Reform CAIR

I was planning to title this essay, “Oh Brother Waleed, Where Art Thou?” for Omar and I had not heard from him in a while. Then, at 4:41 yesterday afternoon, six minutes after CAIR pinged me with yet another zakat appeal, an email from Waleed came in.

Waleed had been out of the country, of course, as Omar and I suspected. Either that or maybe he had gotten spooked by all the ado about me being a spy. I thought I had cleared that all up, until I discovered a most peculiar sentence in the very first essay I sent Muslim friends, which I published in my last post, How I First Prayed with Muslims – Reform CAIR.

Maybe the smartest thing I can do now is just say, Let’s all agree I am a spy.

Why is that a smart thing for me to say? Because it puts to rest the question, and raises this one: What difference does it make for CAIR?

Not a mote’s worth.

Why? Because the case I and others have made against CAIR-National is based on internal CAIR documents and statements in court filings and other evidence that a spy cannot make up (see: CAIR’s Incriminating Communications – Reform CAIR, and Two Years of Deception and Retaliation at CAIR – Reform CAIR).

Now, the evidence against CAIR might not be quite so easy for spies like me or outright Islamophobes to obtain had CAIR not absent-mindedly sued a whistleblower and put her in the position where she naturally decided to defend herself, with the help of an attorney CAIR did not approve of.

Admittedly, it was bad form of her not to obtain CAIR’s approval of her attorney. If I ever meet her I will mention that.

The lawsuit did not turn out well for CAIR, with the judge telling CAIR to produce some real evidence of defamation or she would toss the case out. But it did make Robert Spencer’s job a lot easier. Spencer would seem to be an honest-to-God Islamophobe, which may be an odd choice of words on my part.

Spencer composed a nasty article about CAIR suing the above-mentioned whistleblower, even attaching the words “Hamas-linked” to “the Council on American-Islamic Relations”. The article quotes the whistleblower at length, even though she never spoke with Spencer. He got his material from her Response to CAIR’s Complaint in its lawsuit, which is a public document.

Let us hope that CAIR has learned one thing. That is, when it sets out to silence and smear a member of the Muslim community, or even a pretender like me, it should not count on controlling the outcome.

I have quipped before that the main thing CAIR-National seems to do is label this or that person an Islamophobe. By CAIR’s criteria, anyone who raises any question about any goings on at CAIR is an Islamophobe.

The problem with that way of thinking, though, is that it seems to justify CAIR circling the wagons to “defend” itself, and of course the entire Muslim community, rather than look honestly at itself. And so, we regularly get messages like this one yesterday from CAIR:

“Don’t forget to defend the Muslim community with a [zakat] donation to CAIR during the final nights of Ramadan.”

Too bad there’s no zakat-eligible charity working for justice for the victims of CAIR representatives.

In November of 2016, the executive director of a CAIR chapter wrote:

“I have really been thinking about our approach to things. Especially 15 years post 9/11 what do we really have to show for our work if we look at this high level. We made a name for CAIR. Did we help or harm our community in the process?” (cairlawsuit62021-2.pdf (wordpress.com), p.34.

Good question. Seven years later, not much has changed, except that CAIR has spent tens of thousands more donors’ zakat dollars trying to suppress civil rights, and may have earned more critics for doing so. I for one was a big fan of CAIR in 2016, and my involvement with local Muslims working to establish a Colorado chapter had something to do with my conversion.

Now, on a previous occasion when Brother Waleed was out of the country, he wrote to ask if I needed or wanted anything. I replied by asking if the Kingdom could spare a few bodyguards, for Waleed is from Saudi Arabia.

“You’re gonna need an army”, he wrote back.

Well, maybe not. The few at CAIR-National and elsewhere who appreciate the job security that Islamophobes and spies like myself provide them must be far out-numbered by the many CAIR employees who still believe in its founding mission. More power to them.

But they better start insisting that CAIR-National clean house.

by Abu Anthony

Introduction

               Did I confess to being a spy?

               The other day I made a remarkable discovery. The first essay I ever sent Muslims, which follows this introduction, contains a curious sentence early on, which could be read in different ways. Was it an admission that I was a spy?

               My grandfather used to say: we can perceive what we can first conceive of. We all tend to see what we are looking for.

               I wrote this essay before I had met a particular individual who would be instrumental in the founding of CAIR-Colorado, and who later would assert that I had admitted to being an informant before I converted to Islam. But it is certainly possible that I or someone else shared this with her at some point.

               The ambiguity of the particular sentence, which will pop out at you, may be indicative of how I might have subtly joked about the matter in the months I collaborated with this person and others in the initial effort to launch the Colorado chapter.

               And this possibly being the Night of Power, when I reflect on Qur’an 44:4, I realize I profit nothing to worry about this rumor anymore. Here is 44:4:

               In that (night) is made distinct every affair of wisdom.

And here is a footnote to the ayat by Abdullah Yusuf Ali:

               “Such an occasion is one on which divine Wisdom places before us, through Revelation, the solution to spiritual problems of the highest import to mankind.”

               In accounts of near-death experiences, it is often reported that at one point God reveals ultimate truth and how everything works out for the good; God’s own mind becomes transparent, as it were. But part of returning to this world is the erasing of any memory of what precisely was revealed. The returnee can only report that for a moment out of time, she or he was granted knowledge of everything.

Knowing that the solutions to what sure seem to be genuine predicaments in this world will be clear in the end, and conflict and strife will melt away as we all return to God, still leaves a lot for we fallibles to navigate and adapt to as best we can. We may know, abstractly, that our self-centered existence and perspective is the greatest illusion of all. But transcending it, surrendering to God’s will, is something we must strive for but will never quite achieve every day. Many days we will fall woefully short, Muslims and non-Muslims alike.

Which reminds me of one of my favorite convert stories. This one is very, very short. It comes from my honorary uncle, Saied.

There was an American convert who one day said: “I am sure glad I converted before I met all the Muslims I have.”

               If it takes a little humility for a Muslim to tell that brief story, humility might be the beginning of wisdom, an essential step in transcending the self and surrendering to God’s will. But I am not really claiming to be humble; there is no convincing anyone of that. I like the story, but it is not my absolute favorite. In a previous post, now deleted, I told my favorite convert story. It goes something like this:

               There was an inmate in a prison who soon came to impress the warden as being a troublemaker, because he would champion any and every inmate’s conflict with Management. One day he learned that there was a complication for some Muslim inmates praying where they always had, and it was enough of a problem that these brothers were upset. He recalled that growing up he and his friends were joyous whenever they could not attend church. But these guys were actually despondent.

               So our champion of every cause under the prison tower went to talk to the warden.

               The warden listened to his complaint with partially disguised impatience. Then he said:

               “Why is this your concern? Are you a Muslim?”

A

long,

pregnant

pause

followed.

           

    “Yes!”

               I, too, found my initial interaction with Muslims, the subject of the essay below, to be most inspiring. And I have had abundant occasions with fellow Muslims since which confirm that I made the right choice for myself. This dispute with CAIR-National notwithstanding.

Note: I wrote what follows during Ramadan, 2016. In passing I predicted more lone wolf attacks in the West by individuals claiming to champion Islam, as a result of America’s wars in Muslim countries. There have been plenty of lone wolf attacks since, but far fewer by wayward Muslims than I expected.

A few weeks before 9/11, I attended a presentation on Islam at my son’s high school, by the mother of two students.  I was glad I did; Islam seemed to be such a positive force in her life, in contrast to the dour image a westerner can have of it from never being curious enough to investigate.

Not long after 9/11 I called this person, who was happy to come speak in my little town in the mountains.  The gathering was well-attended, and she talked mostly about Islam’s emphasis on peace, and surrendering one’s will to God’s.  If one word could describe her, it would be grateful.

In those days I read a number of books on Islam and bought an edition of the Qur’an with an extensive commentary.  My son had just started homeschooling, and to keep things simple I assigned him readings on Islam, including The Complete Idiot’s Guide to the Crusades.   After a few weeks he was ready to move on to something else while I was not, and that is how he began a phase of educating himself.

That was fifteen years ago, and in the intervening years Islam has had to share my attention with other intellectual subjects.  But I have maintained a very positive impression of Islam, while regretting what seems to be a prevalent attitude among even my favorite secularists that we don’t have a lot to learn from a religion that seems more bound to the past than some others.  Many well-meaning people believe Islam oppresses woman and emphasizes a fear of God.  A very dear Christian friend wonders if Islam is capable of a “reformation”. 

To these friends I say, take a leap of faith.  Spend some time getting familiar with Islam as it was a reformation and as it inspires Muslims today.  In a time and land of multiple wanna be gods, Muhammad insisted there is only one God, and by implication there is one humanity.  To truly fear God is to fear nothing else, nothing humans can contrive.  Putting no stock in original sin, Islam maintains instead that people are by nature forgetful and need constant reminding of the straight path. 

Secularism may presume it has the momentum and history is on its side, but just wait and see.   British rabbi Jonathan Sacks observes that the twenty-first century “has left us with a maximum of choice and a minimum of meaning.”  Most people need meaning, and they will find it.  Many will find it in Islam.

For someone with such a positive view of Islam, it was unusual that I had not bothered to meet many Muslims.  That changed the other evening, when I walked into a Muslim event to discover that I was probably one of a handful of non-Muslims in a sea of happy, energized people, after a very long day without touching food or water.  For this was in the middle of Ramadan.

I was standing in the lobby, surrounded by folks greeting one another, perfectly comfortable with this guy who could pass for a Trump and was probably the only one carrying a spiral notebook.  They can’t be worried about me, I thought, because a spy would not bring a spiral notebook.  The first person I established eye contact with was Rashad, and from that moment on, I was at ease.

Rashad is from Pakistan and is a neuroscientist, so I told him I was impressed at how so many Muslims were accomplished at science and apparently had no conflict between science and faith in God.  He expanded on that in some interesting ways, which will wait for another day.

Inside the ballroom I immediately recognized the M.C. as someone I had been intending to meet.  No wonder she proposed a post-Ramadan meeting.  The first speaker recited a passage about Ramadan from the Qur’an.  It was the first time I had heard a recitation in person.  I have some recitations on CD, which years ago I discovered can mellow out two rambunctious dogs faster than you can say Khalid Mansour is your uncle.  Is this conceivably the word of God?  I don’t know, but it sure had an effect on creatures we assume are not even capable of asking the question.  

