Fundraising Banquet Details:
Date: 6 PM - Saturday June 25th 2011
Ticket: $75 / Person ($100 at the door) (Purchase Online: http://bit.ly/lZCx65)
Location: Lazzat Restaurant and Banquet: 1101 East Ave Streamwood IL 60107

1 in 4 women are abused in America!
Muslim community is no exception!

InshaAllah, ICNA Relief Chicago in coordination with ICNA Relief national will be opening its first Domestic Violence Shelter serving the Greater Chicago community. ICNA Relief has successfully launched shelters New York, Houston, and Baton Rouge.

WHY IT MATTERS
Domestic violence is the willful intimidation, physical assault, battery, sexual assault, and/or other abusive behavior perpetrated by an intimate partner against another. It is an epidemic affecting individuals in every community, regardless of age, economic status, race, religion, nationality or educational background. Violence against women is often accompanied by emotionally abusive and controlling behavior, and thus is part of a systematic pattern of dominance and control. Domestic violence results in physical injury, psychological trauma, and sometimes death. The consequences of domestic violence can cross generations and truly last a lifetime.

DID YOU KNOW?
-One in every four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime.
-An estimated 1.3 million women are victims of physical assault by an intimate partner each year.
-85% of domestic violence victims are women.
-Historically, females have been most often victimized by someone they knew.
-Females who are 20-24 years of age are at the greatest risk of nonfatal intimate partner violence.
-Most cases of domestic violence are never reported to the police.

This Shelter will provide:
An alternative for women in need of shelter care. We provide women with a safe environment, allowing them the opportunity to maintain their dignity while working on issues of self sufficiency. Trained case managers willwork with residents, identifying areas of improvement and linking them to the community resources.
-Intensive Case Management/ Counselling
-Legal assistance if needed.
-Initial medical assistance if needed
-Job Skill Training, Education
-ESL (English as a Second Language) classes on the premises.
-Explore and offer feasible courses on the premises to empower the victims to stand on their own feet.

Featuring Sr. Lauren Booth
Lauren Booth was on the first Free Gaza voyage and stayed to work in Gaza after the boats left. Her heartfelt letter to the people of Israel should be read by everyone who hopes for peace in the Middle East. "Going through that first check point in Qalandia, Ramallah, was a turning point in everything I believed in." says Lauren.

As a journalist, Booth has written for the New Statesman, the Mail on Sunday, the Sunday Times and the Daily Mail. She is a vocal opponent of the war in Iraq and a supporter of the Stop the War Coalition; a member of Woodcraft Folk, Media Workers Against the War and the National Union of Journalists. She has been a panellist on the BBC's Have I Got News For You, and a broadcaster on radio and television. She writes columns and features, mainly for the Mail on Sunday. She regularly reviews the UK newspapers on television for Sky News, BBC One and BBC News 24.

In both 2005 and 2006 Booth travelled to the West Bank where she interviewed with Mahmoud Abbas. She gave two speeches on the condition of refugees in the West Bank and Gaza, for the Royal Geographical Society and Arab Media Watch.

As of 2010, Booth presents In Focus on the UK's Islam Channel, and Between The Headlines on the Iranian-owned Press TV

She appeared at the GPU 2010 event dressed in loose clothing and with a hijab, declaring: "My name is Lauren Booth, and I am a Muslim". Lauren Booth converted to Islam in mid-September, 2010 after her visit to the Fatima al-Masumeh Shrine in Qom, Iran.

Lauren says, "And so I now live in a reality that is not unlike that of Jim Carey's character in the Truman Show. I have glimpsed the great lie that is the facade of our modern lives; that materialism, consumerism, sex and drugs will give us lasting happiness. But I have also peeked behind the screens and seen an enchanting, enriched existence of love, peace and hope. In the meantime, I carry on with daily life, cooking dinners, making TV programmes about Palestine and yes, praying for around half an hour a day.

How did it all begin?

