3, 2003

Source: The Associated Press

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&u=/ap/20030503/ap_on_re_us/muslims_foreign_donors_3

On May 3, 2003 The Associated Press reported that "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 this country. The depressed economy has hurt fund-raising, and many U.S. Muslims have been withholding donations for fear any gift will seem suspicious to law enforcement."