This coming April will mark five years since credible allegations of corruption, gender discrimination, and tolerance of sexual misconduct at CAIR-National were revealed in a well-researched article by Leila Fadel and published by NPR. Fadel is now a host of NPR’s Morning Edition.
By the accounts of some former employees and board members, that article was sparing, demonstrating the fastidiousness of NPR. Though CAIR had plenty of time to respond in a responsible manner and come clean, it chose instead to simply deny the allegations. It claimed, absurdly, to have no knowledge prior to Fadel’s investigations of a number of allegations of sexual misconduct against a former chapter leader. In response to the allegation that it had thwarted unionizing efforts by Washington office employees, it claimed, erroneously, that it fully supported the rights of workers to unionize (a denial, essentially.)
CAIR then sued a former employee for defamation, but was forced to withdraw that lawsuit “with prejudice”.
CAIR then trashed that same employee in a January 20, 2022 public statement. The employee then sued CAIR, claiming that it had falsely defamed her. As a result, CAIR has removed the January 2022 public statement from its website.
In addition to its aggressive response, CAIR never followed up with any of the alleged victims of sexual harassment and misconduct Leila Fadel had interviewed or written about.
To this day, CAIR has failed to hold its leadership accountable. (see: cairawad.com, and https://reformcair.com/2023/03/14/two-years-of-deception-and-retaliation-at-cair/) Nihad Awad still calls the shots. Meanwhile, CAIR-National continues to aggressively solicit zakat from Muslims, unlike some of its chapters who hold to a higher standard.
CAIR National does not deserve a penny of your zakat. This post, which I published three years ago, is still relevant: https://reformcair.com/2023/04/20/cair-national-fools-the-fortunate-to-rob-the-poor/)
But if you are satisfied that Muslim civil rights work qualifies for your zakat, then I suggest you consider either the Muslim Legal Fund of America (https://mlfa.org/), or Muslim Advocates (https://muslimadvocates.org/).
As good as those organizations may be, if you want your zakat to go to those most in need, there are of course many worthy organizations providing clean water, food, shelter, and medical care to Palestinians and other people in famine and war-torn regions. Or in your own community.
Reform CAIR 