Militant Islam Monitor > Satire > Muslim claims Koran slurs as Muslim Public Affairs Council demands Amazon apologise and fund programs

Muslim claims Koran slurs as Muslim Public Affairs Council demands Amazon apologise and fund programs

Amazon & CEO Jeff Bezos targetted for intimidation by MPAC with unsubstantiated claims of epithets in mail order Koran
May 19, 2005

MIM: Evidently, pious Muslimah Azza Basrudin, was able to overcome the fear which 'made her drop the Koran' long enough to hold it up while smiling for the cameras. In addtion to never having been challenged by the media to prove the veracity of her claim, Basrudin has removed her CV from the internet (it can be seen below) .

It should come as no surprise that MPAC held their press conference at the Islamic Center of Southern California which is linked to CAIR and the Wahhabist funded Islamic Society of North America (aka Horizon schools) which is part of the IBERR (International Board of Educational Research and Resources, which provides Saudi textbooks to Islamic schools in the US and is headed and funded by Yusuf Islam). http://www.islamctr.org/links.asp

The ICSC appears to enjoy a special friendship with the Assistant Director of the FBI - and proudly announced this on their website: http://www.islamctr.org/FBI.asp

"...Ron Iden, in his capacity of Assistant Director of the FBI, has formed friendship based on respect and understanding with the Islamic Center and the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Agent Iden has reached out to the Muslim community on numerous occasions, with the understanding that we are all partners to protect our country. He has always been open and willing to be notified of any grievances..."

It is to be hoped that Agent Iden will be as open and willing to be 'notified of any grievances' on the part of Amazon and others being shaken down by Muslims as part of the effort to 'protect our country.

It is also worth noting that Salam Marayati, the executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, which is demanding that Amazon fire 'those responsible' and fund what he refers to as 'educational programs which foster tolerance' has a history of spreading rumor and conspiracy theory( as well as supporting terrorism). The New York TImes reported that only few hours after the WTC attacks MPAC director Salam Marayati had stated :

"If we're going to look at
suspects we should look to the groups that benefit the most from these kinds of
incidents, and I think we should put the state of Israel on the suspect list
because I think this diverts attention from what's happening in the Palestinian
territories so that they can go on with their aggression and occupation and
apartheid policies." (New York Times, Oct. 22, 2001)

MIM: Marayati and MPAC have praised the Hizbollah terrorist group and publicly called for Israel's destruction. http://www.zoa.org/pressrel2002/20020123a.htm

(Which may provide a clue as to why MPAC has followed the pattern set by CAIR, and decided to shakedown a company which is headed by a Jewish CEO.)

MIM: Muslim Public Affairs Council called press conference to announce kopyat Koran complaint against Amazon.

Azza Basrudin holds the convincing evidence which obviously could never have been put in there by herself or someone she knows ...Many of the verses written inside are more hateful then anything which she alleges were written on the page she is displaying to the media. As one commentator pointed out on LGF : http://littlegreenfootballs.com/weblog/?entry=15900_MPAC_Works_the_Desecration_Angle

"...Amazon should go through every koran and cut out all the hate speech.

It would be like a porn flic edited for daytime television..."

Muslim women contacts the Muslim Public Affairs Council to publicise claims that her second hand mail order Koran from Amazon arrived with slurs written on the front cover. She said she 'dropped it' and 'was afraid to go near it for a few days " .

Which begs four questions:

Why would any Muslim need to order a Koran in the first place since all mosques and Islamic centers give them away for free ?

Why would anyone contact a radical Islamist organisation and call a national press conference at an Al Qaeda linked mosque over alleged slurs found in a secondhand mail order book ?

Has anyone demanded that she prove the veracity of her claim - or is the Koran still lying where she said she dropped it?

What is the shari'a punishment for dropping the Koran and leaving it on the floor 'for a few days?'

The next press conference will be to announce a lawsuit for mental anguish .

MIM: All that remains to make the claim even more credible is to add that the Koran appears to have been soaked in a toilet at Gitmo and remains of a human finger were found in between the pages which were stained with Wendy's pork chili .

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MIM: The publicity generated by the Koran story enabled Muslims to tell millions of Americans about Islam, by literally being 'in their face' with the Koran.

