CAIR-Chicago Executive Director, Ahmed Rehab, talks to Fox News' John Gibson about the Pentagon's disinvitation of evangelist Franklin Graham from an army prayer service after pressure from various groups, including CAIR.

CAIR-Chicago Executive Director, Ahmed Rehab, talks to Fox News' John Gibson about the Pentagon's disinvitation of evangelist Franklin Graham from an army prayer service after pressure from various groups, including CAIR.

Dr. Tariq Ramadan, on the day of his keynote at CAIR-Chicago's Annual Banquet, sat down for a Q & A session with the Chicago Tribune. During the interview, Ramadan discusses his U.S. visit and asks American Muslims to be more involved in American society.

httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjbkBrZM3Ms

In this editorial piece, Christina Abraham, CAIR-Chicago's Civil Rights Director, discusses the fear-mongering and guilt-by-association tactics used by many Islamophobes to smear Muslim institutions. Abraham also explains the troublesome and meaningless "unindicted co-conspirator" label that is maligning hundreds of Muslim organizations and individuals.

"The overlying mantra is that we belong here, this is our country, too," said Ahmed Rehab, the executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations "That's something you do not through assertive statement, but assertive action."

[CAIR-Chicago Staff Attorney Kevin Vodak] said the group followed proper procedures over the 17 months of meetings and hearings that preceded his office being retained. "Throughout the process, they were attempting to provide (concessions) in the hope of appeasing the neighbors," Vodak said. "They expended a lot of effort and funds trying to get that done."

Zafra Lerman said Columbia violated its own policies and her rights as a tenured professor by firing her last year. Her federal suit, filed against four top administrators, said they began a retaliatory campaign against her after she criticized the firing of Suriya Smiley, a professor of Palestinian descent who was accused of making an anti-Semitic remark.

Ramadan spoke during the sixth annual banquet, organized by CAIR in Chicago. At this year's event gathered more than fifteen hundred people. Ramadan called on Muslims to adopt a new understanding of themselves, to learn the concept of "new us" - we, as citizens of America, we, as Muslims, who are part of the collective American "we."

Why do Westerners succumb to anti-Muslim fear? It's a natural reflex -- certainly what terrorists expect when they claim their acts are in the name of Islam. They want to drive a wedge between the cultures, lest a harmonious blending undercut their extremism and deprive them of the enemy they crave. It's a partnership, the terrorists and the fear-mongers, working in harmony and tacit agreement.

The controversy surrounding Tariq Ramadan is based on hype spurned by the usual detractors for whom every significant Muslim voice is a foreign fifth column, feigning moderation, and secretly plotting to destroy Western civilization.For anyone who has actually read any of his books or heard his speeches, Ramadan’s thoughts and positions are unmistakably pro-peace.

Sign-up and Participate in Muslim Action Day!! Meet with elected officials and make your voice heard. Join Muslims from across the state, of all backgrounds and ages, for a day at our state capitol. Hear from State Senators, Representatives and other officials while having the opportunity to stand up for yourself and your community to the officials that represent you.

Muslims, in solidarity with the families of victims and key faith leaders who live, work and worship in Marquette Park, will gather in the wake of the gruesome act of violence that occurred Wednesday in their community and reject any rationale that connects this atrocity to the Muslim community and Islam

But Larry was not a familiar face at Madison-area mosques and was not espousing views consistent with Islam, according to Muslim officials in Madison and Chicago. Larry and Thompson were married at a Madison mosque but the person who married them had not met them before the ceremony and never saw them again, according to Amina Sharif, spokeswoman for the Chicago chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations.

CAIR-Chicago would like to thank its community of supporters for joining us at our 6th Annual Banquet this past weekend. The hugely successful event was a milestone for our organization and the Chicago Muslim community.

On April 22, 2010, Muslim youth, leaders, and activists from all over Illinois will join in Springfield to lobby members of the Illinois General Assembly. This event, organized by the Council of Islamic Organization of Greater Chicago and sponsored by CAIR-Chicago and Zakat Foundation, is expected to bring together hundreds of Muslim Americans and advocates of the community. Last year, there were over 450 participants, and organizers are hoping for even more this year.

Six years after being barred from coming to the U.S. to teach at the University of Notre Dame, the Muslim scholar Tariq Ramadan spoke Saturday in suburban Oakbrook Terrace, attributing his presence to new "channels for dialogue" between the U.S. and Islamic scholars and telling American Muslims to treat the U.S. as their home.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations filed the suit in federal court in Chicago on behalf of the Irshad Learning Center, which had been proposed for a 2.91-acre site on 75th Street between Wehrli Road and Naper Boulevard in an unincorporated area near Naperville.

A federal lawsuit was filed against DuPage County Thursday claiming an Islamic group's Constitutional rights were violated when a proposal to build an educational center near Naperville was rejected in January.

CAIR-Chicago Staff Attorney Kevin Vodak maintains that Irshad was treated differently than not only other religious institutions, but many secular institutions as well. "DuPage County needs to be held accountable for this violation of state and federal law," Vodak said.

Vodak indicated that comments made by ZBA members and protesters at County Board meetings left no doubt in his mind that religious bigotry played a part in denying Irshad the conditional permit it sought.