The second speaker addressed the rise of Islamophobia in the United States, which many Muslims believe recently exceeded the level after 9/11.   This is likely attributable to a combination of the Syrian refugee crisis, the Paris and San Bernardino terror attacks, and certain statements by one presidential aspirant who has demonstrated what fame you can achieve by scrupulously under-thinking everything you say. 

Only a month earlier, a local mosque received a threat which impressed me as pretty explicit.  The risk of being Muslim in this country is steadily rising. Aggravating that, I see more lone wolf attacks by very troubled Muslims coming, due primarily to our fifteen years of war in the land of Islam, and an impression that the U.S. regards Muslim blood as cheap.  But it ain’t true, as the afore-mentioned presidential aspirant has said, that “Islam hates us”.

In time I made my way to Rashad’s table of medical students, as a few seats there were vacant.  What welcoming faces, I thought.  Are they just being gracious?  Are they excited that it is nearly time to eat and drink?  Are they amused by this guy who is clearly not a Muslim and is carrying a spiral notebook?   They were students at CU Denver, and seemed impressed that I had set a record for the most years to get a Master’s degree there.  I explained that I had taken three or four years to write my thesis/project, during which time the department assumed I had dropped out.  Mountain Time is a real thing.

For the remainder of the program, one speaker after another exuded gratitude to God and trust in His guidance and the hereafter, and the joy of Ramadan and assisting those in need, as this was a fundraiser for Islamic Relief USA.

The word “hereafter” conjures up Judgment Day, which over the last 15 years of pondering Islam was the biggest sticking point for me.  I was relieved when some author wrote of it as a “device” for making people feel accountable for their actions and even their thoughts.  Maybe it isn’t actually real, and neither is Hell, I thought with relief.  But whether Judgment Day and Hell are really real is less and less an issue.  Let it remain a mystery, not a game-changer.  The upshot is that life is momentous, and our actions and thoughts really count.  We are all children of the same God.  That’s the game-changer.  That’s the Big Idea.

When it came time for the evening prayer, the hall emptied, and Rashad said if I wanted to go observe he would forego praying himself and we could observe it together and he would explain it to me.  On our way to the prayer room, I asked Rashad if a story I had read about Muhammad negotiating with God the number of daily prayers was generally accepted among Muslims.  As I recalled the story, this happened the night Muhammad ascended to Heaven and met God, Jesus, Moses and other prophets.  When Muhammad told Moses that God wanted people to pray some preposterous number of times each day, Moses, who had learned a thing or two about human nature, told Muhammad there was no way people would pray that much, and he told Muhammad to go back to God and negotiate something more plausible. This went on for a while, with Muhammad going back and forth between God and Moses, until Muhammad finally talked God down to five prayers a day.  Moses said five was still too much, but Muhammad said he was done negotiating with God. 

Rashad told me I essentially had it right.

As we stood outside the prayer room, a man greeted us and asked if we were going in.  “Thank you, I’m not a Muslim”, I said.  He smiled, took my hand and said, “Follow me”.  I barely remembered to remove my shoes.

Inside we meandered around, careful not to walk in front of anyone praying.  We found a spot and he said, “You can pray or not, whatever you like.”  I thought, do I want to be the only one not praying?  And so, I did something I had no idea I was going to do.  I made only one obvious mistake, which I attribute to being left-handed: I crossed my arms incorrectly.  But Khalid immediately reached over and set things right.  I prayed to God as best I could feeling a bit awkward, and I prayed that my knee would hold.  When my knee goes out anymore, it means a week of work missed.

Following the prayer, Khalid introduced me to a dozen people or more, all of whom seemed impressed that I had come all the way to Denver from a little town in the mountains because I wanted to meet Muslims.   Not one asked me if I was considering becoming a Muslim.  They seemed glad that I was curious enough to come.  One asked me if I had any children, and I said I had a son named Anthony.  He said I could be Abu Anthony, father of Anthony.

Back at our table, I noticed that since breaking his fast, Rashad had been only sipping at water.  After sixteen hours without water, you would expect these people to be guzzling it.  For my part, I did not ask for the pitcher of coffee on the other side of the table; that was my sacrifice for the evening.  Those who know me would be impressed.  

Back out in the lobby afterward, I was immediately greeted by several men as Abu Anthony.  I made use of my notebook and asked a few for their contact information.  One was from Jordan, another from Palestine.  One held back a bit, seeming to study me.  When it was just the two of us left, he asked if I had any religious affiliation.  I told him I am an unaffiliated monotheist.  That was one line I had rehearsed earlier, for surely everyone would want to know what I was.  (Wasn’t Abraham an unaffiliated monotheist?)  This man nodded in acceptance, and then told me that God knows which path is best for me, and this will be revealed if I pay attention.

Driving home, the word that best described how I felt was, yes, gratitude.  Talk of expectations being exceeded!  America is two percent Muslim, and for those of us who hardly know any Muslims, it is time we get curious.  It’s not enough to abstractly champion their rights; we might have some vital things to learn from them.  America has helped to fan the flames of extremism, and things may get worse before they get better.  We non-Muslims need to be proactive and not just leave it to Muslims to assimilate with “us”.   

Introduction

I must assume that most of the people employed by the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), or otherwise associated with the organization, are not aware of the extent of the corruption that prevails in the national office.

I urge the conscientious people of CAIR and its supporters to seriously consider the credible allegations that have been made by former employees, board members, and others of the Muslim community against the organization, and its failure to address those allegations, especially in the last two years.

Are women second class in Islam? If CAIR-National is any indication, I would have to say yes.

The allegations against CAIR and certain of its representatives include sexual harassment and misconduct, domestic abuse, gender and religious discrimination, union thwarting, undisclosed foreign funding, general mismanagement, harassment and intimidation, pay-outs and cover-ups.

Rather than deal responsibly with these allegations, CAIR-National has instead tried to silence and discredit its former Director of Chapter Development, who has been quite public in her criticisms of CAIR. (Henceforth I will refer to her mainly as the “former employee” but occasionally by her title, Director of Chapter Development.)

In the aftermath of Leila Fadel’s ground-breaking article which dealt with some of those allegations, and which National Public Radio (NPR) published in April of 2021 (which article I will return to shortly), CAIR sought to buy the former employee’s silence. CAIR offered to pay money it owed her in exchange for her signing a “non-disparagement agreement”, by which she would have permanently recanted all of her critical statements about CAIR, including the circumstances which preceded her leaving the organization, in language approved by CAIR. She declined.

The circumstances which preceded her leaving CAIR, by the way, included sexual harassment by CAIR-National Executive Director Nihad Awad, and a warning from him, when she refused to sign away her right to free speech, that CAIR is a “very powerful organization”.

When bribery failed, in May of 2021 CAIR initiated a defamation lawsuit against her.

But CAIR could produce neither evidence of defamation nor evidence of violations of a non-disclosure agreement by the former employee. And so, on January 7, 2022, CAIR withdrew its lawsuit “with prejudice”, meaning it cannot file the same claims again in court. Two weeks later, on January 20, 2022, in an attempt to put the best spin possible on its failed lawsuit CAIR issued a press release that played fast and loose with the facts in order to smear the former employee.

CAIR’s point is clear: if you blow the whistle on us, we will do all we can to make your life miserable, and we will not be constrained by the truth.

The good news is that CAIR did not succeed. The target of its retaliation, like other women who have found the world of CAIR to be toxic and have left out of self-respect, is thriving and succeeding. She recently became the first Muslim elected to office in her hometown.

CAIR’s Tolerance of Sexual Misconduct

CAIR’s chief preoccupation is calling out Islamophobia wherever CAIR perceives it to be, and that’s a lot of places. The Islamophobe card is CAIR’s first and last resort whenever it attempts to discredit any critic. Its January 20, 2022 press release is a shining example. Ironically, its failure to take the allegations against it seriously will likely feed Islamophobia.

The first time I heard of any of these allegations, in the spring of 2020, I was not sure what to make of them, and did not pursue the matter. A year later, on April 15, 2021, I read Leila Fadel ‘s article, which confirmed much of what I had read earlier (see: Civil Rights Org CAIR Accused Of Ignoring Alleged Misconduct : NPR.) NPR is not going to publish allegations against a Muslim organization that are not credible. Fadel has since become a host of Morning Edition.

In the nearly two years since NPR published Fadel’s article, CAIR’s dysfunction has been on full display, beginning with a letter it sent its supporters on April 16, 2021, the day following publication of the article. Fadel carefully researched her article over many months, and CAIR had plenty of time to ponder its response. A functional organization would have decided it was time to come clean and make some changes, but instead CAIR essentially denied the allegations or any prior knowledge of them. It assured its readers that “…CAIR strives to hold every member of our team to the highest standards of personal and profession conduct. We also take allegations of misconduct, especially misconduct against women, very seriously.”

That same letter asserted that CAIR had conducted a thorough search of its records and interviewed staff and had found nothing to indicate it was aware of any allegations of sexual harassment by the executive director of CAIR-Florida, at the time. 

If that is not a lie pure and simple, it is at least proof that CAIR tolerates sexual misconduct. Had none of the people at CAIR read Fadel’s opening sentence carefully?

“For months, stories swirled around a prominent Muslim civil rights leader, alleging secret marriages, bullying, sexual harassment.”

Any real investigation would have uncovered a complaint in March of 2016 by a woman claiming to have been one of the Florida director’s secret wives, while he was still married to the mother of his children. The alleged secret wife was privy to confidential information about a CAIR lawsuit. This was of some concern to CAIR board members and officials at the time, as a dozen or so emails demonstrate (see: CAIR’s Incriminating Communications – Reform CAIR.)

If secret marriages do not qualify as sexual harassment per se, those of the Florida director did lasting harm to women, harm which surely surpassed typical harassment.

The April 16, 2021 letter claimed that CAIR had identified an outside law firm to conduct an independent investigation into the allegations, but thus far, no one had come forward. It invited anyone with a legitimate complaint to cooperate with the investigation.

But as religious scholar Aslam Abdullah told Leila Fadel, women mistrust that CAIR will handle their complaints seriously. Fadel wrote that “numerous women have come to him [Aslam Abdullah] with what he regards as credible allegations of harassment, sexual misconduct, or unfair treatment against senior men within CAIR or CAIR affiliates. These women don’t believe that CAIR National’s investigation will be fair and have refused to cooperate, he said.”