"Jihad can be with the pen and the tongue just as it can be with the sword and the spear. Islamic Jihad is not limited to military efforts only; it extends beyond this, including several means that Muslims need to utilize now more than ever."

http://www.militantislammonitor.org/article/id/212

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Mail order Koran arrives with slurs

Muslim woman wants apology

http://msnbc.msn.com/id/7903704/

The Associated Press Updated: 10:55 p.m. ET May 18, 2005

LOS ANGELES - A Muslim woman who said she ordered a Quran through Amazon.com only to find profanity and religious slurs written inside asked Wednesday for an apology and a full investigation by the online retailer.

Azza Basarudin, 30, said she received the Quran by mail on May 5 after ordering it through a used books division of Amazon.com that allows customers to order directly from third-party sellers approved by the company.

When she opened the Quaran, Basarudin said she found profanity and the phrase "Death to all Muslims" written in thick black marker on the otherwise-blank first page.

"I dropped the book because I didn't know what to do," she said at a news conference at the Islamic Center of Southern California.

Salam Al-Marayati, executive director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, said his organization wants a public apology and investigation from Amazon.com, as well as the firing of those responsible for mailing the desecrated book.

Patty Smith, a spokeswoman for the Seattle-based book retailer, said the Quran was purchased directly from Bellwether Books, a small book resale company in McKeesport, Pa., through the "Marketplace" section of Amazon's Web site.

"This was not our inventory, it was nowhere in our order or fulfillment process," she said. "It was a used book purchased through a third party."

Richard Roberts, owner of Bellwether, said he doubts the book was defaced by his employees. The company buys used books at bargain prices from individuals, other book stores and libraries and then resells them through Amazon.com and other outlets.

He said before this incident, his six employees gave each book a cursory check before shipping and didn't look inside the pages.

Roberts said Bellwether has since instituted a more stringent quality control check. Bellwether is also suspended indefinitely from selling Qurans through Amazon.com, Smith said.

Bellwether apologized to Basarudin by e-mail and offered to replace the book. Amazon.com also apologized, reimbursed her for the Quran's cost and mailed Basarudin a gift certificate, Smith said.

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The Koran vs the Constitution :"... bear witness through involvement and presence. (22:78 & 2:143)"

MIM: Muslims Propagating Allah's Cause.

PRESS RELEASE FROM MPAC

MIM: Note that the MPAC press conference was held at the Islamic Center of Southern California which seems to enjoy the' proteksia ; of the FBI and local politicians . The ICSC is linked to the Islamic Horizon school network which is directed funded by the Islamic Society of North America ( a Wahhabist group which owns most of the mosques in the US.)now under Senate investigation for terrorism funding. Predictably, the list of links on the ICSC website includes CAIR which begs the question as to their involvement in this apparent 'shakedown'. http://www.islamctr.org/links.asp

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DESECRATED QURAN DELIVERED VIA AMAZON.COM

MPAC & Muslim Customer Call for Condemnation by National Online Bookseller

(Los Angeles, 5/17/05) – An American Muslim woman who ordered a copy of the Quran from Amazon.com received one with the words "F*ck this piece of sh*t" and "Death to all Muslims" scrawled across the inside cover. Customer Azza Basarudin and the Muslim Public Affairs Council will demand that Amazon issue a formal condemnation and take corrective action at a press conference on Wednesday, May 18 at 11:00 a.m. at the Islamic Center of Southern California.

"The cult of hatred against Islam and Muslims is manifesting in different sectors of our society," said MPAC Executive Director Salam Al-Marayati. "The sooner we address these problems, the better we can serve America's national and international interests."

After placing an order with Amazon.com earlier this month, customer Azza Basarudin received the Quran she ordered from Bellwether Books, a subcontractor of the national online bookseller. Basarudin contacted MPAC when she discovered the desecration and profanity inside. Last week, MPAC contacted Amazon CEO Jeff Bazos' office to demand an investigation and called for the company to issue a public condemnation, establish a policy of zero tolerance toward this type of behavior, and support MPAC's hate crime prevention programs. Amazon.com apologized for "distress caused by incident" but has taken no corrective action.

MPAC has invited Amazon.com to participate in the press conference and share their position on this case. MPAC, which is representing the customer, will call for Amazon to take swift and decisive action against those responsible for the desecration. The Amazon.com Quran desecration case comes in the wake of national attention on the alleged desecration of the Quran by interrogators at Guantanamo Bay.

