The Chicago office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations yesterday filed a discrimination lawsuit in federal court on behalf of 49 Muslims of Somali heritage who were fired from a meat packing plant in Nebraska.

"Here in DuPage county officials seem to be more focused on the types of land that's available in residential areas and want to appease residents' concerns rather than the rights of religious institutions," said Kevin Vodak, attorney for the Chicago chapter of the Council on American Islamic Relations.

“A particular concern would be women who wear the hijab because obviously their standards of modesty are probably higher than most people and so they are more concerned about the groping, they are more concerned about the invasion of privacy,” said Ahmed Rehab, executive director of the Council on Islamic Relations in Chicago.

Fourth Presbyterian Church in Chicago invited representatives from CAIR-Chicago to speak to a men’s group as part of a four-part series on topics in Islam. Amina Sharif and Gerald Hankerson gave a presentation that explored American perceptions of Muslims. Congregants and other members of the community attended the session.

CAIR-Chicago communications Coordinator Amina Sharif and Outreach Coordinator Gerald Hankerson gave a presentation to students at St. Ignatius Catholic school Wednesday, December 1st about the sociological and theological background of Islam.

This year the Naperville Central, Naperville North, Waubonsie Valley, and Neuqua Valley High School MSA's will be hosting a United MSA dinner. The program will include dinner and a presentation from Ahmed Rehab, Executive Director of CAIR-Chicago.

CAIR-Chicago filed a discrimination lawsuit in federal court on behalf of 49 Muslims of Somali heritage who were fired from Swift Co, a meat packing plant in Nebraska. The lawsuit intervenes in a class action filed by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC) in August.

"If you wear baggy jeans and you're brought aside for secondary screening for wearing baggy clothing, you are just as much entitled as the woman in a hijab to be able to pat yourself down and then have your hands swabbed for residue. That's the current TSA policy-- it applies to any baggy clothing," said Rehab

CAIR-Chicago Communications Coordinator Amina Sharif delivered a presentation to students at the University of Illinois at Chicago on Wednesday, Nov. 18th to share how CAIR-Chicago engages with the media and advocates for a fair depiction of Muslim-Americans.

Ahmed Rehab talks to Red Eye Radio's Marc Germain about a Muslim woman who was denied service at a convenience store because she refused to remove her hijab.

Check out our Civil Rights Digest and see how CAIR-Chicago works to help people in the Muslim community.

In order to continue CAIR-Chicago’s strong tradition of engaging the community, Executive Director Ahmed Rehab spoke at an event put on by DePaul University’s Muslim student group, UMMA, on the topic of Muslim activism.

See photos HERE

The Muslim Youth Leadership Symposium (MYLS) in Chicago hosted its sixth annual gathering. Muslim High school students from around the Chicago area came to learn how they can become leaders in their community and what it takes to turn ideas into action.

CAIR-Chicago staff and interns participated in a rally alongside the Assyrian community of Chicago to condemn violence against Iraqi Christians. The rally was organized in response to the massacre of dozens of Assyrians Christians in Baghdad on October 31st.

Read CAIR-Chicago Executive Director Ahmed Rehab’s reflections on the rally at his blog, www.ahmedrehab.com.

Chicago Communications Coordinator Amina Sharif presented to a DePaul University class about Middle Eastern communities in the U.S. Sharif’s presentation aimed to give students a broad understanding of the Muslim-American community in terms of its ethnic diversity, socioeconomic levels and political beliefs.

While CAIR-Chicago believes that Hizb ut-Tahrir has a right to their views that Muslim's shouldn't vote, the organization says that American Muslims must be civically engaged, from voting to running for office. Outreach Coordinator Gerald Hankerson specifically objected to the organizations point that even though Muslims have voted in the United States and around the world, it’s done them little good.

CAIR-Chicago Outreach Coordinater Gerald Hankerson discusses Muslim American involement in this election:"Even with the election cycle there is much argument and debate whether Muslims should be involved. One way or another we are living here, and our life is being impacted by whether or not we decide to offer our voice and our balance. So most definitely religion may factor into it on certain issues, such as immigration reform, such as protecting first amendment rights, because we definitely want to see that our faith is not impeded for us to be truly considered Americans,"

When the topic was brought up, yet again, that America has been attacked by Muslims, Ahmed Rehab responds: "Here's also a pattern that you need to be aware of. In almost every one of those cases it was Muslims who helped foil these terrorists plots. In the case of the "underwear bomber" it was his own father, a Muslim, who reported him. In the case of the "time square bomber" it was a Muslim who saw the smoke from the car who reported him. Even in this case Saudia Arabia was actually the country that tipped us off about this plot."