This Saturday, November 17th, CAIR-Chicago Staff Attorney, Rabya Khan, will conduct a Know Your Rights training on how to interact with law enforcement, including the local police and the FBI.

On Monday, June 25th, Communications Coordinator Aymen Abdel Halim participated in a press conference hosted by the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC) regarding the election results in Egypt.

On behalf of our chairman, Dr. Mazen Kudaimi, the board of directors, staff, and volunteers, we wish to thank you for making our 8th Annual Banquet a memorable and enjoyable evening!

At the press conference, the speakers echoed President Obama’s assertion that Osama Bin Laden was not a Muslim leader, and in fact was a mass-murderer of Muslims. CAIR-Chicago’s Communication Coordinator, Amina Sharif, stated “Bin Laden never represented Islam and was never seen as a Muslim leader, but unfortunately many people’s understanding of Islam was distorted by the actions of Bin Laden.”

“American Muslims are not a threat to this nation,” said Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. “The threat to this nation is those who would divide us based on race, faith or ethnicity because those are the ones who undermine our values.”

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.

“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.

The lawsuit filed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Chicago chapter alleges discrimination based on race, religion and national origin. The suit also says Mustapha was denied his First Amendment right to freedom of association, which bars the government from imposing guilt by association. It calls for Mustapha’s immediate reinstatement.