WHAT:
Press Conference Demanding Amazon.com Take Action in Response to Delivery of Desecrated Quran to Muslim Customer

WHO:
Azza Basarudin, Amazon.com customer who received desecrated Quran
Salam Al-Marayati, MPAC Executive Director
Amazon.com representative (invited)

WHEN:
Wednesday, May 18, 2005 at 11:00 A.M.

WHERE:
Islamic Center of Southern California
434 South Vermont Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90020

[CONTACT: Edina Lekovic, 213-383-3443, [email protected]]

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MIM: Press release on MPAC website : http://www.mpac.org/home_article_display.aspx?ITEM=773

Amazon.com "Suspends Indefinitely" Third Party
Vendor from Selling Quran

(Los Angeles, 5/18/05) -- In a press conference earlier today, the Muslim Public Affairs Council called for Amazon.com to take swift corrective action in response to a recent delivery of a desecrated Quran to a Muslim customer. One week after Azza Basarudin ordered a Quran from Bellwether Books, a third-party seller approved by the company, she discovered the words "F*ck this sh*t" and "Death to all Muslims" scrawled in thick black marker on the inside cover.

"I dropped the book because I didn't know what to do," she said during the news conference. "I was paralyzed after 9/11 — I couldn't leave my house for a couple of weeks — and I realized that fear was coming back. I couldn't even go near this book for a couple of days. I feel like I'm being violated all over again because I'm a Muslim."

Last week, MPAC contacted Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos' office to demand that Amazon investigate the incident, issue a public condemnation of such hateful speech, terminate employees responsible, and support hate crime prevention programs. Amazon.com and Bellwether Books have admitted to the mistake, but failed to take any of the correction actions necessary to remedy the situation to the Ms. Basarudin's satisfaction.

The Associated Press, which covered the news conference, reported today that Bellwether is also suspended indefinitely from selling Qurans through Amazon.com, according to a spokeswoman for the online bookseller.

SEE: "Woman Receives Desecrated Quran Through Amazon.com" (Associated Press, 5/18/05)
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/n/a/2005/05/18/state/n155513D92.DTL

"We are gratified to learn that Amazon.com has suspended its relationship with Bellwether," said Executive Director Salam Al-Marayati, "but they have a responsibility to loudly condemn such hateful rhetoric and take pro-active measures to enhance educational programs that foster religious tolerance."

ACTION REQUESTED:
Contact Amazon.com to request that the online bookseller take decisive steps to resolve this case and ensure it is not repeated, including:

Publicly condemn such desecration of a sacred text with hateful speech targeting Muslims,
Terminate relations with Bellwether Books, the third-party seller that delivered the desecrated Quran to Ms. Basarudin,
Support and fund educational programs that foster religious tolerance.

Send correspondence to:
Patty Smith
Director of Corporate Communications
[email protected]

[CONTACT: Edina Lekovic, 213-383-3443, [email protected]]

.------------------------

05-18 Los Angeles (AP)

A Muslim woman who said she ordered a Quran through Amazon.com only to find profanity and religious slurs written on its cover page asked Wednesday for an apology and a full investigation by the online retailer.

When she opened the Quaran, Basarudin said she found profanity and the phrase "Death to all Muslims" written on the inside page in thick black marker. Basarudin, a graduate student in women's studies at UCLA, said she was overwhelmed by fear similar to what she felt after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks when her sister and mother were the target of anti-Muslim slurs.

"I dropped the book because I didn't know what to do," she said at a news conference at the Islamic Center of Southern California. "I was paralyzed after 9/11 — I couldn't leave my house for a couple of weeks — and I realized that fear was coming back."

"This was not our inventory, it was nowhere in our order or fulfillment process," she said. "It was a used book purchased through a third party."

He said before this incident, his six employees gave each book a cursory check before shipping and didn't look inside the pages.

Roberts said Bellwether has since instituted a more stringent quality control check. Bellwether is also suspended indefinitely from selling Qurans through Amazon.com, Smith said.

"I feel awfully bad about it. It's really a shame," Roberts said in a phone interview Wednesday.

Bellwether apologized to Basarudin by e-mail and offered to replace the book. Amazon.com also apologized, reimbursed her for the Quran's cost and mailed Basarudin a gift certificate, Smith said.

Basarudin, who said her sister and mother were taunted for wearing headscarves after Sept. 11, wants more than a gift certificate and apology.

