“Islam teaches us that we are not merely physical beings but spiritual beings as well. But while most people acknowledge the need to nurture our bodies through sustenance and exercise, we tend to neglect the same for our souls,” writes Ahmed Rehab in the Chicago Tribune.

Civil Rights Director Christina Abraham speaks on the There Is No Spoon podcast as a panel member discussing the PATRIOT Act.

Ahmed Rehab and fellow activist Laith Saud discuss their recent experiences in Egypt and the country’s transition to democracy.

CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab has returned from an unforgettable visit to Egypt. Rehab reached Cairo just a couple days before the historic revolution began. Read about Ahmed’s adventures on his blog!

“We have one simple question for Harvard that we’d like to pose publicly,” CAIR-Chicago’s Ahmed Rehab told The Daily Beast. “That is, simply: Would they invite a speaker who writes that ‘Jewish life is cheap, especially for Jews’ and/or that we should ban First Amendment rights for Irish Americans or African Americans or any other group?”

In inviting Peretz, said Rehab, “Harvard seems to be confirming that Islamophobia is the last accepted form of bigotry.”

Mustapha is the well-known leader at one of the nation’s most popular mosques and is a national figure in American Islam.

So considering his civic stature, it isn’t surprising Imam Mustapha was invited by FBI officials in Chicago to attend this summer’s Citizens’ Academy with about 25 other local notables.

CAIR-Chicago filed a discrimination complaint in federal court this week against the Illinois State Police (ISP) on behalf of Kifah Mustapha, a leading Muslim religious leader (Imam) based in Chicago. The ISP revoked his chaplaincy position citing a dubious Internet report attacking him. The report was written by Steven Emerson, an anti-Muslim blogger notorious for fighting against American Muslim civic participation. See media coverage of the lawsuit
HERE.

Ahmed Rehab says the position was revoked because of a false anti-Muslim blog attacking Kifah.

“There was nothing that would prevent him from fulfilling this role. Except for the fact that somebody out there wished to smear him and the ISP was either too lazy or incompetent to actually sift through the smears and figure out that they were smears. And instead decided to drop him to avoid any controversy. That’s unacceptable,” said Rehab.

“Constitutionally a person can only be held responsible for their own activities, their own conduct,” said CAIR-Chicago Civil Rights Director Christina Abraham.
“And if Imam Kifah has never committed a crime – then what is he being denied for? That’s an answer we never received from the Illinois State Police.”

In December, community and religious groups hailed Mustapha’s appointment as a nod to the growing diversity among the agency’s nearly 2,000 officers. Since 2002, Mustapha has been an imam and director at the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview, one of the Chicago area’s oldest and largest mosques. He also served as a designated chaplain with the U.S. Federal Emergency Management Agency, helping to counsel Hurricane Katrina victims.