“Some Muslim leaders warned against jumping to conclusions.

“‘If it’s a case of just cell phones and antacid, well, that’s really not good enough,’ said Ahmad Rehab, executive director of the Chicago Office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.”

CAIR-Chicago representatives and local Muslim leaders, at a press conference on Friday, discussed their disappointment in IL Gov. Pat Quinn’s comments regarding the New York mosque controversy. They also shared examples of other mosques around the country that are facing opposition, including one in Naperville which CAIR-Chicago is currently litigating on behalf of.

See Media Coverage HERE

Vandals defaced an exhibit by Muslim graduate student Anida Yoeu Ali at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) on Tuesday. The exhibit, which addressed racial profiling and the rise of violence and hate directed at Muslims in the post-9/11 era, was defaced with large caricatures and a word bubble highlighting the text “Kill all Arabs.”

CAIR-Chicago is advocating on behalf of Ali. Civil Rights Director Christina Abraham accompanied Ali yesterday in a meeting with the deans of the School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

See media coverage of the incident HERE

The exhibit addressed racial profiling and the rise of violence and hate directed at Muslims in the post-9/11 era, according to a release from Chicago’s chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

The installation features a wall filled with lines from actual hate crimes against people perceived as Muslim or Arab.

“In the interest of national security I don’t mind [being searched]. American Muslims are also concerned about remaining safe. But we should not be singled out because of our religious beliefs,” said Amina Sharif, CAIR-Chicago’s Communications Coordinator.

“If you add up hate mail, hateful phone calls and e-mails, racial slurs being yelled at people and verbal or physical altercations, it’s dozens of incidents,” said Amina Sharif.

“Hate is a self-addressed envelope and so the person who bears this hate is the victim of his own hatred before I am. And I can only pray for that person to find peace and to rid himself of that hatred,” said Ahmed Rehab.

A Chicago woman says she was hassled by a security guard when she walked into a bank, because of something she was wearing.

CAIR-Chicago is calling for charges to be filed in the case of a Tinley Park, IL woman who was shopping at Jewel when another customer tried to pull off her headscarf.