(PHILADELPHIA, PA, 1/9/14) – The Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-Philly) is calling on a college in that state to repudiate the extremist anti-Muslim rhetoric of a scheduled speaker. In a letter to Mark Volk, president of…
Within the last two weeks, our Legal Department has received two new intakes pertaining to anti-Muslim harassment, bullying, and bigotry in public schools. The first case involves “educator misconduct” in which a faculty member in a rural Pennsylvania school made…
It’s that time of year again! CAIR-Philadelphia’s Eighth Annual Banquet will take place on Saturday, March 15, 2014 at the newly renovated and expanded Springfield Country Club. Our staff and Executive Committee are already hard at work, organizing an inspirational,…
So establish regular Prayer and give regular Charity; and obey the Messenger; that you may receive mercy. (Qur’an 24:56) As-Salaam-Alaikum! As many of you know, I began work on Oct. 1st as CAIR-Philadelphia’s Executive Director. As I begin my first year on…
"No one can predict how people react to suffering or the knowledge of suffering," he said. "So some Jews who came out of World War II and their children understand the Holocaust as meaning that everyone in the world was and will continue to hate the Jews." He added: "Being called a Jewish Nazi-lover is not the nicest thing. But it speaks more about the intolerance of those making the charges than it does about CAIR."
The Staff and Executive Committee of CAIR-Philadelphia joins the world community in mourning the loss of Nelson Mandela. More than mourning, however, we remember a life lived with courage and conviction. We also remember with pride the many Muslims in…
Last week, CAIR-Philadelphia Legal Director Amara Chaudhry-Kravitz served as the course planner for a program devoted to the “right to counsel,” a legal right guaranteed by the 6th Amendment of the United States Constitution and commemorating the 50th anniversary of…
My appointment as Executive Director has continued to generate media attention. I was interviewed last week by Radio Sawa, a 24-hour, 7-day-a-week Arabic-language radio station broadcasting in the Arab world. The station is a service of the Middle East Broadcasting Networks, and is publicly funded by the U.S. Congress. Read the story (in Arabic) at RadioSawa.com. I was also interviewed on AslanMedia, the website of best-selling American Muslim author Reza Aslan.
Talk to Jacob Bender for five minutes and you’ll get a sense that if bridges can be built between Muslims and other faith groups, he’s certainly the guy for the job. In October, the award-winning documentary filmmaker and interfaith activist was tapped to head the Philadelphia chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR). His appointment to the Muslim advocacy group, which protects civil liberties of Muslim Americans and aims to increase public understanding of Islam, might have passed under the radar had his own religious faith — Judaism — not become the focus of his new gig.