Were CAIR genuinely concerned about sexual misconduct and harassment, it could have reached out to the alleged victims of the Florida director in Leila Fadel’s article, including his first wife who accused him of domestic abuse, two secret wives, and a former assistant in the Florida office. Fadel was only able to interview one of the secret wives, since the director had effectively silenced the other. The first told Fadel that the director had stolen her self-worth and left her contemplating suicide daily.

Fadel interviewed a half-dozen accusers of the Florida director and reviewed internal CAIR documents, social media posts and email exchanges. Together, she wrote, “the accounts portray [him] as a man who used his position to seduce women and bully critics with impunity.”

In an interview with Fadel, the accused director emphatically denied nearly all the allegations. He did admit to being married to one of the wives but denied that it was secret. Yet, in an open letter to myself, he asserted, as he had in 2016, that the same individual was nothing more than a stalker and invented the story of their marriage. In that open letter, he claimed that he had never so much as disrespected a woman.

Parvez Ahmed, a former chair of the CAIR-National board, told Fadel that the Florida director’s case is an opportunity for CAIR to demonstrate that “they are doing everything within their power to take these allegations seriously.” Specifically, “The leadership of CAIR owes the community an explanation as to who knew what and when and how those complaints were handled.”

To date, CAIR has failed to hold the Florida director accountable, allowing him to resign with honor after his first wife went public with her story of years of domestic abuse. Instead, with its failed lawsuit and then its very imaginative press release of January 20, 2022, CAIR attacked its former Director of Chapter Development, the one who did try to hold the Florida director accountable at the time.

The Florida director was a rising star and top fundraiser for CAIR, and in that capacity he traveled frequently. After the secret wife filed her complaint, the Director of Chapter Development attempted to spur the leadership to conduct a bona fide investigation, while trying to limit the director’s travel. At one point the Florida director, quite perturbed by her due diligence, sent her a cease-and-desist letter. She did some extensive preparation leading up to what would turn out to be a brothers-only meeting, at the Florida director’s request, in the Washington office.

In that meeting, armed with a shameful letter by an attorney, the accused persuaded Nihad Awad, and presumably Ibrahim Hooper, Director of Communications, that his accuser had made the whole thing up, was a mean and dangerous woman, and had begged him and his lawyer to settle out of court. Never mind that the secret wife’s posts on social media, which Awad, Hooper, the defendant, and National board members had all read and discussed, had left little doubt that the two had been intimate. Awad told the Director of Chapter Development to apologize to the Florida director and learn to get along with him. The secret wife was never interviewed by CAIR.

Her vigilance in this episode was not the only reason CAIR retaliated against its former employee. As noted earlier, she had accused Awad himself of sexual harassment. But the National board cleared Awad of the allegations, without so much as interviewing her. (Awad is, without question, the dominant member of the board.)

CAIR’s January 20, 2022 Press Release

Eight months after CAIR filed its defamation lawsuit against its former employee, the judge in the case threatened to dismiss it if CAIR could not produce actionable evidence of defamation by the defendant or violations of her non-disclosure agreement. CAIR chose to withdraw the lawsuit, which it then portrayed as some sort of magnanimous decision.

In its January 20, 2022 press release, CAIR notes that the judge in the case had denied the defendant’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit, but omitted the judge’s threat to dismiss it if CAIR could not deliver the goods in two weeks.

 CAIR claims it could have continued with its lawsuit but decided not to in the hope of putting an end to its feud with its former employee. In truth, CAIR withdrew the lawsuit before it was forced to turn over documents and other evidence it had been withholding, and before any of its officers or board members had testified under oath.

The January 20, 2022 press release portrayed the defendant as an instigator of conflict with other staff members. It also portrayed her as some kind of extortionist, who was determined to get a bunch of CAIR’s money while undermining donor support for CAIR. To that end, CAIR asserted, she regularly conspired with Islamophobes. To make this case CAIR was quite inventive and loose with the truth.

That press release included a statement by the defendant which strongly praised CAIR on gender matters and which, out of context, seemed to flat-out contradict many of her allegations since leaving CAIR. The statement was added to a complaint the defendant made about the behavior of a male employee, and Awad told her to write it to guard against Islamophobes exploiting the incident. A minor detail.

The press release complained of the defendant sending emails in the middle of the night (Allah forbid), and noted that despite her many complaints against CAIR, she has not troubled herself to sue CAIR. Is one’s willingness and capacity to sue a measure of the validity of a claim? Unlike CAIR, its former employee does not have legions of lawyers on salary in need of something to do.

The press release noted that the former employee did take legal action against CAIR through a Washington, D.C. employment agency in order to collect money she claimed CAIR owed her. CAIR asserted: “The agency completely dismissed her complaint after we provided clear evidence that [her] complaint was unfounded.”

In truth, as her response to CAIR’s complaint in its lawsuit put it, her complaint was “denied on procedural grounds at a time when she was ill and was unable to prosecute her claims properly”( pp.3-4). Later, CAIR offered to pay her what it owed her as part of its effort to silence her with the non-disparagement agreement.

In its attempt to discredit its former employee, CAIR portrays her as a once valued team player turned troublemaker. CAIR blames her for a conflict she had with the director of the Maryland CAIR office, who, in the estimation of the former employee and other senior staff, was running the show in a haphazard and unprofessional manner which would have implications not just for that office but for the reputation of CAIR nationally.

The Maryland director had valuable attributes for CAIR, but chapter development may not have been one of them. Despite the former employee’s initiation of the Maryland project and her extensive experience and knowledge in that field (as Director of Chapter Development), the Maryland director took over operations there, excluding her. CAIR executive director Nihad Awad declined to support the Director of Chapter Development in the conflict, in part because the Maryland director had supported him in squashing efforts of national office employees to unionize in 2016 and 2017. (For a more thorough discussion of this matter between the Director of Chapter Development and the Maryland director, please see: When Competency and High Expectations Meet Mediocrity, and Worse – Reform CAIR.)

CAIR claims that the former employee resigned from CAIR after facing investigations, disciplinary action, conflict resolution counseling, and the threat of a restraining order, following her conflicts with different CAIR employees. In addition to the director of the Maryland office, the former employee had run-ins with the CAIR-Florida director, whose extracurricular activities while on travel she had sought to investigate, as I discussed above. When that matter was dropped by Nihad Awad, he asked/ordered the former employee to attend conflict resolution counseling, which she refused to do.

But what would have been the point of conflict resolution counseling in this case, after Nihad dropped the matter regarding the Florida director’s alleged secret wife, which person, the reader may recall, was never even interviewed by CAIR? Wasn’t the point to make it appear that the vigilant Director of Chapter Development was the problem, not CAIR’s tolerance of unprofessional management and sexual misconduct?  

To reiterate, by the former employee’s telling, what convinced her she needed to resign were unwanted romantic/sexual advances toward her by Nihad Awad, which she specified in her response to CAIR’s complaint in the lawsuit. That would go a long way in explaining why Nihad is intent on discrediting her.

As noted above, CAIR tosses the term “Islamophobe” around repeatedly in its January 2022 press release. One reference is to Jeff Robbins, the former employee’s lead attorney in CAIR’s recent lawsuit against her. Mr. Robbins’ views on the Palestinian and Israeli conflict do not align with either the former employee’s or mine, or with CAIR’s. But Mr. Robbins is entitled to his opinion and to express it, and he is thoughtful and a highly qualified attorney besides. Being a strong supporter of Israel (if not of the current coalition government, which he characterizes as being dominated by autocrats, fanatics and homophobes), does not make him an Islamophobe. Nor does being a past board chair of the New England branch of the Anti-Defamation League (ADL).

But more to the point, once CAIR set out to suppress the former employee’s free speech with a defamation lawsuit, she was under no obligation to pick a lawyer suitable to CAIR.

As for Daniel Horowitz, he took the former employee’s case after many others declined, and did so on a pro bono basis. Although CAIR portrays this episode as some sort of harassment of the Muslim civil rights organization by Horowitz and his client, in truth a half dozen or more CAIR lawyers were trying to pressure the former employee to promise to silence herself and retract her previous criticisms of CAIR. In response, she secured a bigshot attorney, Horowitz. At one point she offered to button her lip for an outrageous amount of money, three-quarters of a million dollars, which CAIR obviously would not have paid.

It is true that Daniel Horowitz had previously represented Michael Savage, a bona fide Islamophobe, in an unsuccessful lawsuit against CAIR. But that does not make Horowitz an Islamophobe, nor the former employee a collaborator with Islamophobes.

CAIR claims that the former employee repeatedly sought money from CAIR which it did not owe her. In fact, CAIR did owe her many thousands of dollars, and had attempted to use it to buy her silence and her retraction of previous statements. With the exception of the above-mentioned occasion when she offered to go mum for a ridiculous price, which put a stop to CAIR’s efforts to silence here, the former employee refused to sell her right to free speech, but that did not end CAIR’s financial obligations to her.

Suppressing Rights of CAIR Employees

In addition to overlooking sexual misconduct and harassment by CAIR representatives, as well as other types of foul play, CAIR thwarted attempts of employees in the national office to unionize in 2016-17. Here is an excerpt of a letter the national employees sent Nihad Awad on October 7, 2016, after they voted to unionize:

“We believe that unionizing and agreeing to a collective bargaining agreement is in the best interests of all current and future CAIR National employees. This agreement, which will standardize our pay and benefits, and establish rules to govern workplace conduct and policies and handle employee grievances, will undoubtedly serve to strengthen workplace professionalism and employee morale. It will also demonstrate that CAIR National is truly committed to its fundamental mission of promoting fairness and social justice while defending the civil rights of individuals in the United States, particularly in the employment context (emphasis added).”

Awad could have acknowledged the logic of that argument and done the right thing. Instead, CAIR argued a preposterous case before the regional director of National Labor Relations Board, that it is “organized and operated exclusively for religious, education and charitable purposes.”  Were it instead a civil rights and advocacy organization, which every donor knows it purports to be, it would be obligated to accept collective bargaining with its employees, workplace rules of conduct, and a grievance process with a neutral arbitrator–all things that Awad and Hooper were in a tizzy to avoid.