"I couldn't even go near this book for a couple of days," she said. "I feel like I'm being violated all over again because I'm a Muslim."

___

On the Net:

Muslim Public Affairs Council:

Amazon.com:

www.mpac.org

www.amazon.com

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By Teresa Watanabe, Times Staff Writer

A Culver City woman said Wednesday that a secondhand Koran she ordered through a book dealer working with Amazon.com contained anti-Islamic hate messages, including profanity and "Death to all Muslims!"

Azza Basarudin, a 30-year-old UCLA graduate student, said Amazon apologized, sent a new book and offered her a refund and gift certificate. But she and the Muslim Public Affairs Council called on the online bookseller to do more, including issuing a public condemnation of anti-Muslim hate speech and cutting commercial ties with the Pennsylvania-based book dealer that sent the Koran.
Holding up the book to display the messages at a news conference Wednesday, Basarudin said the incident resurrected the fear she felt after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, when anxiety about anti-Muslim sentiment made her reluctant to leave her apartment for two weeks.

"I was taken back to 9/11, my fear that somebody is going to hurt me," Basarudin said at the Islamic Center of Southern California in Los Angeles. "I felt that fear coming back. It really hurt me."

Amazon spokeswoman Patty Smith called the incident "appalling." She said the Seattle-based firm had worked with the book dealer, Bellwether Books, to strengthen quality-control checks and suspended it from selling Korans on Amazon's website.

"We're deeply sorry and we think we've taken all appropriate steps to make sure this is not done again," Smith said.

The Los Angeles-based Muslim council also released a hate message left on the voicemail of the Islamic Center on Saturday. In a taunting tone, the caller said he had just used the Koran in the bathroom and flushed it down the toilet.

The Southern California incidents followed an international furor over reports that U.S. military interrogators had flushed a Koran down the toilet to unnerve prisoners at the Guantanamo Bay prison in Cuba. The reports, which Newsweek magazine first reported then retracted this week, helped spark anti-American violence that led to deaths in Afghanistan.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations released a study last week that showed reported hate crimes against Muslims nationwide in 2004 increased 52% over the previous year, to 141 incidents. There was also a 49% increase in alleged civil rights violations, to 1,522.

"This is not an isolated incident," said Salam Al Marayati, director of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, of Basarudin's experience. "This is a culture of hatred [spread] through … schools, government and here through a bookseller."

Bellwether President Richard Roberts said an internal investigation did not determine how the Koran came to be defaced. He said his firm's nine employees denied writing the messages and said they did not notice them when they shipped the book.

Roberts said the firm ships about 400 books a day and that packing orders are typically slipped into books without closely checking their content. In the wake of the incident, the firm assigned a quality control officer to rigorously check incoming and outgoing books, he said.

Both Roberts and Smith said if any employees were discovered to be involved, they would be fired. Smith also said that Amazon would banish Bellwether from its website if a similar problem occurred again. But she said the retailer had a "spotless" record and was highly rated by more than 11,000 customers.

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http://www.women.ucla.edu/graduate/basarudin.html

MIM: Anyone wishing to contact Azza Basaruddin and express empathy for her horrific ordeal can reach her at UCLA.

Note that the devout Ms. Basarudin is not wearing a hijab in this picture.

Azza Basarudin

[email protected]

Ph.D. Candidate, Women's Studies, UCLA

BBA (Hons), Univeristy Utara Malaysia (UUM), Malaysia, 1998
MA, Women's Studies, Roosevelt University, Chicago, IL, 2002

RESEARCH INTEREST:

My comparative research between Southeast Asia and the Arab world explores various strategies employed by two non-govermental organizations in Malaysia and Egypt, to reposition women in their respective communities in the context of religion (reinterpretation of religious text and Islamic traditions), and Arab-Islamic history and cultural traditions (construction of alternative memory and history). Other interest includes postcolonial and feminist theory; indigenous feminisms; nationalism and exile; sexuality; human rights in Islam.

