Jacob Bender

Director’s Desk: What Now?

“No one can stand up against the authority of truth, and the evil of falsehood is to be fought with enlightening speculation.” ― Ibn Khaldun, “The Muqaddimah: An Introduction to History” What better description of the times we live in than these words, penned six centuries ago by Ibn Khaldun, the towering genius of the medieval Arab world, indeed of any age. In the end, Ibn Khaldun is telling us, the tyrant will always fall, and the truth will always prevail.
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Long Live RBG!

And so, after holding on for so long, Ruth Bader Ginsburg has died. Long live RGB! Conscience of the nation! Mother of gender equality! The Muslim community mourns as well. During this inferno administration, burning with racism and the flames of violence, in case after case Justice Ginsburg defended the civil liberties of American Muslims...
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Director’s Desk: In Praise of AOC

If you have not already seen it, we urge all of you to watch the speech by Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the House of Representatives, in which she responded to a verbal assault by Rep. Ted Yoho, a Florida Republican. The speech by Rep. Ocasio-Cortez, viewed over 4 million times in the past week, was one for the ages, for it was far more than a rebuke to a single sexist politician for uttering a single vulgarity...
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CAIR-Philadelphia Collage

To Our Friends and Supporters

Even in the midst of the coronavirus pandemic, I would like you to know that staff and officers of CAIR are constantly working to find new and improved ways of serving the American Muslim community of the Greater Delaware with innovative programs, such as our virtual town hall meetings, and our educational webinars. Internally, CAIR-Philadelphia is changing as well, most notably with the stepping down of our longtime Chapter President Osama Al-Qasem after 8 years at the helm.
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Sabell Bender, 1927-2019

Director’s Desk: My Mother

My mother, Sabell Bender, died two days ago at the age of 92 after many years of painfully declining health. Even in her final years, when her assembly of medical conditions had left her immobile and robbed her of her booming and unforgettable voice, she clung to life with all the dedication and exuberance and yes, stubbornness, with which she had lived her nine decades on the Earth. Sabell was a born director and a force of nature, who, while acknowledging that she was a product of her times, also believed with all her heart that her abundance of talent and creativity made it possible for her to influence the times in which she lived.
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