When CAIR management lost this bid to be exempt from the National Labor Relations Act, the regional director scheduled a meeting for employees to vote again on unionization. Awad and Hooper resolved to make sure that meeting never happened. They intimidated employees, fired some ringleaders, and bribed others into leaving.

Nonetheless, CAIR asserted in its April 16, 2021 letter that it “strongly supports the organized labor movement, including the right to organize.” With one qualification, apparently.

Conclusion

It is looking like CAIR-National is not capable of addressing the allegations on its own, without CAIR employees, CAIR supporters, and the Muslim community insisting that it do so. And it has spent too much of donors’ money trying to suppress rights it claims to uphold. What is needed is an honest-to-God investigation by a body empowered to make recommendations for both personnel and structural changes at CAIR. And with no further ado, the CAIR-National board should make known to its employees that it will welcome a vote by them to unionize.

And as a caution for any reader who was considering paying zakat to CAIR this Ramadan, CAIR’s assertion that donations to it are zakat eligible is quite a stretch of Surah 9, Ayat 60 (Qur’an, 9:60), especially considering that a not in-significant portion of its resources must go toward suppressing, not protecting, civil rights.

Power tends to corrupt, and absolute power corrupts absolutely.

The above statement, attributed to Lord Acton (1834-1902) attests to the influence of circumstances on human behavior, and is validated by our experience.

Countless enterprises which began with the best of intentions, have been warped and diverted by success. The temptations of power are very hard to resist.

There is no reason to believe that the Council on American-Islamic Relations was conceived with any intention by its founders to not fulfill its mission, or to deceive donors. But in time, with growing success and influence, the largest American Muslim civil rights organization did indeed stray from its mission, and attempted to hide this from donors.

After years of CAIR supporters giving the organization the benefit of the doubt with respect to occasional rumors and allegations of improprieties, NPR journalist Leila Fadel wrote a carefully edited expose of CAIR which was published on April 15, 2021.

As we at Reform CAIR have noted in post after post after post, Fadel’s article was many months in the making, and CAIR had more than enough time to realize it needed to come clean and agree to a proper investigation of the allegations, in such a manner that no one need fear retaliation.

Instead, on April 16, the day after Fadel’s article was published, CAIR sent supporters a four-page letter which was more or less a blanket denial of the allegations. That same letter also claimed that CAIR had initiated an investigation of the allegations but thus far no former employees or board members had come forward to participate.

Five weeks later, in a clear message to anyone still considering coming forward, it retaliated with a lawsuit against a former senior employee turned whistleblower, who had publicly exposed a number of instances of sexual misconduct and harassment, gender and religious discrimination, financial mismanagement including secret foreign funding, and a general lack of accountability at CAIR.

The problem with CAIR’s lawsuit from the beginning was that the whistleblower was not disclosing any information that CAIR was entitled to expect to keep protected. When she stated publicly that Nihad Awad alone knew the identities of large foreign donors, this was not a trade secret, or at least not a legitimate one, but malfeasance.

When the whistleblower complained that CAIR had failed to investigate and then covered up an allegation by a former secret wife of a prominent chapter leader, she was not revealing a trade secret, but a blatant instance of CAIR tolerating sexual misconduct.

When the same whistleblower claimed that Nihad Awad had acted inappropriately toward her at a CAIR event, in a stairway, and at midnight in a hotel lobby, she was not exposing trade secrets, but sexual harassment.

And prior to these public allegations, when this same employee told Nihad Awad that enough was enough and she intended to resign, he cautioned her that CAIR “is a very powerful organization”.

Well, with the recent dismissal “with prejudice” of its lawsuit against this former employee, CAIR has demonstrated that its power is no match for the truth.

CAIR is in crisis. For too long it has tried to ignore the allegations against it, and keep its donors and the Muslim community believing it is their only defense against Islamophobia. But when the truth finally comes out, it will probably only add to the general public’s growing, if under-informed, concern about Muslims. The sooner CAIR comes clean, the better for the Muslim community.

And for the many victims of CAIR representatives especially, justice is yet to be done.

Following is a statement on behalf of Lori Saroya and her legal team on CAIR’s withdrawal of its lawsuit with prejudice. (See also: https://www.facebook.com/lorihaidri/posts/10159865963740786)

Council on American-Islamic Relations Drops Suit Against Former Board Member Who Spoke Out On Sexual Harassment, Discrimination and Retaliation

January 7, 2022 – The Council on American-Islamic Relations, a powerful lobbying and advocacy organization which describes itself as a civil rights organization representing Muslim-Americans, has today decided to drop the federal lawsuit it filed in May 2021 in the United States District Court in Minneapolis against its own former national Board member and employee. CAIR had accused defendant Lori Saroya, a nationally-respected civil rights advocate on behalf of Muslims, of defamation for statements she made about evidence that the organization had engaged in sexual harassment and discrimination and that it had deceived the public and donors about its fundraising practices. This afternoon, CAIR notified the Court and Ms. Saroya that it was dismissing all of its claims against her “with prejudice.”

As stated in public filings in the case, Ms. Saroya, who had founded the Minnesota chapter of CAIR before being asked by CAIR to serve on its national board in 2015, resigned from CAIR in May 2018 after the organization’s Executive Director displayed unwelcome and inappropriate conduct toward her. She is among a growing chorus of former CAIR personnel and other Muslim-Americans around the country who have spoken out about the conduct they’ve experienced and witnessed at CAIR. CAIR also sought a Court order prohibiting Ms. Saroya from speaking out about her concerns about sexual harassment, discrimination and fundraising practices at CAIR, and alleged that she had breached the confidentiality agreement that it required her to sign when she commenced her employment with CAIR.

Ms. Saroya filed a lengthy response to this lawsuit which included exhibits, placing on the public record the evidence supporting each of the statements that she had made. In response to today’s dismissal, Ms. Saroya said: “The reason I have refused to accede to CAIR’s demand that I stay silent and that I have defended myself against this retaliatory lawsuit is this: I wanted to send a strong message that women will not be silenced. Those of us who have spoken up about CAIR intend to continue to do so, more vigorously than ever. Indeed, CAIR’s unsuccessful lawsuit has inspired me, and others like me, to do more to amplify the voices of victims of sexual abuse, gender discrimination and sexual harassment within the CAIR network, and to help them get the justice, the accountability, and the healing that those victims deserve.”

CAIR’s withdrawal of its lawsuit against Ms. Saroya comes while her motions for Court orders requiring the organization to turn over documents and other evidence that it had been withholding were pending before the Court. CAIR’s decision to drop its case comes before any of the sworn depositions of its officers and Board members about the subject matter of Ms. Saroya’s statements had taken place.

“First and foremost, this is a victory for Ms. Saroya and those who, like her, have had the historic courage to challenge a powerful organization over issues of sexual harassment, sexual discrimination and retaliatory conduct. It sends  a message that voices like that of Ms. Saroya can’t easily be silenced, as CAIR obviously hoped to silence Ms. Saroya here. And it is a victory for the First Amendment, which exists precisely to protect all Americans against heavy-handed attempts to stifle criticism,” said Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr attorney Jeff Robbins, who led Ms. Saroya’s legal team.

Ms. Saroya’s legal defense team was led by attorneys Jeff Robbins, Alain Baudry, Steven Kerbaugh, Joseph Lipchitz and Kelsey Marron of the national law firm Saul Ewing Arnstein & Lehr. Mr. Robbins, Mr. Lipchitz and Ms. Marron practice in the Firm’s Boston office; Messrs. Baudry and Kerbaugh practice in the Firm’s Minneapolis, Minnesota office.

At CAIR’s virtual annual banquet last night, I heard a number of speakers who are doing good work, and who are obviously enthused about it. Notable for me were two attorneys and an intern Nihad Awad conversed with. Another was a California chapter leader. Nihad spoke about a passion that drives CAIR employees.

CAIR certainly conveys that image, and it draws a lot of talented, dedicated young Muslims and non-Muslims as well.

But not all of those idealistic young folks find what they expect to at CAIR. Some discover a toxic work environment. Some leave in disillusionment. And some are, in their own words, “broken” by that environment or by the behavior of CAIR representatives.

Underneath Nihad Awad’s soft-spoken and gifted manner, which is quite a bit different but no less impressive than Hassan Shibly’s manner, is a willingness to exploit CAIR’s power to the hilt and cover over problems and injustices it perpetrates even against its own employees, rather than deal honestly with them.

As I have noted in a few previous posts, CAIR’s problem is not so different from Israel’s problem. It has too much power. Power corrupts, even those who strive every day to surrender their will to God’s. In the case of Israel, it has too much military might, sophisticated technology, and political clout, which means that making peace with the Palestinians is never quite urgent for the government.

“CAIR is a very powerful organization”, Nihad Awad told a senior staffer when she was resolved to resign and refused to let CAIR purchase her first amendment rights to free speech. Indeed, CAIR is pouring a lot of donor money into a lawsuit in retaliation for the truths she has told about the organization.

Last night’s goal, I believe, was $225,000. A sizable chunk of that amount, or whatever amount short of that which was actually raised, will go to suppressing free speech.

I could not watch last night’s event straight through, and the first comment I tried to post was well over the 200 character limit, which I did not discover for an hour. So by the time I got the hang of it, the event was over. Nonetheless, I was able to post a couple comments. Well, maybe six. Maybe ten.

Not surprisingly, none of the speakers acknowledged in any way the injustices CAIR has perpetrated and still is perpetrating. Edward Mitchell in his concluding prayer came the closest to admitting anything, and perhaps he would like to be able to say more. Perhaps he would rather see CAIR try more transparency and honesty. But he is tightly constrained by the forcefield Nihad Awad still generates at CAIR.

Brother Omar Suleiman is not so constrained, and for months he has had every opportunity to educate himself about some well-documented allegations against CAIR. In addition to all of my “mass” mailings, he has been the lucky recipient of four or five personal emails from me. At least three former employees have written to him about their experiences, and he has not replied to any of them.

One victim of the Muslim leader he helped to expose urged him to decline CAIR’s invitation. To no avail of course.

Yesterday I sent brother Omar those very incriminating internal communications from 2016 which demonstrate that no less than six CAIR senior staffers and board members were concerned about an allegation of a secret marriage of one chapter leader (though CAIR claimed this past April 16 to have had no knowledge of the affair before December, 2020, you may recall).

