Reading Hassan Shibly’s July 12 reply to my “incessant diatribes,” I had a Socrates moment. In Apology, Plato’s account of Socrates’ defense before the Athenian court which would condemn him to death, Socrates begins with these words:
I do not know what effect my accusers have had on you, gentlemen, but for my own part I was almost carried away by them—their arguments were so convincing. On the other hand, scarcely a word of what they said was true.
As many of you know, Hassan Shibly can be very convincing, even when scarcely a word of what he says is true.
If we forget for a moment that Shibly’s exploits have left many women harmed, some even “broken” and suicidal by their own accounts, it is easy to conclude that I have been too hard on him. But if a woman’s dignity equals a man’s, he needs to be held accountable. Otherwise, there can be no advancement for women’s rights in the American Muslim community.
And the Qur’an was not given to us to keep women oppressed.
A friend of mine wrote that he was troubled by my more hard-hitting posts on Shibly recently; he preferred earlier posts in which I was calling for a credible investigation into the many allegations against CAIR by former employees and board members.
I could have stopped with those posts, had CAIR made any honest movement to address those grievances. Instead, CAIR decided to sue Sister Lori, and has since portrayed her as a trouble-maker who went around CAIR picking fights anywhere she could.
Even in her futile attempt to see that a complaint against Shibly by a former secret wife was properly investigated, Lori is portrayed as harassing poor Brother Hassan. And that is why Nihad told her to apologize to him, after Nihad lost any nerve to confront Shibly himself.
Then Lori refused to attend conflict resolution training, ordered by Nihad.
What was the point of conflict resolution for Lori, after the complaint against Shibly was dropped, without so much as an investigation, or even an interview of the woman who brought the complaint? Was the point not to undermine and isolate this uppity sister?
Then CAIR portrayed Lori as the instigator of tensions between herself and Zainab Chaudry of the Maryland satellite project, which Lori had begun and Zainab had gradually excluded her from. With eight years of experience developing and heading CAIR-Minnesota, with a law degree and a certificate in nonprofit management from Georgetown, with a year on the CAIR National board, and in her official role as Director of Chapter Development, Lori knew a thing or two about developing CAIR chapters, satellite offices, and other models depending on resources, needs and expectations of the local community.
I think it would be fair to say that Sister Lori knew more about nonprofit development than anyone else at CAIR. Details that might not have meant much to you or me did mean something to her. There was a right way to go about setting up a satellite office or any other model she had developed, and plenty of wrong ways.
Lori was concerned that Zainab, who is a talented writer and speaker but lacked a background in nonprofit development, was basically winging the Maryland project. She was also providing services which a lawyer should have been providing, including conducting Know Your Rights trainings, meeting with clients by herself for case intakes, and talking about legal issues in the media. At the time, there was a pending lawsuit against CAIR because a former employee had pretended to be a lawyer and taken clients’ money. CAIR would lose a lot of money in that lawsuit. (See: Lopez v. CAIR, 826 F.3d 492 (2016) and Saiyed v. CAIR, 346 F.Supp.3d 88, 2018).
In her June 23, 2019 eight page writeup of her grievances with CAIR, Lori went in to some detail about the tensions between herself and Zainab. Here is an excerpt:
When I objected to the haphazard way in which the Maryland office was being setup, I was threatened with termination. I was also asked to go on administrative leave because of my “interference’ in the Maryland office, a project that I created.
Numerous CAIR National staff members, chapter leaders, and community members attributed the dysfunctional and mismanaged Maryland office to me and my department, and continued to do so until my resignation in May 2018.
In a December 2017 email to the National board, Sister Lori listed the many tasks involved in developing a satellite office. The list would be surprisingly long and detailed to anyone without her background. It certainly was for me. In her June 23, 2019 document, she wrote:
The board did not formally respond to my email or my concerns. Instead, the executive director justified his decision by telling me that he was worried about losing [Zainab’s] donors in Maryland. He also informed me that [Zainab] had assisted him in shutting down staff efforts to unionize at CAIR National in 2017 and that he would be unable to take any action against her due to her “loyalty” to the organization.
Lori further wrote:
I was barred from attending the Maryland office grand opening celebration in January 2018, although other CAIR National staff were invited to attend- including staff from my department. When I informed the executive director that I would not attend as a CAIR representative but would attend in my individual capacity with my family, I was told that I was not allowed to attend the celebration in my personal capacity either and that security would be called on me and my family if we attended.
Was Sister Lori making too much of her concerns about the Maryland project? Any of us without her experience and training would be guessing if we tried to answer. For her vigilance, she was steadily isolated and undermined by Nihad, Ibrahim, and Zainab. Finally, she submitted her letter of resignation to Nihad on January 14, 2018, to be effective on May 11, 2018. I quote from that letter at length:
You assigned me the task of developing and implementing a formal process for new chapters (attached is an overview). It’s a detailed process that includes an assessment, external audit, benchmarks, action plans, fundraising goals and plans, site visits, etc. You also assigned me the task of developing and implementing a formal process for satellite offices, which I have been doing for CAIR West Virginia, CAIR Hawaii, and CAIR Delaware. This was to be even more comprehensive because those offices will be directly affiliated with CAIR National.
Maryland was on my startup list, and the board approved the satellite office proposal I wrote and submitted. Zainab is now singlehandedly and haphazardly opening an office in Maryland and it lacks the proper infrastructure and oversight. There is a history of concerns (see below) and I have brought them to your attention without any remedy. When I informed you that she contacted a potential candidate about her job application for the same position, violating applicant confidentiality, what was done about it? Several staff (including 3 directors) are concerned about the Maryland situation and, instead of addressing those very valid concerns, you’re announcing the opening of it in one week?…
This situation is undermining our goal to create a strong, sustainable nationwide infrastructure. We can’t have a professionally-run, grassroots CAIR presence in all 50 states if Maryland is not held to the same standards as other chapters and offices.
In truth, Nihad was probably at a loss to know how to deal with both Shibly and Sister Lori. The first, as I described him in a post long, long ago, was a bucking bronco, and likely intimidated Nihad with his liberal use of cease and desist letters and that very peculiar letter from a lawyer he brought to the all brothers meeting on June 21, 2016. In addition, Shibly was a prize asset for CAIR with his fundraising skills. In time it would become clear how he used his high-profile position at CAIR to pursue his extracurricular interests.
Sister Lori, after years of training and education, came to CAIR-National determined to do her part for social justice and American Islam. Working for CAIR would be an opportunity to leave the world a better place for her having been here. What she found was mediocrity, deceit, spinelessness at the top, and corruption. What earned the retaliation of Management was her unwillingness to tolerate it.
Shibly’s sexual appetites and abuse of his wife would eventually cause his sudden departure, with CAIR dropping what was a sham investigation of him anyway. With Lori’s resignation, her troubles had only begun. She knew too much, and so CAIR tried to leverage $30,000 it owed her to buy her silence. But she refused the deal. In time CAIR would pay her $10,000, and try to leverage the remaining $20,000 to buy her silence again.
Unsuccessfully, again.
Reform CAIR 