“Far from a victory in the fight for women’s rights, France’s ban of the burqa, the head-to-toe covering worn by some Muslim women, is a red herring, a deflection, and a blow for free societies everywhere,” writes Christina Abraham, CAIR-Chicago’s Civil Rights Director.

“She’s asking for unpaid leave that means they didn’t have to pay her for the three weeks that she was going to be out and she gave them three months for which to prepare,” argues CAIR-Chicago attorney Christina Abraham.

CAIR-Chicago welcomes today’s decision by District Court Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer to deny DuPage County’s motion to dismiss a lawsuit filed against the county by the Irshad Learning Center, a Naperville mosque.

“It’s a very timely and much needed initiative,” Ahmed Rehab said. “There has been a very one-sided conversation from Congress on Muslim rights and the Durbin hearing promises to balance the conversation… There have been a lot of politicians who are in denial as to the growing threat of Islamaphobians to the U.S. itself, this fear mongering, paranoid approach to anything Muslim.”

“We think there is a bias against the Muslim institutions,” said Kevin Vodak, the lawyer for CAIR-Chicago. He noted that the board rejected the Irshad proposal without explanation, which is highly unusual, and that last fall the county took up an amendment to prohibit any new religious institutions in residential areas. “Most of the new proposals are from Muslims,” Mr. Vodak said.

“Its an embarrassment to our political system,” said Ahmed Rehab, CAIR-Chicago Executive Director. “There is nothing wrong with questioning the sources of radicalization, the nature of radicalization. The problem is when he fails to differentiate between the mainstream on one end, who is us, and the extreme on the other end – the many and the few – the community and underground individuals. Failing to distinguish between the two is precisely the problem we are seeing at the hearings.”

Christina Abraham, Civil Rights Director at CAIR-Chicago, debates anti-Muslim blogger Robert Spencer over Rep. Peter King’s Islamophobic hearings on “Radical Islam” in America.

Muslim Americans in Chicago call Thursday’s hearings embarrassing; Embarrassing to Muslims and Embarrassing to Americans as a whole. The result is America is no better off today than it was yesterday when it comes to representing the intentions and the population of the Muslim people in the United States.

“It seemed like a political circus. It seemed like it was for political show and not an honest attempt by Rep. Peter King to address the issue of radicalization,” said CAIR-Chicago Executive Director, Ahmed Rehab, in a press conference responding to the congressional hearings.

“The whole issue of Muslim community, radicalization, Islamaphobia, etc, it is being politicized more and more,” said Ahmed Rehab. “And as we approach the next presidential elections, I fear it may explode just like it did with the last presidential election cycle. I think it’s absolutely ridiculous that this is happening. It’s not good for our nation. It’s not an intelligent way to discuss the issues. It’s insulting.”