SAN FRANCISCO, Oct 17: The fear of ending up on some government watchlist for aiding terrorism threatens donations to American Muslim charities that usually benefit from Zakat given during the month of Ramazan.

Muslim organizations say members are afraid to give money to Muslim charity organizations and those who do donate are opting to give cash instead of cheques.

In the latest crackdown on Muslim charities, US authorities last Wednesday froze the assets of the Sudan-based Islamic American Relief Agency (IARA) with an office in Columbia, Missouri, and accused five of its officials of helping finance Osama bin Laden and the Palestinian organization, Hamas.

The US Treasury Department designated the IARA and five of its international officers as financial sponsors of terrorists. The designation freezes IARA's assets and accounts and makes it a crime to contribute to the group.

Over the past three years, federal authorities have raided and shut down three major Muslim charities, two in Chicago and one in Paterson, New Jersey.

American Muslims said they were worried about this week's crackdown that writing a donation cheque could bring FBI agents to their doors.

Amaney Jamal, a Princeton University professor who recently completed a survey of the Dearborn, Michigan, Arab-American community, said the uncertainty is one of the most distressing problems the Muslims are facing these days. Charity donations to the Arab world has become a big no-no, said Jamal.

The "Cat Stevens affair" is seen another recent example. Yusuf Islam, a popular singer in the 1970s, when he was known as Cat Stevens, was barred last month from entering the United States because he allegedly supported terrorist groups through donations that he made to Muslim charities.

John Conway, an FBI agent in Newark, said law-abiding Muslims who donate to legitimate charities have nothing to fear. But he acknowledged that an organization in good standing today might not be several years from now. "It's perfectly understandable that people would have concerns about that," he said.

Many American Muslim advocacy groups have argued that a line must be drawn between policing charities and interfering with an individual's right to practice his or her religion.

The California-based organizations, American Muslim Voice and Muslim Public Affairs Council, have argued that the ability to contribute to charity is both an American right and, for Muslims, a religious commandment. California has one of the largest Muslim population concentrations in the United States.