If the stoles aren't dealt with, how long before the Muslim students of the University of California, Irvine, fly planes into the Bren Events Center? The Southern California Council on American-Islamic Relations gets the impression that the B'nai Brith Anti-Defamation League is saying just that with their recent press release damning the decision by some students to wear religious stoles to graduation ceremonies as a declaration of their faith.

The green stoles bear the shahada in Arabic script - a Muslim declaration that translates to, "There is no God but Allah, and Muhammad is his messenger." The Orange County/Long Beach ADL's statement ties the colour green to Hamas and calls the shahada a "message of hate."

Muslim Student Union president Osman Umarji points out that associating a declaration that is the essence of Islam with an extremist group sets a dangerous tone, and wondered if he'd eventually become "a target because of my beard?"

CAIR-LA has asked the ADL to apologize.

» Scott Saxon