On her first trip to Ramallah, and many subsequent visits to Palestine, Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon, Lauren says "Surprisingly (for me) I also began to deal with a lot of women of all ages, in all manner of head coverings, who also held positions of power. Believe it or not, Muslim women can be educated, work the same deadly hours we do, and even boss their husbands about in front of his friends until he leaves the room in a huff to go and finish making the dinner.

Lauren says "I'll give you a glimpse into the other world of Islam in the 21st century. Of course, we cannot discount the appalling way women are mistreated by men in many cities and cultures, both with and without an Islamic population. Women who are being abused by male relatives are being abused by men, not God. Much of the practices and laws in "Islamic" countries have deviated from (or are totally unrelated) to the origins of Islam. Instead practices are based on cultural or traditional (and yes, male-orientated) customs that have been injected into these societies. For example, in Saudi Arabia, women are not allowed to drive by law. This rule is an invention of the Saudi monarchy, our government's close ally in the arms and oil trade. The fight for women's rights must sadly adjust to our own government's needs.

And on her visit to Iran last September, Lauren wrote of the bending, kneeling and submission of Muslim prayers resounding with words of peace and contentment. Each one begins, "Bismillahir rahmaneer Raheem" – "In the name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate" – and ends with the phrase "Assalamu Alaykhum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh" – Peace be upon you all and God's mercy and blessing.


Shaykh Omar Suleiman

Shaykh Omar Suleiman is the Imam of Masjid Abu Bakr Al-Siddique in New Orleans, LA and a member of the ICNA Shariah Council. He is also the outreach director of ICNA Relief in Louisiana. Born and raised in the United States, he embarked on his journey to study traditional Islamic sciences in the year 2000 in the United Arab Emirates primarily under the instruction of Sheikh Tariq Ibn Rajah (hA) and other noble scholars from Umm Al Qura. He also spent much time in the company of his wife’s father, Sheikh Husam Mubarak, and benefitted greatly from him.

He then went on to earn a Bachelors degree in Islamic Studies along with a Bachelors degree in Accounting accompanied by a wide array of Diplomas and Certifications in various Islamic Disciplines with emphasis on Jurisprudence (Fiqh) and Dawah. He is currently pursuing a Masters degree with emphasis on the “Fiqh of Minorities.”

Imam Omar recently joined the Sharia Academy of America as an instructor through which he conducts online University courses and intensive weekend seminars in the areas of Fiqh, Usool Al Fiqh, Dawah, and Hadeeth.

He is also a founding member and steering committee member of the East Jefferson Interfaith Clergy Association.



Sr. Malika Rushdan

Program Coordinator; 911 Civil Liberties and Youth and Community Development

An American born, Irish Muslim raised a Catholic and converted to Islam in 1995. Malika Rushdan is formally from Boston, MA, she has an extensive background in Youth and Community Development with well over 12 yrs experience working with refugee youth from Cambodia, Iraq, Bosnia, Somalia, Kosovo and Afghanistan. Malika is the founder of the Al-Huda Society, a non-profit organization serving the religious, social and educational needs of Muslim families in and around the Metro-Boston area. The development of such an organization bestowed upon her the prestigious Senator John F. Kerry Leadership award. Malika was the pioneer director of Community Organizing for Somerville Community Corporation, which lead her to be accepted as a community fellow at Harvard University’s Kennedy School of Government where she studied under Professor Marshal Gantz; Organizing: People, Power, and Change. Upon moving to New York, Malika served as the assistant director of the 21st Century Community of Learners, an extensive after-school program at Hillcrest High School before joining the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) as Assistant Director of the 911 Civil Liberties Project. Malika continues to work with ICNA where she conducts cultural diversity trainings and programmatic development for Faith Based organizations and community groups.

Under Malika’s coordination the Muslim Student Club at Thomas Edison High School in Queens, were awarded a grant from the New York Independence Foundation for their innovated photography project.

Much of Malika’s experiences with young people comes from raising her own 4 children and enjoying time with her 2 grand daughters!

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