The Philadelphia Chapter of CAIR (Council on American-Islamic Relations) welcomes the Justice Department’s announcement of an agreement with Bensalem Township, Pennsylvania, which resolves a lawsuit alleging discrimination after the township denied zoning approval to allow the local Muslim community (“Bensalem Masjid”) to build a mosque.
CAIR-Philadelphia is pleased to welcome Ahmet Selim Tekelioglu as our new Outreach and Education Director. Ahmet Selim is an academic and a scholar of American religious landscapes. He brings to us several years of on-the-ground work with Muslim American communities.
Jacob Bender, CAIR-Philadelphia Executive Director, and Salima Suswell, CAIR-Philadelphia Executive Committee Member, travelled to Harrisburg on September 6th to attend the 2nd Annual Eid-al-Adha Dinner at The Governor’s Mansion. The dinner was hosted by Governor Tom Wolf and his wife Francis and was attended by about 60 Muslim leaders from around Pennsylvania.
On Sunday, August 20th at Italian Lake, Harrisburg, the Community Responders Network, a grassroots coalition committed to confronting and preventing incidents of bias in Central Pennsylvania, and the Harrisburg Mayor's Interfaith Advisory Council, organized a unity rally we called "Speak up for Unity, No Hate Here!” The purpose of the event was to affirm equality, non-violence, cross-cultural acceptance, and interfaith cooperation.
Jacob Bender, CAIR-Philadelphia Executive Director, said: “Regardless of the identities of the alleged bombers of the Minnesota Islamic Center, who we hope will be quickly apprehended, this attack comes in the midst of a nationwide campaign of vilification and demonization of Muslims and the Islamic faith by Islamophobic activists, irresponsible media personalities, and even high-ranking government officials. Only a concerted and united effort by the Muslim community and its interfaith and social justice activists will defeat the voices of hate now transgressing our national values of pluralism, democracy, and justice.”
It has been over two months since a courageous group of March on Harrisburg activists embarked from Philadelphia to a 105-mile political pilgrimage to the Pennsylvania Statehouse to demand real reform with three pro-democracy and anti-corruption bills: automatic voter registration, non-partisan redistricting to end gerrymandering, and a ban of legalized bribery.
Many American Christians recognize the importance of learning about Muslim faith and culture; but that recognition is not as widespread as it should be. Iftekhar Hussain, a Muslim U.S. citizen and business consultant born in Bangladesh, and Chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) in Pennsylvania, has worked for 15 years to expand awareness among willing learners. Also a member of the Philadelphia CAIR’s executive committee, he teaches in churches, synagogues, mosques, schools and other settings throughout our region, always offering his knowledge and insight at no cost.
Seorang Yahudi telah dipilih untuk memimpin masyarakat muslim. Jacob Bender, dengan tubuhnya yang tipis, rambut keperakan, kata-katanya yang lirih, dan jemarinya yang sibuk menandai bulir-bulir tasbih berkepala Bintang Daud, senantiasa memiliki sesuatu bagi umat Islam Amerika Serikat. - 9 July 2017 - Download PDF
Jacob Bender, Executive Director of CAIR-Philadelphia, said: “As a civil rights organization, CAIR has great respect for the judicial system of the United States, and notes with approval that three lower courts suspended President Trump’s ‘Muslim Travel Ban’ and questioned its constitutionality. And without assigning any racial or religious animus to the SCOTUS judges themselves, we believe that the Supreme Court overlooked the broader atmosphere of anti-Muslim bigotry in the nation and the failed to consider, as did the lower courts, the President’s contribution to the current Islamophobic climate.”
