Members from the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), including CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab, met with Chicago’s mayoral candidates at a small conference held at the ICIRR office in the Chicago Loop on Friday, January 7, 2011. The featured candidates were former U.S. Senator Carol Moseley Braun and City Clerk of Chicago Miguel Del Valle.

Amina Sharif issued a statement today on behalf of CAIR-Chicago, condemning the FBI's recent raids on the homes of local anti-war activists who have dedicated their lives towards peacefully organizing for justice at home and abroad.

The DREAM Act is finally being put to a vote in the Ill. House, and possibly later in the Senate today. The DREAM Act aims to create a pathway to citizenship for thousands of young students who were brought to the United States years ago as children.Call your local representatives and ask them to support the DREAM Act!

CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab delivered the keynote speech at the 2010 United Muslim Students Association (MSA) Dinner, an event that unites the four main Naperville-area high school MSAs.

Check out our Civil Rights Digest and see how CAIR-Chicago works to help people in the Muslim community.

The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations yesterday filed a discrimination lawsuit in federal court on behalf of 49 Muslims of Somali heritage who were fired from a meat packing plant in Nebraska.

"Here in DuPage county officials seem to be more focused on the types of land that's available in residential areas and want to appease residents' concerns rather than the rights of religious institutions," said Kevin Vodak, attorney for the Chicago chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations.

“A particular concern would be women who wear the hijab because obviously their standards of modesty are probably higher than most people and so they are more concerned about the groping, they are more concerned about the invasion of privacy,” said Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Council on Islamic Relations in Chicago.

Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago invited representatives from CAIR-Chicago to speak to a men’s group as part of a four-part series on topics in Islam. Amina Sharif and Gerald Hankerson gave a presentation that explored American perceptions of Muslims. Congregants and other members of the community attended the session.

CAIR-Chicago communications Coordinator Amina Sharif and Outreach Coordinator Gerald Hankerson gave a presentation to students at St. Ignatius Catholic school Wednesday, December 1st about the sociological and theological background of Islam.

This year the Naperville Central, Naperville North, Waubonsie Valley, and Neuqua Valley High School MSA's will be hosting a United MSA dinner. The program will include dinner and a presentation from Ahmed Rehab, Executive Director of CAIR-Chicago.

CAIR-Chicago filed a discrimination lawsuit in federal court on behalf of 49 Muslims of Somali heritage who were fired from Swift Co, a meat packing plant in Nebraska. The lawsuit intervenes in a class action filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in August.

"If you wear baggy jeans and you're brought aside for secondary screening for wearing baggy clothing, you are just as much entitled as the woman in a hijab to be able to pat yourself down and then have your hands swabbed for residue. That's the current TSA policy-- it applies to any baggy clothing," said Rehab

CAIR-Chicago Communications Coordinator Amina Sharif delivered a presentation to students at the University of Illinois at Chicago on Wednesday, Nov. 18th to share how CAIR-Chicago engages with the media and advocates for a fair depiction of Muslim-Americans.

Ahmed Rehab talks to Red Eye Radio's Marc Germain about a Muslim woman who was denied service at a convenience store because she refused to remove her hijab.

Check out our Civil Rights Digest and see how CAIR-Chicago works to help people in the Muslim community.

In order to continue CAIR-Chicago’s strong tradition of engaging the community, Executive Director Ahmed Rehab spoke at an event put on by DePaul University’s Muslim student group, UMMA, on the topic of Muslim activism.

See photos HERE

The Muslim Youth Leadership Symposium (MYLS) in Chicago hosted its sixth annual gathering. Muslim High school students from around the Chicago area came to learn how they can become leaders in their community and what it takes to turn ideas into action.

CAIR-Chicago staff and interns participated in a rally alongside the Assyrian community of Chicago to condemn violence against Iraqi Christians. The rally was organized in response to the massacre of dozens of Assyrians Christians in Baghdad on October 31st.

Read CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab’s reflections on the rally at his blog, www.ahmedrehab.com.

Chicago Communications Coordinator Amina Sharif presented to a DePaul University class about Middle Eastern communities in the U.S. Sharif’s presentation aimed to give students a broad understanding of the Muslim-American community in terms of its ethnic diversity, socioeconomic levels and political beliefs.