profiling and hate crimes, a survey of mosques in
the United States, and annual reports on the status
of Muslim civil rights. CAIR swiftly issued a con-
demnation of the attacks of September 11, 2001
and has organized interfaith memorial services on
subsequent anniversaries.
CAIR has also emerged as the leading Islamic
community service organization on the local
level. Local CAIR chapters spend the majority
of their time dealing with individual cases of
discrimination by advocating workplace, hos-
pital, and school accommodation of religious
practices. Since September 11, 2001, CAIR has
become increasingly involved in hosting confer-
ences, seminars, and town hall meetings to bring
together American Muslims, non-Muslims, and
government officials.
In addition to its primary goals of promoting
a positive image of Muslims in America, reduc-
ing ignorance about Muslims, and protecting
Muslim citizens from discrimination and criminal
violence, CAIR works with related organiza-
tions such as the mUslim pUblic aFFairs coUn-
cil (MPAC) and the American Muslim Council
(AMC) to lobby Congress on domestic issues and
in doing so attempts to promote Muslim unity on
a local and national level.
See also civil society; democracy; dialogUe.
Vincent F. Biondo III
Further reading: Organization Web site: Available
online. URL: http://www.cair-net.org. Council on Amer-
ican-Islamic Relations, A Rush to Judgment: A Special
Report on Anti-Muslim Stereotyping, Harassment and
Hate Crimes Following the Bombing of Oklahoma City’s
Murrah Federal Building, April 19, 1995 (Washington,
D.C.: Council on American-Islamic Relations, 1995);
Yvonne Yazbek Haddad, ed., Muslims in the West: From
Sojourners to Citizens (New York: Oxford University
Press, 2002); Mohamed Nimer, The North American
Muslim Resource Guide, (New York: Routledge, 2002);
Jane I. Smith, Islam in America (New York: Columbia
University Press, 1999).
Council on Islamic Education
(acronym: CIE)
The Council on Islamic Education is a nonprofit
American Muslim organization founded in 1990
to provide curricular advice and to assess instruc-
tional materials used in K–12 public schools in the
United states. It is based in Fountain Valley, Cali-
fornia, and its founding director is Shabbir Man-
suri, who first came to the United States in 1969
to study chemical engineering. A group of highly
qualified Muslim scholars, most of whom hold
tenured appointments at leading American uni-
versities, provides CIE with the expertise needed
to undertake its mission. Although it understands
itself to be an organization that provides advice
for curricular planning and textbook development
in a variety of K–12 subject areas, it is primarily
concerned with ensuring that Muslims and Islam
are represented in a fair and balanced manner in
textbooks and other instructional material used
in world history and religion classes. Seeking to
operate in conformity with the decision of the
U.S. Supreme Court in the First Amendment case
of Abington Township v. Schempp (1963), the CIE
favors teaching about religion in public schools
as an aspect of human history and culture and
not teaching religion for devotional purposes,
which is not allowed in public schools by the
First Amendment. In addition to consulting with
textbook publishers, the CIE conducts pedagogi-
cal workshops and participates in regional and
national social studies and educational confer-
ences. Together with the First Amendment Cen-
ter, which has offices at Vanderbilt University in
Tennessee and in Arlington, Virginia, it published
a study in 2000 entitled “Teaching about Religion
in National and State Social Studies Standards.”
Among its other publications are teachers’ guides
on Muslim holidays, Muslim Women, Islamic lit-
erature, the crUsades, and Islam’s contributions
to the formation of Western civilization. The CIE
has rejected charges made by critics who say that
the organization promotes a negative view of the
United States and Western civilization as well as
Council on Islamic Education 169 J