Abdul Hammuda nods to his customers - a steady stream there for takeout and the mix of Libyan, Moroccan, and Lebanese cultures.

He's a success story, an engineer who started several bakeries in the Arab-rich Toledo and Detroit metropolitan areas and chased down the American Dream. But there's a darker side to being Muslim in America these days: He asks a reporter not to name his business - bowing to the inevitable brick that would come crashing through his window, he says off to the side.

The Libyan, who has lived in the United States for decades, said it's increasingly difficult for Middle Easterners here to celebrate their culture and religion without being scrutinized as supporting terrorists.

Islam, like other religions, requires giving to the poor. For Christians, it's called tithing. For Muslims, the practice is zakat, and there are rules for how the money is distributed.

But the Muslim community is finding it difficult to run charities without suspicion of funding terrorist organizations, they say. Toledo-based KindHearts

- started after several major Arab charities were closed in 2002 - was shuttered by the Treasury Department last month for suspected ties to Hamas, considered a Palestinian terrorist group.

Mr. Hammuda, who knows one of the indicted men, Marwan Othman El-Hindi, 42, planned to start a local charity with him. But the plans have fizzled since the arrest, he said.

"I knew him; we were not friends. ... He portrayed himself as someone who had experience with grants. I put him on the board," he said of Mr. El-Hindi. "I was just as shocked as everyone else [by the arrest]."

Along with Mr. El-Hindi, Mohammad Zaki Amawi, 26, and Wassim I. Mazloum, 24, were charged with conspiring to kill or injure people in the Middle East and with providing the "support and resources."

A fourth man was identified in a federal indictment only as "The Trainer." But local Muslims have identified him to The Blade as 39-year-old Darren L. Griffin of Toledo, known by his Muslim name as Balil. He has not been arrested, according to law enforcement. Mr. Griffin worked part time at KindHearts for more than three years.

Mr. El-Hindi also once managed a Chicago travel agency owned by a New York doctor who violated U.S. sanctions against a Saddam Hussein-led Iraq. Rafil Dhafir, who hired Mr. El-Hindi in 1997 and ran a charity called "Help the Needy," was convicted for illegally sending funds to Iraq and for Medicare fraud. He was sentenced to 22 years in prison.

Mr. Hammuda's charity would have helped local needy of all backgrounds with tax preparation, the English language, and other practical needs, he said. Helping those near is important in Islam, he and others have said.

"My personal belief is that we owe to the place where we live," he said.

But for those who want to give to Palestinian charities, for example, or to international Muslim charities, in general, it has become problematic.

Last week, the American Muslim Task Force on Civil Rights and Elections, a Washington-based coalition of U.S. Muslim groups, requested a meeting with Treasury Secretary John Snow to discuss KindHearts and "the continued targeting of Muslim charities without due process of law."

Dr. Hatem Elhady, president of KindHearts' board of directors, said it is still waiting. Treasury spokesman Molly Millerwise said she cannot comment on the secretary's schedule.

Running a Muslim charity in America has become a "very risky business," Dr. Elhady said. He has gotten calls from other U.S. Muslim charities worried the government will shut them down, even if they've done nothing wrong.

"They said that if this happens to KindHearts, and we were so strict about our money distribution, than everybody is targeted," he said. "No Muslim can do charity work in America anymore, because it's become a very risky business."

The Treasury Department used an executive order to padlock KindHearts' West Toledo offices and freeze $1 million while it investigates alleged ties to Hamas.

Jihad Smaili, a Cleveland lawyer and member of KindHearts' board, said even if cleared, the charity is on its deathbed.

"Every minute that passes, KindHearts further loses its breath," he said. "In fact, it's already dead."

Terrorism expert Mathieu Deflem, a University of South Carolina sociology professor, said well-meaning charities can fall victim to money launderers. Other groups have been clear fronts for terrorism, he said.

"There's a legitimate concern, definitely, that is quite beyond dispute," he said.

"But there is a gray zone. There are three areas: Terrorism money that clearly goes to suicide bombers, money that is clearly used for humanitarian causes, and then you have that gray zone in between."

Recent political events, particularly the election of Hamas as the ruling party of the Palestinian Authority, contribute to the gray zone, Mr. Deflem said.

As well, a shotgun approach to law enforcement also is contributing to the problem: "It's easier to shut down a charity than find the terrorists who are receiving the money," he said.

"There are still legitimate crusades for Arab and Muslim groups in this country, and it is going to be, indeed, increasingly difficult to separate themselves from terrorist organizations or individuals," he said.

"In that sense, of course, there is a fear and a danger of anything that is Arab and Muslim-related."

For its part, KindHearts says it tracked donations and is innocent. The group was founded in 2002 after the government shut down the three largest U.S. Muslim charities. It raised $2.9 million the first year, $3.9 million in 2003, and $5.1 million in 2004.

The charity underwent a two-year investigation by the Senate Finance Committee, along with two dozen other U.S. Muslim charities, without charges. KindHearts officials said they knew the political climate after 9/11 and painstakingly followed federal laws and guidelines.

The charity set up offices in Lebanon, Pakistan, and the Palestinian territories. By sending funds to its own offices, rather than to foreign nonprofit organizations, KindHearts had near-total control, Mr. Smaili said.

Giving to the poor is one of the five "pillars" of Islam, and there are eight rules in the Qur'an for how the money can be used.

Among the acceptable causes are orphans, the poor, travelers in need, someone with a sudden financial emergency, public projects such as roads, and salaries for charity workers.

Zakat is either 2.5 percent of salary or accumulated wealth, depending on a person's interpretation of the holy text. It's considered the minimum amount a Muslim should give.

"It's like Christians' tithes, which is 10 percent," said Imam Ibrahim S. Abdul-Rahim, spiritual leader of the Toledo Masjid of Al-Islam on Ewing Street. "Islam has something similar."

Imam Ibrahim said there are no rules against giving money beyond the 2.5 percent, called sadaqah, to mainstream American charities such as the United Way and American Red Cross.

"I give to United Way myself. I was born and raised in America and some of the things we see in the African-American community are that most of our interests and concerns are domestic, right here in this country. I'd rather see Islamic-based organizations do things that are needed here in American first, although there's nothing wrong with supporting international causes."

KindHearts gave to the YMCA, which is a Christian organization, Dr. Elhady said, and the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo has donated money to Christian-run soup kitchens, according to Dr. S. Zaheer Hasan, a spokesman for the mosque in the Perrysburg Township.

"Giving to the poor is mandatory and it teaches us to not become too attached to the wealth of the world," Dr. Hasan said. "When it is given, it purifies your wealth, and whatever is left you can enjoy with great thanks go [to] God."

He said the KindHearts issue has caused some local Muslims to fear giving to Muslim charities that help internationally.

"I think there are some courageous people who would still take that risk, but there are those that are very careful," Dr. Hasan said.

"They may not end up sending any money to a charity that works overseas."

Blade staff writer Joshua Boak contributed to this report.

Contact Christopher D. Kirkpatrick

at: ckirkpatrick@theblade.com

or 419-724-6077.

First Published March 6, 2006, 1:23 p.m.