For many Muslims in America, myself included, 2018 was a difficult year, as we witnessed the growth off verbal and physical attacks on American Muslims and other minorities; all, no doubt, encouraged by the open and coded racist discourse emanating from the highest government officials in the land and spread maliciously throughout the internet and broadcast and print media.
The year 2018 is drawing to a close, with the past several months being particularly difficult ones for those of us committed to a pluralistic, peaceful, and just vision of America.
CAIR-Philadelphia wishes all of our Christian friends a joyous Christmas and a New Year of peace and justice -- from Pakistan, to Palestine, to Pennsylvania.
Lo! The angels said "O Mary! Behold, God sends thee the glad tiding, through a word from Him, [of a son] who will become known as the Christ Jesus, son of Mary..."
Holy Qur'an, 3:45
As we have remarked before, the United States continues to witness a spike in Islamophobia, which has become exacerbated by the brazen bigotry and xenophobia of the present presidential administration. While various outlets like Newsweek and The Washington Post each have reported on this heinous rise in hate targeting Muslims, I can personally attest to this increase firsthand based on the numerous complaints I routinely field as the Muslim community suffers from the anguish and anxiety caused by the implications of increased harassment and discrimination.
Happy Hanukkah to our Jewish Friends and Supporters: May these lights of freedom shine on both our communities and all people of good will in these turbulent times.
The Philadelphia Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Philadelphia) today criticized CNN for its decision to fire Dr. Marc Lamont Hill, a professor, activist, and political commentator, after a speech Dr. Hill made at the United Nations supporting Palestinian independence.
We write today with deep sadness as an American Jew and an African American, respectively, the Executive Director and Civil Rights Attorney of the Philadelphia chapter of the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization. Both of us are quite familiar with the tragic history of our people and the protracted legacy of traumatic oppression exacted upon our respective communities.
An interfaith press conference about the Pittsburgh synagogue massacre, hosted by CAIR-Philadelphia and Masjidullah at the Friends Center yesterday, received wide media coverage last night on radio, TV, and internet.
Jewish, Christian, and Muslim religious leaders at the press conference condemned the mass murder at the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh, as well as calling attention to the environment of racism, xenophobia, and calls to violence in which the anti-Semitic murders took place. Many speakers noted a climate of fear and divisiveness stoked by the irresponsible rhetoric of the president of the United States.
An interfaith group of religious leaders came together for a press conference Tuesday to denounce the mass shooting inside a Pittsburgh synagogue and President Donald Trump's latest attack on undocumented immigrants.
They said a prayer of mourning, at Friends Center in Center City, for the 11 men and women who were gunned down inside the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh on Saturday, calling out each of their names. The leaders represented area mosques, churches, and synagogues who called the massacre the direct result of a larger scheme of hate that began more than two years ago.
