Amina Sharif, communications director for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) office in Chicago, said she is hopeful for the new series, because it will offer “a more mainstream image of American Muslims. They are often stereotyped and misunderstood because of negative portrayals in media and pop culture. [This program] is normalizing Muslims,” said Sharif. “That’s the way [of] American culture – we needed ‘The Cosby Show’ to help normalize African American families. In this society public opinion is shaped mainly by media and pop culture,” she said.

“The TSA works hard everyday to keep Americans safe,” Amina Sharif, TSA communications coordinator said in the release. “When such egregious behavior is flagged on the part of one of their agents, it breeds confidence in us as passengers that it is dealt with as swiftly and as seriously as it was in the case of Roy Egan.”

As the Tea Party convention comes to Daytona Beach, many polititians declined their invitation not wanting to associate themselves with speakers like Pamela Geller, an anti-Muslim activist. “In other states, elected officials have pulled out and do not want to be on the same stage as her,” said CAIR media-relations director Ahmed Rehab.

Gina Cuellar, a 24-year-old psychology student at Cal State San Bernardino is happy that she converted to Islam.
“The qualitative anecdotes are women particularly are converting at a much faster rate, particularly Latinas,” said Ahmed Rehab, media relations director for the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Washington.

A former delivery driver has filed a federal lawsuit against a soda bottling plant in Harvey that allegedly fired him shortly after he asked to time his lunch break to attend weekly Islamic prayers at a mosque.

“We’re relieved at the end of an era. Muslims don’t rejoice at the death of an individual. However, we are rejoicing at the death of dictatorship and tyranny, and the murderous period that Gadhafi was going after his own people,” said CAIR’s Ahmed Rehab. The Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago says, now that the war against Gadhafi’s regime is over, Libya will face a new challenge.

Muslim, Jewish and Christians leaders gathered to honor the victims of 9/11 and to address the increase in anti-Muslim discrimination post-9/11.

Members of the Council on American-Islamic Relations joined leaders from different faiths and backgrounds to reflect on 9/11 and call for an end to the fear and discrimination against the Muslim community in the wake of those attacks.

Ahmed Rehab, Executive Director of the Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, joins CBS 2′s Jim Williams to talk about the effect of 9/11 on American Muslims

Today in Cairo, frustrated activists plan to stage another mass protest to accelerate the pace of government reform. In a recent visit to Cairo, Ahmed Rehab, director of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations and frequent Worldview contributor, met with high-ranking officials and activists to discuss the way forward. He tells Jerome what he thinks the Egyptian people should demand now.