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http://www.kansas.com/194/story/355618.html

Sabra, Who Converted to Islam 26 Years Ago, is One of the Loudest Defenders of Her Faith

By Yonat Shimron

RALEIGH,

N.C. (Wichita Eagle) March 29,

2008 – Standing 5-foot-2 and wearing a Muslim head scarf, Khalilah Sabra

doesn't look like a firebrand.

But the diminutive woman has become the voice for Muslims in

the Triangle, and over the past few years has shown she will not be cowed.

She recently took on a spokesman for the U.S. Department of

Homeland Security who tried to smooth relations with Muslims. When the official

described to Muslims the new steps his office was taking to ease their security

hassles at airports and to respond to complaints about detentions, Sabra was

the first to get up and speak.

"It sounds like Habitat for Humanity," Sabra

scowled, conveying that she did not accept the rosy picture he had painted.

"Don't you think the laws are directed at Middle Easterners and Middle

Eastern-looking people?"

Sabra, who converted to Islam 26 years ago, has emerged as

one of the loudest defenders of her faith, locking arms with those who have

been harassed, intimidated, or discriminated against. As the director of the

local Muslim American Society's Freedom Foundation, she sees her role as

ushering in a new era of Muslim civil rights activism.

If Sept. 11, 2001, woke up Americans to the reality of

Islamic terrorism on their own soil, it woke up Sabra to what she saw as

prejudice against Muslim American immigrants. Sabra felt uniquely qualified to

serve as an advocate. She is American-born, a convert from Roman Catholicism.

And she has lived abroad -- in Pakistan

in 1989, and in Lebanon

from 1995 to 1997 with her husband and family.

If anyone understood the complexities of Muslim Americans,

she did.

So Sabra, 41, threw herself into community action.

"The day of isolationism is over," she said.

"It's time to get involved."

But Sabra is not only critical of U.S. policies that deprive Muslims

of their liberties, she is also critical of her own faith community.

In the days and months after Sept. 11, Sabra saw her

religion vilified in public and few within the local community rising to defend

it. There were no Muslims on the local school board, no Muslims on the city

council, and only one Muslim in the state legislature.

"It was our fault," said Sabra, adding, "We

were not involved in the realm of politics or community services, and others

defined us."

But Muslim Americans had more than an image problem. Sabra

began to hear stories of civil liberties denied. They included women turned

down for jobs because of their headscarves, and permanent residents whose

citizenship applications were permanently on hold.

As the wife of a Cisco engineer with a comfortable salary,

Sabra began challenging fellow Muslims by example. She spoke in churches. She

encouraged fellow Muslims to register to vote. She began interfaith

conversations with local Jews. She marched in the NAACP's rally in downtown Raleigh against racism, poverty,

and war.

At one event, state Sen. Larry Shaw of Fayetteville heard her speak and later walked

up to her. "Sister, who are you?" asked Shaw, the state's only Muslim

legislator. Sabra has since adopted Shaw as a mentor.

"We're trying to educate the Islamic community to come

of age in mainstream America,"

said Shaw, a Democrat representing Cumberland

County. "If people

understand there's not a dime's worth of difference between us, they will

embrace you."