A coalition of major American Islamic groups meeting at the annual convention of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) in Chicago today announced a pledge to raise $10 million in humanitarian relief for the victims of Hurricane Katrina.

The article about the Arab-Israeli orchestra is a welcome change to the usual coverage of the Middle East [''Barenboim seeks peace with his baton,'' Showcase story, Aug. 23].

(CHICAGO, 9/02/05) - CAIR-Chicago will be meeting with representatives of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), the Federal Bureau of Investigations (FBI), and the Attorney General’s Office as a part of periodic Community Leadership Liaison Group meetings.

This weekend, September 2-5, ISNA will be holding its 42nd Annual Convention at The Donald E. Stephens Convention Center - 5555 N. River Road, Rosemont , Illinois 60018. The convention features lectures, workshops, seminars, a grand shopping bazaar, and lots of networking opportunities. 50,000 people are expected.

CAIR-Chicago met with the Arab American Action Network at the CAIR-Chicago office to develop strategies for the next phase of the Citizenship Delay Project. The next phase of the project will include a political/media campaign to raise awareness and garner public support, legal remedies for the dozens of cases that have been reported to both organizations on the issue, outreaching to the Muslim community to spread awareness on the issue, and a publication that will detail the course of the project and the findings of research and investigation on the issue.

There is a wealth of irony in the appointment of Tariq Ramadan to the British task force to aid the British panel in examining the roots of extremism in the country. Ramadan has been accused by the country on numerous occasions of being “more dangerous than several well-known radical preachers”.

Editor: In commemorating the third anniversary of 9/11, our grief as American-Muslims is twofold.

A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today called on mosques and Islamic centers nationwide to collect donations for hurricane disaster relief following Islamic congregational prayers (Jumah) on Friday.

It is hard to understand how Richard Cohen does not see the significance of the reasons for an attack when considering the severity of the punishment (“Hate crime laws penalize speech and thought,” Aug. 22).

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 8/31/05) The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today urged American Muslims and other people of conscience to offer whatever assistance they can to help alleviate the suffering of those impacted by Hurricane Katrina.

While our country struggles to ensure democracy grows all over the world, it seems that our politicians forget that we already have an established democracy here at home, one that holds them accountable to the American people. This responsibility is ignored when it comes to the Patriot Act, which both the House and Senate voted to renew despite its baffling objectives and provisions (“Poll: Patriot Act mystery to most,” Aug. 31).

On Friday, September 9, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) will host an interfaith candlelight vigil at the Capitol Reflecting Pool in Washington, D.C., to mark the fourth anniversary of the 9/11 terror attacks.

The article “Bush Hails Freedoms, but Experts See Confusion and Trouble” in the August 30, 2005 issue of the Chicago Sun-Times by Anne Gearan illustrates confusion with Iraq’s new constitution on the subject on Islam and democracy coexisting. The article, with a sub-heading entitled Islam or democracy? insinuates that the two cannot exist together.

University of Chicago's decision to renovate the basement of Rockefeller Chapel so that all of its faith groups have a place to worship should be applauded nationwide ("U. of C. seeks to give home to all of its faiths," Metro, Aug. 26).

CAIR-Chicago participated in a bus tour, organized by the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute from the School of Continuing Studies at Northwestern University. The tour explores Chicago’s Arab Muslim and Christian Communities.

CAIR-Chicago met with the American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois (ACLU-Illinois), the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC), and the Muslim Bar Association (MBA) to discuss an ACLU class action law suit against the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) for their inadequate policies concerning the reentry of Muslim U.S. citizens from abroad into the U.S., when those citizens have names similar to someone else on a government watch list.

There is a myth circulating around the world that women’s rights in the West are perfect. Thus any other body of rights is automatically labeled as discriminatory. In his column Derrick Z. Jackson propagates this myth by claiming, “It would be a travesty of American women, who have fought for equality to the level of dying in the military, did all this dying only to watch the burials of women’s rights in Iraq” (“What are our women fighting for?” Aug. 15).

Instead of letting emotional photographs and one-sided stories get the best of us, the facts on the Palestinian-Israeli issue should be reexamined. Everyone has seen the footage and heard the stories about the sadness and disparity of the Jewish settlers who were evicted from the Gaza Strip, but one must not forget the reasons for the removal of the settlers in the first place.

WHAT - The Jonquil Hotel is located in a renovated building in the North of Howard neighborhood, and serves as a low-cost, transitional home for disadvantaged families.

Bridgeview hosts ask freshman Congressman to be a 'champion of justice' in D.C.