On May 6, 2014, CAIR-Chicago filed an Amicus Curiae brief in support of an appeal filed by the Joan Dachs Yaakov Elementary School – Yeshivas Tiferes Tzvi (“Joan Dachs”), based on the City of Evanston’s refusal to allow the school to re-develop vacant land for its religious and educational plans.

Representatives for each side were scheduled to submit responses by Monday to motions for summary judgment filed by both parties. The deadline for turning in that paperwork to Judge Rebecca Pallmeyer of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois was moved to Wednesday.

"It's basically the ideal zoning application for DuPage County, with absolutely no controversy surrounding it," said Amina Sharif, communications coordinator with the Chicago Council on American-Islamic Relations. "The area where it's located is already commercially zoned, next to a synagogue, and there is more than adequate parking there. If the DuPage County Board had rejected this, then we'd have an obvious problem. This is a very easy thing to approve."

On April 23rd, Staff Attorney Kevin Vodak, and Communications Coordinator Amina Sharif participated in a summit about the zoning process for mosques in Illinois.

On April 23rd, Staff Attorney Kevin Vodak, and Communications Coordinator Amina Sharif participated in a summit about the zoning process for mosques in Illinois.

Join CIOGC, ISPU, Muslim Bar Association and CAIR-Chicago on Saturday, April 23 for the first of its kind -- Zoning Summit -- to hear from experts who will share with us all in one forum strategies on how to successfully manage opposition to masjid applications

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.

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.

The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Chicago) congratulates MECCA (the Muslm Educational and Cultural Center of America) for receiving approval today from the DuPage County Board for a special use permit to build a a new mosque.

For area Muslims, practicing their faith can require traveling to mosques outside their communities or gathering in residential homes to pray. Now after years of fundraising and preparation, several groups want to move ahead with plans for their own places of worship in DuPage County.

CAIR-Chicago participated in an interfaith press conference held on behalf of the Muslim Education and Cultural Center of America (MECCA), the third mosque denied a permit in DuPage County in the past year.

CAIR-Chicago's complaint alleges the Irshad Learning Center’s First and 14th Amendment rights were violated when county officials refused to grant a special use permit to open an Islamic worship site and school. Kevin Vodak, the attorney representing Irshad through the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations said the judge hopes to issue her ruling within the next couple of weeks.

The Chicago office of the Council on American Islamic Relations announced that it has filed a complaint in federal court today against DuPage County, in response to the county’s rejection of a zoning permit for a proposed Islamic School in Naperville.