But man, that guy could bring in the bucks for CAIR. So Nihad was probably relieved when the accused showed up at the brothers-only meeting with a shameful letter from his own lawyer which portrayed a former secret wife as a deranged, dangerous woman who concocted the whole thing on social media.

I sent the same emails to staff of Representatives Ilhan Omar, Andre Carson, and Cori Bush.

The evidence of a cover-up is indisputable. So, I guess we are going to see just how much power CAIR is.

And what, exactly, these Muslim leaders fear.

Since one day in June of 2016, when I decided to go meet some Muslims at an iftar in Denver, up through today, five years after my conversion, I have been answering concerns by well-intentioned friends about how women are treated in Islam.

It is not as though the modern secular west is exemplary in its treatment of women. But neither does the west claim to base its standards specifically on revelation from God.

Be that as it may, I now find myself at a loss to defend American Islam against the accusation that it treats women as second class. The near total silence of the community in the last seven months with respect to the allegations of gender discrimination and tolerance of sexual misconduct, among other ills, that have been made against CAIR is striking, and cannot serve the best interests of the Muslim community.

And it sells the faith short.

A very good friend and mentor of mine, who is no less concerned than I am with this matter–for we discuss it often—said something very revealing when I asked him what it would take to get a rough balance of sisters and brothers on the Shura of the Islamic Center of Boulder. He said: “Hopefully the Shura brothers will see the need for that.”

Reflecting on that remark, I am reminded that rights in society are not simply conceded by the more privileged to the erstwhile less privileged once the former come to see the wisdom of it on their own. Rights are demanded by the aspiring group. It is really only when rights are demanded that the erstwhile privileged come to their senses.

If this is correct, Shura brothers will not see the need for a rough gender balance on the board without a little prodding, so to speak.

When I got involved in the effort to bring some accountability to CAIR, I naively expected quicker progress.

My first several emails were to local Muslims with whom I had worked to establish a Colorado chapter of CAIR. I was urging them to join me in calling on CAIR-National to agree to an independent and credible investigation of allegations brought against it by former employees and board members. Many of those allegations were included in Leila Fadel’s expose published by Muslim-friendly NPR on April 15 of this past year (Civil Rights Org CAIR Accused Of Ignoring Alleged Misconduct : NPR.)

When that approach seemed to stall, I began to expand my mailing list, which eventually grew to include all of you. The list includes mostly people associated with CAIR, but also many local Muslims, some media folks, and some Muslim community leaders I do not know.

Many of my posts have focused on the sexual exploits of one popular chapter executive and the failure of CAIR-National to hold him accountable, or to reach out to his victims. I have devoted a few posts to defending a former employee turned whistleblower whom CAIR decided to sue for defamation and violations of a non-disclosure agreement.

Coming in the aftermath of the NPR article, this was poor judgement on the part of CAIR, as I believe time will tell.

The information this whistleblower has made public is not the sort of information CAIR has a right to expect to remain confidential. The things she has revealed are not “trade secrets” which non-disclosure agreements were intended to protect, information which a competing organization could utilize to its advantage. It is evidence of wrongdoing, pure and simple.

Granted, the information the whistleblower has revealed may very likely be used by real Islamophobes to disparage Muslims. Although very little of what I have written is previously undisclosed information, Islamophobes are free to repeat and twist it as well.

Have the whistleblower and others, including myself, done wrong by publicizing this evidence of wrongdoing by CAIR?

Or has CAIR done wrong by supposing it can avoid its day of reckoning by counting on the complacency of the community and intimidating any other would-be whistleblowers with its current lawsuit, funded of course by unsuspecting donors?

What does the Qur’an say about the prospects of keeping evidence of wrongdoing hidden from Allah? Are the whistleblower, myself, and others needlessly sowing division and busying ourselves with strictly private matters of fellow Muslims at our own moral peril? Or does the fact that these matters involve victims, including the whistleblower herself, put them in a different category, that of injustices?

Now I have learned that this is not the first scandal to hit the American Muslim community. Apparently, a number of Muslim leaders have felt entitled to acquire secret wives, for instance. I read about one such recent case, and the intervention by several other Muslim leaders in an attempt to hold this person to account.

In fact, I have written privately to one of those leaders who got involved in that effort, urging him to involve himself in this controversy with CAIR. If you can imagine, I did not write to him just once.

Here is one of those letters:

Assalaamu Alaykum Brother­­­________,

                Muslims need no convincing that an addiction to alcohol severely compromises one’s potential. Without rehearsing, a Muslim or anyone else could list numerous ways this is true.

                But a Muslim alcoholic might feel doubly ashamed, insofar as Muslims are supposed to refrain from alcohol in the first place. This would be true even if that Muslim had no family members to despair for him, or whom he neglected, or anyone in particular who was a victim of his addiction.

                In that case, our hypothetical alcoholic Muslim would, for the most part, only be harming himself.

                Now, suppose a Muslim, who has some influence in the community, is made aware of an injustice but cannot find his or her way to confront it.

                Unlike our hypothetical Muslim with an alcohol problem, we could not say that the complacency of the second Muslim was “victimless”, because injustice is never a victimless transgression.

                On the Last Day, do we have any reason to think our second Muslim will fare any better than the first? Is it not conceivable, insofar as we cannot know what Allah will do, that the second will actually fare worse?

                Many American Muslim leaders are aware that allegations of impropriety have been made against CAIR by individuals purporting to be the victims. The leader who has done nothing about these allegations or chosen not to learn more about them may have persuaded himself that he is not putting himself in any jeopardy by ignoring this issue.

                But in this he may be mistaken.

Salaam,

Todd Buchanan

Of course, it is not only Muslim leaders who are called to address injustice. As you might remember, everyone who calls himself or herself a Muslim is under the same obligation. Life on earth is conditioned and unfree. But in coming to fear Allah we free ourselves of petty fears, like our fear of what our friends might say when we call out injustice.

Perhaps this blog was mistitled. Perhaps I should have titled it, “The Heroic Obligations of Being a Muslim”.

            

Last week we saw what millions of people across the nation, acting in concert, can accomplish. Despite a relentless Oklahoma Attorney General and others who were determined to see Julius Jones die, Governor Kevin Stitt commuted his sentence.

Granted, the ordeal itself was cruel and unusual for Jones, his family and friends, and pathetic for society. America still can’t kick the scourge of capital punishment.

Nonetheless, it was a victory for justice.

There is something about an execution date and the uncertainty of guilt that can stir people to action. Would that more Muslims in America felt an urgency for CAIR to come clean concerning some serious allegations against it, including egregious sexual misconduct, and justice done for the victims.

But whereas the uncertainty about Jones’ guilt should have and did work in his favor, any uncertainty with respect to the allegations against CAIR, many of which were aired more than seven months ago by NPR (Civil Rights Org CAIR Accused Of Ignoring Alleged Misconduct : NPR) should not preclude an honest-to-God investigation.

There is nothing final about an investigation, unlike an execution. And there is something short-sighted about leaving credible allegations of misconduct and malfeasance unaddressed, especially for CAIR when Muslims already are suspect by numbers of Americans. Growing numbers for all I know.

The evidence against CAIR is solid. The incriminating internal communications which I quote from extensively in my last post (CAIR’s Incriminating Communications – Reform CAIR), should demonstrate beyond any doubt that CAIR covered up a blatant violation of a woman’s rights and dignity by a prominent chapter executive. The victim filed a complaint in March of 2016, which CAIR failed to investigate. The alleged perpetrator himself saw to that outcome.

NPR journalist Leila Fadel discusses that case briefly in the article cited above. The victim did not speak with Fadel, for the accused chapter leader, a lawyer, had silenced her for the time being. Another woman similarly violated by the same CAIR leader, who did speak with Fadel, apparently did not file a complaint. Yet, she told Fadel that this CAIR celebrity stole her self-worth and left her contemplating suicide daily. A third woman who suffered a textbook case of sexual harassment in the Florida office by the same individual also did not file an official complaint. As she related to Fadel, she had been told in essence that the perpetrator was too valuable to the CAIR operation.

The emails I included in my last post are smoking guns, and ought to persuade anyone with an open mind that the many allegations against CAIR need to be properly investigated.

But setting all those emails aside, I want to demonstrate by a simple, logical argument, how I came to doubt the candidness of CAIR even before seeing those emails. 

First, what are the odds that Muslim-friendly National Public Radio is going to publish an expose critical of a Muslim organization, and one richly endowed with lawyers, if it is not very confident of the content?

Very low, don’t you think?

From that, I think two conclusions logically follow. First, a fair amount of content divulged to Fadel probably did not survive the drafting and editing process at NPR. Second, what did survive was credible and noteworthy enough to NPR editors that it should be worth investigating. Otherwise, why feed Islamophobia with allegations that might be unremarkable except to people who have it out for Muslims to begin with?

Indeed, by now I have heard three people “in the know” say that what appeared in Fadel’s article was only a portion of what was related to her by former employees and board members of CAIR. Even so, it is plenty to answer for.

Thus far, all CAIR has done to address these allegations besides claiming to have had no previous knowledge of any “sexual harassment” complaints against the chapter leader, or any complaints at all against him prior to December, 2020, is to launch a spurious “independent” investigation. 

Well, that’s not quite true. To be fair, CAIR has also tried to scapegoat a former employee by smearing her in the community and suing her for defamation and violations of a non-disclosure agreement, which lawsuit is intended to intimidate anyone else who might otherwise be inclined to speak up.

But oddly, or maybe not, no one has come forward to participate in that CAIR-sanctioned investigation.

I have written to one prominent Muslim leader who bothered to get involved in a scandal involving another Muslim leader a few years back. Over the last couple of months, I have written to this brother four times, urging him to trouble himself a bit by pushing for a bona fide investigation of the allegations against CAIR.

So far, nothing.

So I would put this question to any American Muslim, seven months and counting after the publication of Leila Fadel’s expose of CAIR: Are women second class in Islam, pure and simple?

If you have not yet read Leila Fadel’s article, I urge you to. And if you read it but were not moved to action by it, I urge you to read it again. Please ask yourself if that which survived a rigorous editing process is not sufficient cause for a credible investigation.

