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| Welcome to CAIR New Jersey |
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Council on American-Islamic Relations - New Jersey Chapter |
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| PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATES FORUM |
 Where do the Presidential Candidates stand? Come find out at the Candidates Forum at the Islamic Center of Jersey City (ICJC). Surrogates from the Obama-Biden and McCain-Palin campaign are spending the afternoon with the Muslim community. If you want to hear what they have to say or if you want to ask them a question, be sure to join us!
WHAT: Candidates Forum
WHEN: Saturday, Nov. 1st, 2008 from 6-8pm
WHERE: ICJC, 17 Park St,, Jersey City, NJ
CONTACT: Afsheen Shamsi, 908-938-5990 , ashamsi@cair.com |
| CAIR-NJ ON HIJAB |
 Soliman: Misperceptions about the hijab
NorthJersey.com
Thursday, May 29, 2008
IT WASN'T too long ago, during the social revolution of the Sixties, that many elders in the West criticized the changing fashion trends of their younger generation as being "risqué" and indecent. Mothers taught their
daughters to be modest, and to make sure that a man respects them for the right reasons, such as their intellect.
For the most part, anyone can look at Western civilization today and know that the parents of yesteryear lost that struggle. After all, there weren't many miniskirts and string bikini's to be seen in the Fifties as there are today. In fact, in an ironic example of how far we've come from those ideals, many Muslim American women living in North Jersey have actually been discriminated against for wearing the hijab (the Muslim head scarf).
"What we see is that women who wear the hijab are on the front lines of Islam, because they are easily identifiable," said Afsheen Shamsi of the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations. "Just last week, we received a complaint from a woman who was told she could not wear the hijab at her job. She works for an airline, and was told that the hijab is not part of the airline uniform. They are taking
several weeks to authorize her hijab while she waits without pay."
According to Shamsi, the most severe case of discrimination involved a Muslim woman who was assaulted on the street because she was identified by the hijab as Muslim. The issue has sparked a good deal of debate in
North Jersey, where the concentration of Muslim women wearing the hijab is the largest in the state.
But don't nuns wear a kind of hijab, too?
A matter of choice
Contrary to the misperception of many in the West, the vast majority of Muslim women, like Catholic nuns, do not wear the hijab, but those who wear it do so out of choice. It is, therefore, not a symbol of subjugation.
"God has commanded us to be modest, so Muslim women believe that observing hijab is one way of being modest," said Shamsi. "Some women consider it to be liberating in the sense that they are judged for who
they are, not what they look like."
Link |
| CAIR-NJ ON MOSQUES FOSTERING UNDERSTANDING |
Islamic groups foster greater understanding of their faith
By BOB MAKIN
MyCentralJersey.com
May 31, 2008
When Malcolm X returned home from his first pilgrimage to Mecca, he reported that he was amazed by the diverse brotherhood he witnessed. "I am convinced," he said, "that the only thing that Islam needs is public relations."
Several Central Jersey organizations have taken that concept to heart by working to foster understanding of Islam in the wake of the terrorist attacks of September 2001. Recent events have included:
# "Glimpses of Islam," an open house at the Muslim Center in Piscataway, attended by about 200 non-Muslims;
# The second annual Islamic Games held in South Brunswick on Memorial Day weekend, a sporting mix of family fun that was open to all faiths.
Such efforts are growing, said Afsheen Shamsi, spokeswoman for the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations in Princeton. "I definitely believe that before 9/11, the Muslim community went to work, went to mosque, and came home," Shamsi said. "They didn't make the effort to do outreach to the surrounding community. But since 9/11, for a number of reasons, Muslims are very proactive to reach out to the surrounding community. I do think a segment of the population embraces those efforts in New Jersey and nationwide, but the population that completely rejects Islam needs to come to an open house or attend an outreach event."
Link
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| CAIR-NJ ON NJ MUSLIMS |
Muslims struggle to find place in America
By BOB MAKIN
May 31, 2008
MyCentralJersey.com
Raheel Siddiq is a wife, mother and part-time nutritionist from the Basking Ridge section of Bernards. She also is a Muslim, originally from Pakistan. Siddiq said that as a Muslim-American woman she has confronted a clash of values, a lack of understanding and fear in the face of prejudice.
While many find it a struggle to practice their faith, Muslims have a name for it — jihad. Terrorists have twisted that term, as well as the Quranic verses that inspired it, for socio-political gain, Siddiq said....
The New Jersey chapter of CAIR is dealing with 15 civil rights complaints in Middlesex, Somerset, Union and Hunterdon counties, spokeswoman Afsheen Shamsi said. After a post-9/11 calm, cases in New Jersey went up last year, Shamsi said, when a plot by members of a South Jersey mosque to attack Fort Dix was thwarted by the FBI and other law enforcement agencies.
The majority of Muslims don't condone those actions, Shamsi said. Since 2004, she said, the Council on American-Islamic Relations has circulated an online petition denouncing terrorism. She said more than 700,000
Muslims and non-Muslims have signed the petition, which is called "Not in the Name of Islam" See more at: http://islam.about.com/cs/currentevents/a/petition.htm.
http://www.mycentraljersey.com/facesofIslam |
| Donate to NJ Homeless Center |
 Action Alert: Donate to NJ Homeless Center (PRINCETON, N.J., 5/21/08) - CAIR-New Jersey is calling on Muslims and other people of conscience to donate funds, food or clothing to the Morris County Homeless Center, a multi-service center in that state that offers services to the homeless as well as to people challenged with mental illness or substance abuse, and to victims of domestic violence and the marginally poor. The center offers counseling, a safe place off the streets in harsh weather, referrals for housing & medical needs, free use of a phone for jobs and assistance with job search, emergency clothing, assistance in identifying a place to sleep, and provides a legal mailing address. In the first three months of 2008, the Morris County Homeless Center served 4,117 needy and homeless clients. CAIR-NJ is encouraging Muslim support of the center as part of its annual “Muslims Care” campaign, which is designed to encourage volunteerism in the American Muslim community. SEE: Muslims Care http://www.muslimscare.org "It was a tradition of Prophet Mohammed to help those in need. We have an opportunity to follow his example by supporting the Morris County Homeless Center," said CAIR-NJ Community Relations Director Afsheen Shamsi. CAIR-NJ is encouraging people to support the center in the following ways: 1. Donate funds to pay the center’s monthly bills, which total $5000/month – contribute any amount as every dollar helps! Please send your tax-exempt donation to: Al-Hilal, P.O. Box 12, Pluckemin, NJ 07978 2. Volunteer for 2 hour blocks of time on weekdays between 7:30 a.m. and 5 p.m. 3. Donate clothing, socks, coffee, baked goods, books, DVDs, educational materials, etc. For more information on how to help, contact: Zamir Hassan at 908-364-4441 or muslimsagainsthunger@gmail.com To learn more about CAIR-NJ or Muslims Care please contact: CAIR-NJ Public Relations Director, Afsheen Shamsi at 908-938-5990 or ashamsi@cair.com The Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) is the largest Islamic civil liberties group in the United States with 35 chapters across America and Canada. Its mission is to enhance an understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding. |
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| CAIR New Jersey |
4475 S. Clinton Ave.,
Suite 202
South Plainfield, NJ, 07080
Tel: (908) 668-5900
Fax: (800) 815-1398
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