Who Actually Represents American Muslims?

by Samuel Westrop • January 7, 2016 at 5:00 am

Activists participating in CAIR's lobby day included Abdullah Faaruuq, a Muslim cleric, who, in response to the arrest of Al Qaeda operative Aafia Siddiqui, told Muslims to "grab onto the gun and the sword and go out and do your job."
"[CAIR] is a Muslim Brotherhood front organization. It works in the United States as a lobby against radio, television and print media journalists who dare to produce anything about Islam that is at variance with their fundamental agenda. CAIR opposes diversity in Islam." -- Sheikh Abdul Hadi Palazzi, Muslim cleric and secretary general of the Italian Muslim Assembly.
Very few American Muslims seem to feel that CAIR is a legitimate voice for American Islam. According to a 2011 Gallup poll, about 88% of American Muslims said that CAIR does not represent them.
CAIR has been denounced by anti-racism groups, the federal government and by other Muslims. When legislators meet with CAIR, they help CAIR impose itself upon Muslim communities as a self-declared representative.

Faaruuq, wearing a white skullcap, with CAIR at the Massachusetts State House.

On November 12, 2015, the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR), with the support of a number of local Islamic groups in Boston, organized a lobbying day at the Massachusetts State House, ostensibly to advocate on behalf of local Muslims.

Nadeem Mazen, a director of CAIR's Massachusetts branch (CAIR-MA) and an elected councillor for the city of Cambridge, explained: "We must be thought leaders and exemplars in our communities for basic social justice. And we're meeting with our legislators to remind them that we are hundreds, thousands, and in many cases tens of thousands strong in their communities."

Certainly, the discussions that took place fit the "social justice" narrative – the Boston Globe reports that participants argued for "increasing affordable housing, reforming school discipline, and reducing mass incarceration for non-violent offenders."