If you are still not persuaded, then please read my last post (CAIR’s Incriminating Communications – Reform CAIR). Then consider that CAIR claimed in an official statement issued this past April 16 to have had no knowledge before December of 2020 of any sexual misconduct by the named chapter leader.

In the name of the One who knows all that is revealed and all that is concealed, CAIR is playing a dangerous game.

Fourteen hundred years ago, Islam was an advancement for women’s rights. It can be so today, but that is going to take some work. To begin, American Muslims will need to insist that the largest Muslim civil rights organization in the nation be held accountable.

Enough of us acting in concert may yet accomplish something beautiful. 

Note: This post contains lengthy excerpts from three previous posts, with occasional minor changes or additions, as well as one email exchange (in Part Four) which I am publishing here for the first time. The purpose is to consolidate the internal communications of CAIR which put the lie to its claim to have conducted a thorough internal investigation and found no evidence of any complaints of sexual harassment [or, presumably, comparable or worse sexual misconduct] made against a prominent chapter executive. Although much of my own perspective (and a wee bit of editorializing) is included, there is plenty of the raw emails themselves, from which any reader is free to draw his or her own conclusions.

On April 16, 2021, the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR) published what was essentially a blanket denial of numerous allegations against it which Leila Fadel had included in an article published the previous day by National Public Radio (Civil Rights Org CAIR Accused Of Ignoring Alleged Misconduct : NPR.)

Fadel’s expose was long in the making, affording CAIR ample time to compose a credible response. Instead, it side-stepped the most damning allegations against a celebrated chapter leader by claiming to have no record of any “sexual harassment” complaints against him, and (by inference from another sentence) no knowledge of any allegations of misconduct by him before December of 2020.

However, CAIR senior staff and board members were plenty aware and concerned about a complaint made against the chapter leader in March, 2016, by a woman claiming to be an estranged “secret wife”. But the accused apparently succeeding in persuading the National Executive Director and the Director of Communications to drop the matter. Instead, the one who had sought a legitimate investigation of the complaint, the Director of Chapter Development, was told to apologize to the accused and learn to get along with him.

In the following, “Anisa” has been substituted for the real name of the former Director of Chapter Development.

Part One

excerpted from: A Smoking Gun at CAIR – Reform CAIR

These two sentences appear in the middle of the third paragraph of CAIR’s April 16 statement, which was updated on May 7:

“…CAIR strives to hold every member of our team to the highest standards of personal and professional conduct. We also take allegations of misconduct, especially misconduct against women, very seriously.”

And this paragraph appears as second to the last in the April 16 statement:

“[W]e want to be very clear: sexual harassment is immoral, illegal and absolutely unacceptable to us. After learning about the allegations in the NPR story, we reviewed our records, interviewed our staff, and confirmed that our office never received any complaints of sexual harassment, inside or outside of the workplace, against CAIR-Florida’s former director. CAIR-Florida conducted a similar review, and likewise found no record of any such complaints.”

The fact that CAIR had three weeks between April 16 and May 7 to mull everything over, makes that document especially damning for CAIR.

It is damning because in at least a dozen emails that I have seen between March 29 and July 20, 2016, CAIR senior staff either discussed an allegation of sexual misconduct and its potential harm to CAIR made against CAIR-Florida’s executive director Hassan Shibly on March 16 of that year, or were recipients of emails from Shibly regarding the matter.

The sequence demonstrates that National Executive Director Nihad Awad is clearly concerned at the outset (“I hope that is [sic] isn’t true”, March 30). On April 1, Nihad wrote to Anisa, Director of Chapter Development:

“I had a long call with his chairman Rasheed Abbara [of CAIR-Florida board of directors] to see where things are from their perspective. He basically agreed that the issue needs to be investigated and authorized me to speak to Hassan. So you and I should talk soon about how to approach Hassan.”

On the same day, Anisa, Director of Chapter Development, wrote to Nihad:

“I think when talking to Hassan, we need to come from a position that we believe him (or at least we want to believe him). A complaint was brought to our attention so we need to do our due diligence and gather information.”

On the previous day, March 30, Anisa had written to Nihad, Ibrahim and a Jenifer Wicks:

“We need a formal response from Hassan Shibly and do our due diligence to ensure adherence to the mission, vision and policies of CAIR. Attached is some information from Twitter and Facebook searches.””

Jump ahead to May 20. Anisa writes to Nihad and Ibrahim:

“Just so you are aware, Hassan Shibly is still being invited by chapters for speaking engagements (I heard of two just this week). This issue has the potential to harm the credibility and reputation of the entire organization due to alleged policy and branding violations. It has been two months since the original complaint was sent to us and almost one month since the last public attack against CAIR concerning this issue. I think we need to handle it more formally now. I suggest the following:

1. Inform the CAIR National board

2. Inform the CAIR-FL board

3. Assign a group of three (National staff + National board + CAIR-FL board) to conduct an internal investigation in response to the complaint sent to CAIR National in March 2016 and the follow-up public attacks on the organization related to this issue. This team will gather facts from all parties involved, determine if any CAIR policies were violated, assess current/future potential for harm to the organization, and make recommendations on next steps.

4. Inform Hassan Shibly about the internal investigation and ask that he 1) cooperate as it is a procedural matter and 2) not make any public speaking appearances while the investigation is pending (emphasis added).“

It would be another two months before Nihad would finally “deal” with this matter. In those two months, I conjecture, he came to the conclusion that Shibly was too valuable to CAIR, all its high-minded principles notwithstanding. Or, perhaps he simply did not know how to handle this young stallion.

Or maybe Nihad dropped the ball (more like a hot, hot potato) because, in the words of a CAIR National board member, CAIR-Florida was a “strong and visible chapter” that is “effective in getting media attention and whipping up publicity” and “CAIR-Florida has continued to increase donations ands support from high value donors.”

Money talks.

Nihad, as we know, dealt with Shibly by inviting him to Washington for what was a “brothers only” meeting with himself and Ibrahim, on basically how to keep the matter quiet. The meeting took place on July 21, 2016. The reader might recall that Anisa, for her persistence in seeking an investigation into the allegation, was asked at the end of the meeting to come in to apologize to Shibly.

Nihad had made some effort to meet with Shibly earlier, on June 6, but Shibly seems to have dodged the meeting, as judging by this email Nihad sent Anisa:

“He came by briefly and he was supposed to return after his meeting because we wanted to talk. But he did not. He said that he was late and that he had to go to the airport. I told him that I’d like to speak to him about a couple of important issues including his activities which was the subject of the email exchange and that I can take to the airport but the meeting went late.”

Earlier, Anisa had written to Shibly:

“Salam br. Hassan,

Insh’Allah this finds you well. I ask that you refrain from presentations, speeches, projects, meetings or other activities outside of your jurisdiction (Florida) that 1) identify you as a CAIR representative and /or 2) are within CAIR’s scope of work, until further notice. We will discuss the specific complaints with you and hope to resolve them soon.”

 This must have rubbed him the wrong way, judging by his response:

 “What are you talking about? I ask that you not give me orders. Salam.”

Hassan Shibly, Esq.

CAIR Florida

Some Simple, Poor Man’s Logic

In all the email exchanges you just read, how many times did you see the two words, sexual harassment?

That’s right. None.

Okay. How many times does sexual harassment or harassment (in the sexual context) appear in Leila Fadel’s article of April 15, 2021? I counted ten, by the old-fashioned method.

“Sexual harassment” is all over Leila Fadel’s article. But not all of the sexual misconduct allegations against Shibly were specifically sexual harassment. The most memorable ones, I would suggest, were “secret marriages”.

So let’s assume you are CAIR management and you interview all of your current staff (including yourselves)* and review all emails for any trace of sexual harassment allegations against Hassan Shibly. I don’t know for sure that you would uncover any.

But in the course of the interviews, wouldn’t it dawn on somebody, or perhaps even yourself if you were either Nihad or Ibrahim, that there was something like a harassment allegation, but it wasn’t that exactly.

….Oh yes. There was something about a secret marriage. And it was only a few years ago. And it came from the secret wife herself! And that stubborn Anisa raised a real fuss over it.

But if nobody remembered that Anisa had something to do with it, but had noticed the following short paragraph early in Leila Fadel’s article, that also could have helped narrow the focus of the investigation:

“When concerned parties brought allegations to senior CAIR officials in Washington, D.C., and Florida, former employees said, there was little, if any, follow-up action. They said leaders were aware of some of the allegations as early as 2016.”

Well, that’s something like how an honest all-staff interview would probably go. An honest process could not fail to produce some recollection of the Shibly charges only four years previously. Especially, as I said, if Nihad and Ibrahim were part of the process.

And that is why I can say with no hesitation, that the following paragraph which appears second to last in that April 16/May 7 document is deliberately deceptive:

“In the meantime, we want to be very clear: sexual harassment is immoral, illegal and absolutely unacceptable to us. After learning about the allegations in the NPR story, we reviewed our records, interviewed our staff, and confirmed that our office never received any complaints of sexual harassment, inside or outside of the workplace, against CAIR Florida’s former director….”

Sexual misconduct is not limited to sexual harassment. Unless you have some need for it to be.

As I noted in a recent post (CAIR’s Dysfunction and the Muslim Community – Reform CAIR), were sexual harassment truly unacceptable to CAIR as it claims, CAIR could have demonstrated that by interviewing the Florida employee who did allege sexual harassment by Shibly and who is named in Fadel’s April 15, 2021 article, and offering some sort of redress, rather than simply claiming ignorance of the matter.

We don’t have to assume the worst of Nihad and Ibrahim to understand that a culture of misogyny may prevail at CAIR. Misogyny is alive and well in the Muslim community, as it is, when push comes to shove, in the United States Senate (think Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey-Ford). But other factors reinforce it at CAIR, such as the profound reluctance of the Muslim community to talk about it publicly, and that bottom line of raking in the bucks. It was said of Hassan Shibly that he brought in “millions.”

·        Note: The employees who were responsible for compliance from 2016-2020 and dealt directly with the Shibly saga were no longer employed by CAIR when such an interview would have happened.

Part Two

Excerpted from: Charming, Reckless, with a License to Exploit Women – Reform CAIR

Shortly after posting A Smoking Gun at CAIR – Reform CAIR , five more communications, each still smokin’, came to my attention. These five must reads give us some sense of how frustrating it was for the few people inside CAIR who were wise to Hassan Shibly and his charming ways, to deal with him. In one of them, Shibly’s willingness to bully and lie outright is on full display.

