When Kifah Shukair celebrates the end of the sacred Muslim month of Ramadan this week, she will rise before dawn with her family and attend morning prayers. The rest of the day will be spent in a flurry of festivity--visiting relatives, exchanging gifts, feasting on delicious foods.

(CHICAGO, 11/02/05) - As a joint effort with the Arab American Action Network (AAAN), CAIR-Chicago is asking individuals who passed a citizenship examination and have been waiting for over 90 days, or have been waiting for a Green Card for permanent residence for over 90 days, to contact us at either civilrights@cairchicago.org, or mennakhalil@gmail.com.

WHAT - Ekklesia Church: 27th Lecture Year; "We Are One in Spirit" Lecture Series TOPIC - "Building Bridges to Islam"

WHAT - Ramadan Outreach WHERE - John Marshall Law School

WHAT - Ramadan Outreach WHERE - Northwest Indiana Islamic Center

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/31/05) - A prominent national Islamic civil rights and advocacy group today asked Muslim communities nationwide to take advantage of the upcoming holiday marking the end of Ramadan to collect funds for earthquake relief in South Asia.

On the October 27 edition of Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor, host Bill O'Reilly called the idea of closing public schools for the observance of Muslim holidays "absurd in a Judeo-Christian country."

WHAT - Ramadan Outreach

WHERE - DePaul University

WHAT - Ramadan Outreach WHERE - Illiana Islamic Association

Christina Abraham, CAIR-Chicago Civil Rights Coordinator, testified in a Racial Profiling Subject Matter Hearing before the Judiciary II - Criminal Law Committee of the Illinois House of Representatives. The hearing, which took place in the Capitol Building in Springfield, Ill., addressed the legislative proposal to continue data collection on racial profiling for traffic stops and amend the legislation to incorporate more information in the data that is collected.

WHAT - Ramadan Outreach

WHERE - MECCA

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/28/05) - The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) today called on all people of conscience to contact their elected representatives and urge them to oppose Vice President Cheney’s proposal to exempt CIA employees from a proposed congressional ban on torture of prisoners in U.S. custody.

When I first read the headline, “Israeli air strike kills 7 in Gaza,” I expected the picture chosen to accompany the article was that of a Palestinian woman mourning the death of a relative (Oct. 28). Instead the caption read, “The granddaughter of an Israeli killed in Wednesday’s suicide bombing in Hadrea grieves as his funeral Thursday.” Is there a reason why the Chicago Tribune failed to include a picture of the death, destruction and mourning the Israeli missiles caused in Gaza?

The ongoing case of Jose Padilla should be a major concern for all American citizens who care for their civil rights (“High court urged to take appeal from Padilla,” Oct. 28).

Ray Hanania uses the fear some American Muslims have concerning Halloween as a chance to categorize all Muslims as bigots who are “anti-American and anti-Christian” (“American Muslims sending mixed messages on bigotry,” Oct. 27). It makes one wonder what he would label Christians who also have trouble with this holiday.

(WASHINGTON, D.C., 10/26/05) - "CAIR is calling on Islamic centers, mosques and Muslim organizations nationwide to do their part in supporting its important civil rights and advocacy work by raising at least $1,000 for the "$1 MILLION FOR ISLAM IN RAMADAN" annual fundraising drive. (Scholars say CAIR is able to receive Zakat.)

To honor the holy Muslim month of Ramadan, The Jewish Council on Urban Affairs cosponsored an Iftar at a Lakeview Synagogue for Chicago Muslims Sunday, October 23rd. The event held at the Anshe Sholom B'nai Israel Congregation (cosponsor) featured prayer, dinner, and plenty of socializing.

WHAT - Ramadan Outreach WHERE - Masjid Al-Huda

CAIR-Chicago Executive Director, Yaser Tabbara, and Director of Communications, Ahmed Rehab, addressed the "Mosque Cares" congregation after the Friday sermon and prayer in Homewood, IL, last Friday.

In her column “Tribalism that defends Hussein is bereft of sense of decency,” Mona Charen manages to group all Sunni Muslims and all liberals as tribal heathens who care nothing about “morality, compassion and a love of justice” (Oct. 23).