"He is a man of great integrity...He's looking to truly serve his country and his community. Muslims who serve every day in the Illinois State Police deserve a chaplain of their own faith," said Ahmed Rehab, Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). "Our concern is that the Illinois State Police is kowtowing to articles online published by notorious anti-Muslims who have been in the business of smearing Muslim activists leaders and Imams for the longest time," said Rehab

"It is essentially guilt by association," said Christina Abraham.

A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group said today that the resignation of a recently-appointed Muslim community liaison for Sen. Barack Obama's presidential campaign is symptomatic of a nationwide effort by Islamophobes who seek to deny Muslims access to the political process.

The Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) today denounced the anti-Muslim smear campaign behind the resignation of Mazen Asbahi, the Obama campaign’s national Muslim liaison. The attacks against Asbahi ironically linked him to mainstream Muslim personalities and groups that were falsely described as “fundamentalist”.