American-Islamic Relations, Council on

Greater Involvement in American Society

Beginning in the early 1980s there was a marked shift among immigrant Muslim leadership away from isolationism and a foreign political focus toward greater investment and involvement in American society. At this time, large religious umbrella organizations were formed, such as the Islamic Circle of North America (1971) and the Islamic Society of North America (1982). These two groups created national connections among immigrant Muslim populations and ran parallel to large, preexistent African American Muslim national networks, specifically the Nation of Islam and the American Society of Muslims under Warith Deen Mohammed.

A general consensus emerged among the immigrant-focused Muslim community at this time that professional, bureaucratic organizations were the best choice for Muslims’ advocacy work in the United States. These discussions occurred within the larger political atmosphere of identity politics, whereby ethnic and other minority or marginalized groups organized around shared political interests. American Muslims also organized around ethnicity and Arabs participated in the American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee, founded in 1980 and still the largest Arab American civil rights organization in the United States.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations was founded in June 1994 following the emergence of similar organizations in the late 1980s and early 1990s. Founders Omar Ahmad, Nihad Awad, and Rafeeq Jaber created CAIR to monitor discrimination against Muslims in the United States, to protect Muslims’ civil liberties, to better educate the American public about Islam, and to encourage Muslim participation in politics and society. The three founders had previously worked together at the Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP), a nonprofit organization dedicated to improving welfare of the Palestinian people and advancing the campaign for a Palestinian state. This connection would haunt CAIR later when particular pro-Israel groups claimed IAP and, by association, CAIR were a domestic front for the Palestinian Islamist party Hamas; no direct proof has been found to support these claims.

CAIR gained national recognition when it responded quickly to the initial and unsubstantiated blame placed on Muslims for the Oklahoma City bombing on April 19, 1995. In the few weeks following the event, CAIR recorded over 200 instances of hate crimes and harassment directed at Muslims, which it published in the report “A Rush to Judgment.” CAIR continued to monitor and compile data on hate crimes and discrimination against Muslims and in 1996 began publishing an annual report, “The Status of Muslim Civil Rights in the United States.”

In its first years of existence, CAIR established itself nationally as a prompt advocate in cases of civil rights violation and discriminatory action toward Muslims. CAIR also utilized the still-nascent World Wide Web, creating a resource-rich Web site and sending frequent listserv announcements that established a direct connection to its base. With its established public presence, CAIR was able to serve as a platform for Muslims to speak on legislation and with political candidates.

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