After more than a year of CAIR-Chicago raising the issue, the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) finally agreed to recognize “Arab” as a race. Just last week, the EEOC headquarters in Washington, D.C. issued an apology letter to CAIR-Chicago Litigation Director Kevin Vodak for the improper classifications and assured him that steps have been taken to prevent further problems.

“If you enter any Islamic mosque or center and talk to Muslims there, almost every single one has been a victim of discrimination or harassment of some kind,” Sharif said. A Gallup Poll released last week showed that 53 percent of Americans view Islam negatively and more than four out of 10 admit to being at least a little prejudiced against Muslims.

According to Gallup, more than 4 in 10 Americans (43%) admit to feeling at least "a little" prejudice toward Muslims. This is more than twice the number who say the same about Christians (18%), and almost three times more than that of Jews (15%) and Buddhists (14%). The poll questioned Americans about knowledge of Islam, to which 63% of Americans said they have "very little" knowledge or "none at all."