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[Parvez Ahmed is board chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation's largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy group. Contact him at pahmed@cair-net.org. ] THE WORLDWIDE FLAP over a series of cartoons published in a Danish newspaper was avoidable had all sides approached the issue with wisdom and restraint. Denmark's Jyllands-Posten published the cartoons depicting Islam's most revered personality, the Prophet Muhammad, in a way that was inaccurate, derogatory and intentionally provocative. Other than demonstrating visceral hatred toward Islam, the cartoons achieved little else. Muslim outrage over the cartoons has lead to boycotts of Danish products across much of...

The Council on American Islamic Relations, better known as CAIR, fashions itself as a mainstream, moderate group. Well, read this article by noted scholar Daniel Pipes, and see if you agree with CAIR's claims. An excerpt: CAIR is particularly worrisome because it claims to be nothing but a mild public affairs organization promoting "interest and understanding among the general public with regards to Islam and Muslims in North America," and is widely seen as such. In fact, it is radical to the core; to quote its chairman, Omar M. Ahmad (as reported by the San Ramon Valley Herald in July...

townhall.com Printer-friendly version CAIR condemns '24'—but it won’t condemn Islamic terrorists Joel Mowbray (back to web version) | Send February 21, 2005 What has Fox’s hit TV show “24” done to prompt TV Guide to report “24 in Hot Water” and Entertainment Weekly to ask, “Has ‘24’ Gone Too Far?”? Its bad guys are terrorists who are… Muslims. That’s it. Few of us need reminding that we are not simply waging a war against terror, but against the radical Islam that animates the enemy. The enemy is not coincidentally Muslim, but they are the enemy because their radicalized version of...

WASHINGTON, 19 February 2005 — The Council for American Islamic Relations, CAIR, is known as the outspoken advocate for Islamic and Muslim rights in the United States since its inception in Washington ten years ago. A leading watchdog and Muslim advocacy group, CAIR has 31 chapters nationwide plus those in Canada. Its mission, it says, is “to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.” Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR, recently discussed with Arab News how Muslim Americans are coming to grips with life in...

A representative of a national Islamic group hosted workshops on civil rights and media relations Sunday at the LSU Union. Ibrahim Abusway, community affairs coordinator for the Washington, D.C.-based Council on American-Islamic Relations, presented the pair of programs to about 50 people. The first workshop was called "What to do if the FBI visits you." Jehad Mahmoud, president of the Islamic Center of Baton Rouge, which sponsored the workshops, said he's not aware of many cases of religious-based discrimination against Muslims in Louisiana, but said, "We want our community members to know their rights." During Abusway's presentation, he said that...

Jack Bauer's going to have to call in the reinforcements to get through this one. Facing heat over how Muslims are depicted in its countdown thriller series 24, Fox is working to mend fences before time's up. The latest season of the Fox drama, which kicked off a week ago, stars Kiefer Sutherland as special agent Bauer. His latest race against the clock to save the world from terrorism has angered America's Muslim community by its portrayal of a Muslim family as a sleeper cell at the heart of a dastardly plot. Rabiah Ahmed, spokeswoman for the Council on American-Islamic...

WASHINGTON, January 14 (IslamOnline.net) - The largest US Muslim civil liberties called on the State Department to issue a report on Islamophobia across the world, as American Muslims have complained of more anti-Islam TV rants. The proposal was made when the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) and several other Muslim and Arab-American groups met Thursday, January 13, with top State Department officials to discuss a number of issues related to American foreign policy, according to CAIR’s Web site. CAIR Executive Director Nihad Awad presented in the meeting -- attended by Assistant Secretary Patricia de Stacy Harrison, Assistant Secretary Richard Boucher...

Muslims decry '24' depiction By RICHARD HUFF DAILY NEWS TV EDITOR ' The first new episode this season of Fox's "24" has yet to hit the screen and already the network has offended a Muslim group. After viewing a portion of the first episode included on a DVD in Entertainment Weekly, officials from the Council on American-Islamic Relations expressed dismay at the depiction of a Muslim family. "At first I was shocked," organization spokeswoman Rabiah Ahmed told the Daily News. "In this particular case, they show an American-Muslim family and they portray them as terrorists." Ahmed was alerted to the...