In that communication Shibly, then executive director of CAIR-Florida, warns that shaitan (the devil) is at work. He might be right, but it’s not Anisa doing shaitan’s bidding. Unfortunately, we do not have time to do justice to that communication in this post. (See Part Three below.) But rest assured, it can explain how Shibly may have intimidated some of the leadership of CAIR.

Not all. Not the one who is now the target of CAIR’s defamation lawsuit.

In the spring and summer of 2016, the one who might have reined Shibly in, the National Executive Director of CAIR, never did. Shibly certainly wasn’t going to let the new Director of Chapter Development, a sister, cramp his style.

You will recall from our last post that Shibly was pretty ticked in one email exchange in which Anisa was frank with him and told him he should not accept any speaking engagements or represent CAIR in any way outside of Florida, pending an investigation (that would never quite get going). You might recall that Shibly actually sent Anisa a cease and desist letter. Here is part of that letter from Shibly:

“If there’s any further need to discuss, Nihad can call me any time. I’m happy to discuss with him. I will not not [sic] am not obligated to discuss with anyone else. People should study Surah Noor and their Islamic ethics and follow the good example set by Nezar, Zahra, Dawud, my family and others who had seen the attacks [the secret wife’s tweets] but adhered to our Islamic teachings. Alhamdulilah the attacks are a non-issue. Only person ever mentioning or alluding to them is Anisa at this point.”

Alhamdulilah, the “attacks” were from a woman he exploited with his supposed Islamic-sanctioned secret marriage, and whom he manipulated emotionally. It will be an “issue” to her, putting it mildly, for the rest of her life. Surah Noor (Qur’an, 24) cannot be read as cover for men who “marry” women for pleasure and then smear and shame them when the fun is over.

On July 8, 2016, Anisa expressed her deep concern and frustration with Shibly in an email to Hussam Ayloush, executive director of CAIR-Los Angeles:

“Hassan is reckless and I literally lose sleep over what he is going to do next that will have a negative impact on all chapters. I am very concerned that most chapters are unaware of the issues and invite him to speak, jeopardizing their reputation in their own communities if/when his issues become public. These national T.V. appearances and White House meetings featuring him as a CAIR representative may hurt us in the future. I agree there needs to be a solution. He blocked me on email and was difficult on the phone when I tried to discuss some issues with him—there’s no accountability. My next step is to submit a report to the National board and ask them to intervene. We could use your help.”

The report Anisa would submit to the National board would be one of several, none of which it acted on.

On July 18, I.T. Director Omar Ali wrote to Anisa concerning Hassan Shibly:

“It baffles my mind to see a chapter ED decision(s) superseding that of a Chapter Developer….The double edge sword for you would be that those who fall to his “charm” may think you have an agenda against him personally if they are not privy to the facts.

               “But if I know how things work here, there’s not going to be a way for any of us to know until it’s probably too late (emphasis added).”

That same day, Nihad chastised Anisa for her concerted efforts to constrain CAIR’s bucking bronco, since he was not jumping on that bronco himself:

“Please adhere to my request not to communicate on this issue with Hassan and others until we talk and resolve this issue. Hassan has been complaining to us that you are not heeding the call. I see that he is not heeding the call either. But at least you answer to me as your supervisor. He may not unfortunately.”

Also that same day, Shibly sent Anisa, Nihad, Ibrahim, Ahmed Al-Shehab, and Roula Allouch, the National board chair, a cease and desist letter, the fifth communication I mentioned at the outset of this post (which I discuss in Part Three below).

Suffice it to say, any inclination Nihad and Ibrahim might have had to constrain Shibly in the least, dissipated.

The only one to persist, though she had read the same three-page threat-filled rant of Shibly’s, was the  Director of Chapter Development.

Anisa spent the day of July 21, preparing for the meeting with Hassan Shibly. She produced a formal report to Nihad along with a list of questions to ask Shibly. Working up to the last minute, she went to a White House Eid event and made sure Hassan came back with her to the CAIR office, while Nihad prepared for the meeting.

Anisa was excluded from the meeting, as you will recall, except that she was asked to apologize to Shibly at the end.

And that’s just one example of how CAIR “strives to hold every member of our team to the highest standards of personal and professional conduct…[and takes] allegations of misconduct, especially misconduct against women, very seriously” (CAIR statement, April 16/May 7).

CAIR has all of these emails. No less than six individuals of CAIR National were privy to these discussions. 

Part Three

Excerpted from: The Shaga’ah of Two Sisters – Reform CAIR

Three days before the brothers-only meeting in which Hassan was exonerated, he sent a three-page letter to Nihad, Ibrahim, Anisa, Ahmed Al-Shehab, and Roula Allouch. In that letter, Shibly is very annoyed that Anisa does not approve of him and CAIR-Florida hosting the 2017 National retreat for Executive Directors.

Shibly is moving full-speed ahead with his plans, while Anisa is still pushing CAIR to begin a bona fide investigation of the allegation of a secret marriage of his, and assessing the risks of such a prominent role for Shibly given the allegation and numerous social media posts by the secret wife herself.

In his telling of events, Shibly is the peacemaker and only responds to Anisa’s provocations. All the many other chapter heads are wondering what is eating Anisa, who just can’t let the past rest. Everyone but Anisa was over this matter months ago. By Shibly’s telling, Nihad considers the case closed. Shibly won a great victory in court defending his honor against his accuser [the estranged secret wife], whom he calls a “stalker.” He peppers his admonitions of Anisa’s nosiness and overreach with suggested Islamic concepts for all to ruminate upon. And, being the wise man he is, he can sometimes be gentle with Anisa:

“I am sure Sr. Anisa fears Allah enough to stop potential buhtan and ghiba. There is no excuse at this point. Let me be clear, I do not have ill-will to Anisa. In fact I love that she probably acted out of sincerity and love of organization. But her actions were still wrong. If they are stopped/corrected we can all move forward…

“Finally, we need to have more love for each other and better communication.”

This is more than a dispute between a Chapter Executive Director and the Director of Chapter Development, in which the pecking order might not be obvious to most. That could not explain the intensity of the dispute.

What might explain the intensity is that Hassan Shibly probably suspects that Anisa is wise to his ways.  So would be anyone else at CAIR paying attention. But Shibly is charming and a very valuable fundraising asset for CAIR. And he can be sparing of mercy as well.

Shibly ends his letter with this stern warning to Anisa:

“I am available to speak to Nihad any time. However I will consider any further communication about my [sic] or my chapter by Anisa to anyone a violation of both my rights before Allah and before the legal system and will demand my full rights both in dunya and akira. There is no excused for her to spread fitna when Nihad and I can communicate directly. And there is absolutely 0 risk to CAIR or chapters or anything else like that“(emphasis added).

Zero risk.

Right.

Shibly’s furry notwithstanding, Anisa would take it upon herself to minimize his opportunities to meet and seduce women as a representative of CAIR. She persuaded the CAIR-CA chapter to host the gathering. But her days were numbered, because there just was not enough room at CAIR for the good ol’ boys club and this fearless upstart, Sr. Anisa.

Part Four

            On July 20, 2016, one day before Hassan Shibly would meet with Nihad Awad and Ibrahim Hooper concerning the complaint by a former secret wife, Anisa sent Nihad, Ibrahim, Roula Allouch (chair of the national board), and Ahmed Al-Shehab (national board member) the following draft letter addressed to Hassan Shibly for their review and comments:

Dear Hassan,

As you know, we are concerned about the allegations and attacks directed at CAIR on social media over the last several months. A woman named [deleted] made disparaging references to CAIR in her public Tweets and Facebook posts, such as:

• “CAIR Fls Hassan Shibly fooled me majorly into a love affair, I wonder if he’s good at fooling clients on the job @CAIRNational #douchebag.”
• “CAIRNational he had told me confidential info regarding a lawsuit with an imam and a little girl, got to listen to conference calls, etc.”
• “You guys [CAIR] should probably ask why Hassan Shibly uses his religious beliefs that men can have four wives to manipulate women into having affairs with him behind his legal wife’s back.”….
• “CAIR blocked me becuz I’ve exposed one of their prized leaders for dishonesty, Hassan Shibly. How’s that investigation going?”

This issue was initially brought to the attention of the CAIR-Florida board, but they deferred it to CAIR National and asked that we follow up on it. To formally close this matter and to ensure that we have done our due diligence to protect the CAIR brand, the CAIR National board requires clarification on the following:

1. More information on your relationship with [deleted] including the type of relationship, how you met, how long you have known her, and her affiliation to CAIR/CAIR-Florida/CAIR chapters.
2. You referred to [deleted] as a “stalker” on multiple occasions and stated that she is a “fan” (of you, in your capacity as CAIR-FL’s executive director). I would like you to elaborate on that so we can determine if this issue poses safety risks to you or others at CAIR, and if they may potentially be stalked by this individual in their capacity as executive directors of CAIR chapters.
3. You stated that the disparaging Tweets were made in “connection with some enemies we have made…” We would like you to elaborate on who those “enemies” are, why they are “enemies” of CAIR, and their role in this matter.
4. More information on your meetings, if any, with [deleted] during travel for speaking engagements, chapter engagement efforts and/or community outreach, in which you were identified as a CAIR-Florida representative.
5. On March 29, 2016, you stated “They removed everything,” referring to the disparaging Tweets and Facebook posts about CAIR. However, on March 30, 2016, several posts disparaging CAIR were still visible. We would like documentation that the disparaging Tweets and Facebook posts about CAIR have been, in fact, deleted.
6. I appreciate you sharing documentation that provides more information on the defamation lawsuit and look forward to reviewing the documents when you are in Washington, D.C. this week.
7. I would also like to discuss several other issues with you, including affiliation, jurisdiction, branding, and conflict of interest. We appreciate your candor and cooperation to resolve these matters.

Sincerely,

In response, Ibrahim Hooper wrote:

PRIVILEGED AND CONFIDENTIAL

Salaam,

How about questions the picture* and the fact that she knew about an internal matter (the threat of the lawsuit over the girl) that nobody outside CAIR and [deleted]knew about?

