Americans Celebrate Imam's Legal Victory

"This is not the end, but rather it is a beginning for continuing to build bridges and building our community," Dr. Qatanani told IOL.

"My case was unlike any other case.  It was a case of unity and dignity and it also represented our future in this country," a jubilant Dr. Qatanani told IslamOnline.net in an exclusive interview.

Newark Federal Immigration Judge Alberto J. Riefkohl has ruled that Imam Dr. Qatanani and his family should be granted permanent residency in the US.

The federal authorities had sought to link Qatanani, a Palestinian who emigrated from Jordan to the US in 1996, to Hamas, which the US classifies as a terrorist organization.

US immigration authorities argued that Qatanani had failed to disclose on his green card application that he had been arrested and convicted in Israel on charges of having links to Hamas.

In his 71-page ruling, Judge Riefkohl dismissed the government’s case as "patently incomplete" and two federal agents’ conflicting testimonies as "not credible."

The 44-year-old Palestinian religious and spiritual leader of the Islamic Center of Passaic County (ICPC) has been serving the local Muslim community since 1996.

The special agent in charge of the FBI’s Newark office, county prosecutors, sheriffs and the Director of the New Jersey Office of Homeland Security were among the government and law enforcement officials who praised Qatanani for his role in building bridges between his community and law enforcement agencies prior to and especially after 9/11.

He also had reached out to several Jewish and Christian leaders and made interfaith dialogue a top priority for his mosque. 

Community Success 

"If this case were decided against the imam staying in the country, it would really have been a travesty of justice," Rabbi Senter (L) told IOL.

Qatanani, who has a PhD in Islamic Jurisprudence, paid tribute to the local Muslim community for their unwavering support.

"Thanks to Allah SWT, He is the only one who really deserves to be thanked but I need to also thank my family, the big family, the great family, my community because it is a great community," a moved Qatanani told IOL.

"They are great people and they worked together for a very important cause, mainly for our human rights and our civil rights in this country."

His attorney, Mrs. Claudia Slavinsky, attributed their legal victory to the community's efforts.

"You cannot win a case like this without such support from the community because it is so critical," she told IOL.

"What we did in the courtroom was only half."

Slavinsky recalls having had to turn volunteer witnesses away because there were too many to put on the stand.

"A large number of people approached us wanting to testify on the imam’s behalf, which was very unusual."

Aref Assef, the Chair for the American’s for Qatanani organizing committee, is happy about the community's campaigning efforts.

"We have been able to show that the community can be organized effectively to produce the kinds of results that we see and that we are celebrating today," he told IOL.

"We need our rights to be respected and recognized. We want to be treated as equal citizens and we demand nothing but equal treatment before the law.

"The legal system works for those who are vigilante about asking for their rights."

Salaheddin Mustafa, one of the key individuals advocating Dr. Qatanani’s case, insisted it was not hard to ask people to help when it came to the imam "because he has touched so many people."

Interfaith Support

The case has also won strong support from interfaith leaders.

Rabbi David Senter, a religious leader from Beth Shalom in Pompton Lakes, NJ, who refers to Dr. Qatanani as a friend, praised the court ruling.

"If this case were decided against the imam staying in the country, it would really have been a travesty of justice," he told IOL.

"I believe that this decision is, therefore, an affirmation of the reality that our justice system works. It's an affirmation of the values that we all hold dear.

"It shows that justice can and should be blind to some of the innuendo and stereotypes that were woven into this case."

Rabbi Senter insists that Qatanani's was much more than an individual case.

"Had there been any other decision, it really would have been frightening to me as an American because even though the case was made against the imam, if you take out his name and Islam and you fill in any other religious leader and any other religious tradition, it could have been made against any of us," he contends.

"It was personal on a very different level because if this would have God forbid gone any other way, who’s next?"

Slavinsky, Qatanani's lawyer, agrees.

"The decision is clearly a rebuke to the government and a statement that their strategies and tactics are not grounded in reality or facts."

Rabbi Senter contends that the case has broken every single stereotype.

"You are talking about a man who has gone out on a limb for the four years that I know him to say that Jews and Muslims can peacefully coexist.

"How many Jews or Muslims or Christians would have perceived the possibility of a rabbi and a priest standing up for an imam in an immigration court?"

He also cited support from two county sheriffs, an attorney from the Justice Department, the governor and Congressman Bill Pascrell.

"The imam is an individual who has allowed people to see past their perceptions to look at what could be."

Dr. Qatanani is vowing to pursue his message.

"This is the not the end, but rather it is a beginning for continuing to build bridges and building our community to be very strong, very moderate and to understand Islam in the best way according to the teachings of Allah," he told IOL.

"We want to unite the community and we have to have a very clear vision for our families and the next generation."