ADVISOR: Dr. Sondra Hale, Professor of Anthropology and Women's Studies, UCLA

AWARDS AND FELLOWSHIPS

2004-2005	UCLA Graduate Research Mentorship
2004	UCLA Quality of Graduate Education Grant
2004	UCLA Women's Studies Travel Grant
Summer 2004	Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) Title VI in Arabic,
	The Arabic Language Institute (ALI) at the American University, Cairo, Egypt
2003-2004	Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) Title VI in Arabic, UCLA
Summer 2003	Foreign Language and Area Studies Fellowship (FLAS) Title VI in Arabic, The Arabic
	Language Institute (ALI) at the American University, Cairo, Egypt
Summer 2003	UCLA Summer Research Mentorship Program, declined
Summer 2003	Research Grant, Gustav E. Von Grunebaum Center for Near Eastern Studies, (with Dr. Sondra Hale)
2002-2003	UCLA International Institute Fellowship, 2002-2003
2000-2001	The Grace Mary Stern Scholarship, Roosevelt University, Chicago, IL

PUBLICATIONS

2004	"Voices of Resistance: Iraqi Women Speak Out" Middle East Women's Studies Review (MEWS), 18: (3/4) (co-authored with Khanum Shaikh)
2003	"Mazes of Boundaries, Identities, Memories and Longings" Al-Raida: Journal of the Institute of Women's Studies in the Arab World. 20 (101/102)
2002	"Dismantling Bridges, Building Solidarity: Reconciling Arab and Western Feminisms" Al-Raida: Journal of the Institute of Women's Studies in the Arab World. 19 (97/98).
2002	A Review of Hayati, My Life. Middle East Women's Studies Association (AMEWS) Review. 16 (3/4).

PAPERS AND PRESENTATIONS

2005 "Memories of Islam: Reimagining Muslim and Redefining Faith, " Paper presented at the Seventh Annual Women's History Conference -Women's Stories, Women's Lives: Making Sense of Experience" Sarah Lawrence College, New York March 4-5.

2005 "Feminism Within Islamic Thought." Paper presented at Fifteenth Annual Graduate Student Research Conference, The UCLA Center For The Study of Women and The USC Center for Feminist Research UCLA. March 4.

2004 "Organic Feminism Within Islamic Thought: Questions of Theory, Identity, Legitimacy, Authenticity and Belonging." Paper presented at the International Seminar on Islamic Thought, University Kebangsaan Malaysia.

2003 "United States Feminists Building and Incorporating Transnational Frameworks: Examining the Challenges and Possibilities of Globalization." Paper accepted at the UK & Ireland Women's Studies Associations 17th Annual Conference, Feminism Contesting Globalization, University College, Dublin, Ireland.

2004 "Malaysian Muslim Women: Negotiating Political Islam and The Politics of Identity." Paper accepted at the 13th Multidisciplinary Graduate Feminist Colloquium, Center for Feminist Research, York University, Toronto, Canada.

2003 Invited Panelist, "Women, Race and Sexuality" panel, Center for the Study of Women (CSW), UCLA

2003 "Linking Theory and Activism: Redefining Categorical Feminism and Feminist Theory." Paper presented at the Pacific Southwest Women's Studies Association (PWSA), Cal Poly Pomona.

2002 "Dismantling Bridges, Building Solidarity: Reconciling Arab and Western Feminisms." Paper accepted at the 6th International Conference of the Arab Women's Solidarity Association (AWSA), Cairo, Egypt.

2002 "(Re) constructing Solidarity: Arab and Western Feminisms." Paper accepted for the 4th Annual Women's Studies Graduate Student Conference, Acting Locally Globally, University of Kentucky,

2002 "In Search of Solidarity: Reconciling Arab and Western Feminism." Paper accepted at the Western Social Science Association Conference (WSSA), Albuquerque, New Mexico.

2001 Panelist, Thematic Conversation, "Insiders/Outsiders: New Questions in Research on Women and Gender of the Middle East in the New
Millennium." Middle East Studies Association of North America (MESA), San Francisco, CA.

UCLA Women's Studies Programs
2524 Hershey Hall
P.O. Box 951504
Los Angeles, CA 90095-1504
Mail Code: 150405 (UCLA use only)
(310) 206-8101
Fax (310) 206-7700
[email protected]

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Muslim claims Koran slurs as Muslim Public Affairs Council demands Amazon apologise and fund programs

DESECRATED QURAN DELIVERED VIA AMAZON.COM

Amazon.com "Suspends Indefinitely" Third Party Vendor from Selling Quran

Amazon.com "Suspends Indefinitely" Third Party
Vendor from Selling Quran