Roula Allouch responded with a much shorter proposed letter to Shibly, which I am not including here. Ahmed Al-Shehab responded:

Jazaka’ Allah Khair Anisa for sending this out so late in the night, you probably did not get to sleep…

I agree with Roula, I think we can take subset of these points for now and not have all the details in email.

Br. Ibrahim, I don’t see a problem asking him the questions you have as they are concerning on how she knew all the details…and asking him to explain the pictures. If he pushes back, our argument should be that it is no longer about protecting his reputation, it is about protecting the reputation of the entire Organization, thus we need to have all true facts so we don’t get blind sided by Islamophobes.

Ahmed

When it came time to lay down the law, it was Hassan who did it. He arrived at the July 21st meeting with a letter from his lawyer which made short, harsh work of the woman Hassan had lured into a bogus marriage. The lawyer argued, in essence, that her allegations were all a hoax, and she had virtually begged (“mightily beseeched us…”) for a resolution of the matter. Never mind the confidential information she shared on her posts. Anisa never saw that document until it was sent in an open letter to me in a response by Hassan Shibly to my “incessant diatribes”, on July 12, 2021.

The reader can make his or her own judgment about that letter which apparently satisfied Nihad Awad. Here is the link:  2016 Vindication (https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B12GzFCC1Go3JVi

• The picture referred to was posted by the secret wife of herself and Hassan Shibly cheek-to-cheek with matching stocking caps with the caption: “What love looked like.”

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.

Introduction

In previous posts, I have not had many nice things to say about the document CAIR produced in response to Leila Fadel’s April 15 article, published by NPR (Civil Rights Org CAIR Accused Of Ignoring Alleged Misconduct : NPR.) I never saw the initial version of that CAIR response, sent out April 16; I only have the revised version of May 7.  That version contains a number of deliberately deceptive or demonstrably false statements.

For example, these two sentences appear in the middle of the third paragraph of the document:

“…CAIR strives to hold every member of our team to the highest standards of personal and professional conduct. We also take allegations of misconduct, especially misconduct against women, very seriously.”

It might seem reasonable to assume, as I did up until recently, that the Communications Director is chiefly to blame for the deceptive or false statements. But he might not be the prime mover of the process that produced that document. In fact, I have come to a rather unremarkable conclusion: Nihad Awad is the main personnel problem at CAIR. He more than anyone else generates the forcefield that prevails at CAIR.

Nihad faces constraints himself, of course, such as the imperative of securing as much funding as possible for CAIR. But somehow that imperative must not be permitted to justify union-busting, or keeping sources of foreign funding hidden, or retaining and continuing to promote a master fundraiser who happens to also be a sexual predator.

Personnel changes are often ineffective without structural changes, and only after a thorough investigation of allegations and problems at CAIR can anyone have a good idea of what changes in both categories are called for. But it would certainly move things along and be in the interest of the organization, its mission, and the Muslim community for Nihad Awad to step down.

But I promised you a smoking gun, so here we go.

Part One: The Emails

The April 16/May 7 document is pretty much a blanket denial of any responsibly or knowledge of sexual or other misconduct by CAIR leaders at either the National office or affiliate offices, in keeping with the denials by CAIR contained in the NPR article.

The fact that CAIR had three weeks between April 16 and May 7 to mull everything over, makes that document especially damning for CAIR.

It is damning because the CAIR leadership discussed in at least 8 emails dated March 29, March 30, April 1, April 27, and May 20, and June 6, 2016, an allegation of sexual misconduct reported as early as March 16 against CAIR-Florida’s executive director, Hassan Shibly.

The sequence demonstrates that Nihad is clearly concerned at the outset (“I hope that is [sic] isn’t true”, March 30). On April 1, Nihad wrote to Lori Saroya, Director of Chapter Development.

“I had a long call with his chairman Rasheed Abbara to see where things are from their perspective. He basically agreed that the issue needs to be investigated and authorised me to speak to Hassan. So you and I should talk soon about how to approach Hassan.”

On the same day, Lori Saroya, Director of Chapter Development, wrote to Nihad:

“I think when talking to Hassan, we need to come from a position that we believe him (or at least we want to believe him). A complaint was brought to our attention so we need to do our due diligence and gather information.”

On the previous day, March 30, Lori had written to Nihad, Ibrahim and a Jenifer Wicks:

“We need a formal response from Hassan Shibly and do our due diligence to ensure adherence to the mission, vision and policies of CAIR. Attached is some information from Twitter and Facebook searches.””

Jump ahead to May 20. Lori writes to Nihad and Ibrahim:

“Just so you are aware, Hassan Shibly is still being invited by chapters for speaking engagements (I heard of two just this week). This issue has the potential to harm the credibility and reputation of the entire organization due to alleged policy and branding violations. It has been two months since the original complaint was sent to us and almost one month since the last public attack against CAIR concerning this issue. I think we need to handle it more formally now. I suggest the following:

1. Inform the CAIR National board

2. Inform the CAIR-FL board

3. Assign a group of three (National staff + National board + CAIR-FL board) to conduct an internal investigation in response to the complaint sent to CAIR National in March 2016 and the follow-up public attacks on the organization related to this issue. This team will gather facts from all parties involved, determine if any CAIR policies were violated, assess current/future potential for harm to the organization, and make recommendations on next steps.

4. Inform Hassan Shibly about the internal investigation and ask that he 1) cooperate as it is a procedural matter and 2) not make any public speaking appearances while the investigation is pending (emphasis added).“

It would be another two months before Nihad would finally “deal” with this matter. In those two months, I conjecture, he came to the conclusion that Shibly was too valuable to CAIR, all its high-minded principles notwithstanding. Or, perhaps he simply did not know how to handle this young stallion.

Or maybe Nihad dropped the ball (more like a hot, hot potato) because, in the words of a CAIR National board member, CAIR-Florida was a “strong and visible chapter” that is “effective in getting media attention and whipping up publicity” and “CAIR-Florida has continued to increase donations ands support from high value donors.” Money talks.

Nihad, as we know, dealt with Shibly by inviting him to Washington for what was a “brothers only” meeting with himself and Ibrahim, on basically how to keep the thing quiet. The meeting took place on July 21, 2016. The reader might recall that Lori Saroya, for her persistence in seeking an investigation into allegations of Shibly’s sexual misconduct and exploitation of women, was asked at the end of the meeting to come in to apologize to Shibly.

Nihad had made some effort to meet with Shibly earlier, on June 6, but Shibly seems to have dodged the meeting, as judging by this email Nihad sent Lori:

“He came by briefly and he was supposed to return after his meeting because we wanted to talk. But he did not. He said that he was late and that he had to go to the airport. I told him that I’d like to speak to him about a couple of important issues including the his activities which was the subject of the email exchange and that I can take to the airport but the meeting went late.”

Earlier, Lori had written to Shibly:

“Salam br. Hassan,

Insh’Allah this finds you well. I ask that you refrain from presentations, speeches, projects, meetings or other activities outside of your jurisdiction (Florida) that 1) identify you as a CAIR representative and /or 2) are within CAIR’s scope of work, until further notice. We will discuss the specific complaints with you and hope to resolve them soon.”

 This must have rubbed him the wrong way, judging by his response:

 “What are you talking about? I ask that you not give me orders. Salam.”

Hassan Shibly, Esq.

CAIR Florida

Oh, silly me again!

This is the same Esquire who sent Lori, Director of Chapter Development, a cease and desist letter in response to her attempts to have a real investigation undertaken of Shibly’s alleged misconduct.

Part Two: Some Simple, Poor Man’s Logic

Since I love to speculate, I will venture that Hassan Shibly was about as easy for CAIR to rein in as it is to keep Donald Trump to a scripted speech. Which never happens.

In all the emailage you just read, how many times did you see the two words, sexual harassment?

None.

Okay. How many times does sexual harassment or harassment (in the sexual context) appear in Leila Fadel’s piece? I counted ten, by the old-fashioned method. So let’s say ten or more.

“Sexual harassment” is all over Leila Fadel’s article. But not all of the sexual misconduct allegations against Shibly were specifically sexual harassment. The most memorable ones, I would suggest, were “secret” marriages.

So let’s assume you are CAIR management and you interview all of your current staff (including yourselves)* and review all emails for any trace of sexual harassment allegations against Hassan Shibly. I don’t know for sure that you would uncover any. (Which is not to say there weren’t any: remember, as things go around here, anything is possible—stay tuned!)

But in the course of the interviews, wouldn’t it dawn on somebody, or perhaps even yourself if you were either Nihad or Ibrahim, that there was something like a harassment allegation, but it wasn’t that exactly.

….Oh yes. There was something about a “secret” marriage. And it was only a few years ago. And it came from the secret wife herself! And that stubborn Lori Saroya raised a real fuss over it.

But if nobody remembered that Lori Saroya had something to do with it, but had noticed the following short paragraph early in Leila Fadel’s article, that also could have helped narrow the focus of the investigation:

“When concerned parties brought allegations to senior CAIR officials in Washington, D.C., and Florida, former employees said, there was little, if any, follow-up action. They said leaders were aware of some of the allegations as early as 2016.”

Well, that’s something like how an honest all-staff interview would probably go. An honest process could not fail to produce some recollection of the Shibly charges only four years previously. Especially, as I said, if Nihad and Ibrahim were part of the process.

And that is why I can say with no hesitation, that the following paragraph which appears second to last in that April 16/May 7 document is total nonsense, and deliberately deceptive:

In the meantime, we want to be very clear: sexual harassment is immoral, illegal and absolutely unacceptable to us. After learning about the allegations in the NPR story, we reviewed our records, interviewed our staff, and confirmed that our office never received any complaints of sexual harassment, inside or outside of the workplace, against CAIR Florida’s former director….

Sexual misconduct is not limited to sexual harassment, unless you have some need for it to be.

But we don’t have to assume the worst of Nihad and Ibrahim to understand that a culture of misogyny may prevail at CAIR. Misogyny is alive and well in the Muslim community, as it is, when push comes to shove, in the United States Senate. (Think Brett Kavanaugh and Christine Blasey-Ford.) But other factors reinforce it at CAIR, such as the profound reluctance of the Muslim community to talk about it publicly, and that bottom line of raking in the bucks. It was said of Hassan Shibly that he brought in “millions.”

*The employees who were responsible for compliance from 2016-2020 and dealt directly with the Shibly saga were no longer employed by CAIR when such an interview would have happened.