“Alsherbini claims that the targeting practice began after Jan. 2009 when Randy Keller became mayor of the village. On Aug. 27, 2009, under the orders of Keller, Alsherbini was served with a notice to appear for proceedings to revoke his business license, according to the suit.”

“Read and your Lord is Most Honorable, Who taught with the pen, Taught man what he knew not.”

These are among the Quranic verses read by CAIR-Chicago Outreach Coordinator Gerald Hankerson at the American Library Association (ALA) Banned Books Week Read-Out in Washington Square on September 25. The most recent list of most frequently banned readings for 2010 was topped by the Qur’an, the holy text of Islam.

CAIR-Chicago Outreach Coordinator Gerald Hankerson will participate in another banned book reading hosted by the American Library Association. Hankerson will read from the Qur’an.

On September 11, Outreach Coordinator Gerald Hankerson participated in an event hosted by the American Library Association(ALA), entitled “The Qur’an Read-out Protest”. The event was in coordinated as response to recent Qur’an burning threats, such as Pastor Terry Jones’ proposed “Burn A Koran Day.”

A controversy erupted last week in Chicago after it was publicly revealed that a noted anti-Islam blogger, Robert Spencer, had been invited to an American Library Association panel advertised as “dispelling stereotypes about Islam.

The American Library Association has canceled a panel discussion on Islam planned for its annual conference over the weekend, after three speakers withdrew in protest at the inclusion of the fourth, a controversial critic of the Muslim religion.

The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) today announced that Robert Spencer, one of the nation’s leading Islam-bashers, will not speak tomorrow at the annual conference of the American Library Association (ALA) following intervention by CAIR and the withdrawal of the other scheduled panelists in protest.

The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) today announced that all other panelists scheduled to speak at an American Library Association (ALA) annual conference session July 12 on stereotyping of Islam have withdrawn in protest over the participation of Robert Spencer, which CAIR calls “one of the nation’s leading Islam-bashers.”

Myra Appel, chair of the Ethnic and Multicultural Information Exchange Roundtable (EMIERT), has released a public statement (below) regarding the recent cancellation of the ALA panel “Perspectives on Islam.”

The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) today announced that all other panelists scheduled to speak at an American Library Association (ALA) annual conference session on stereotyping of Islam have withdrawn in protest over the participation of Robert Spencer, one of the nation’s leading Islam-bashers.