Livestream: YouTube
Bill Chambers is a member of Masjid Al-Taqwa Chicago and a member of the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative. He is a full-time activist with a long history of civil rights, anti-racism, anti-war, Irish Republican, and Palestine solidarity work. As part of his activist work, Bill has traveled extensively to Ireland and Palestine to meet and work with community organizations. He has published multiple articles for the Muslim Journal, Muslim Matters, Electronic Intifada, Palestine in America, and the Chicago Monitor on Islamophobia, surveillance of Muslims and social justice groups, Palestine solidarity campaigns, Black Lives Matter, and the movement for community control of the police. He is a retired Student Support Services Coordinator and Counselor at the American Islamic College and former Editor-in-Chief of the Chicago Monitor. Bill has a BA in English from Northwestern University; a MA in English from Tufts University; a MA in Islamic Studies from the American Islamic College in Chicago, and a Professional Certification in Family Therapy from the Family Institute of Chicago. Bill grew up in Detroit and now lives in the Chicago area with his wife Elaine Fleming.
Visit wwww.billchambersauthor.com to purchase the book.
This groundbreaking study recovers the stories of the Muslim American struggles for social justice from the Civil Rights period through to the Black Lives Matter movement. Much of this history has been redacted from academic studies and popular culture by the pervasive racism in American society. From the Nation of Islam to the Imam W. Deen Mohammed Community of Al-Islam, Muslim Americans have had their religion questioned and their existence ignored and devalued. Pulitzer Prize-winning Civil Rights historian Taylor Branch called Imam W. Deen Mohammed “the nation’s most underappreciated religious figure in the twentieth century.” But most people have no idea who he is. Bill Chambers demonstrates that Muslim Americans have been actively involved in the fight for Civil Rights and Black Lives Matter from the very beginning.
Hazim Fazlic is dedicated teacher, renowned speaker and interfaith activist. Prior to being appointed the Islamic Cultural Center of Greater Chicago, Hazim Fazlic worked as religious and community leader for the Bosnian-Muslim community in London and Birmingham (UK) for 11 years. He is active in interfaith work, and worked with representatives of Christian, Jewish, Sikh, Hindu and Buddhist communities. In 2009 he co-founded Faiths Connected Foundation, a charitable organization dedicated to the promotion of religious harmony and understanding among young people in the wider area of Birmingham, UK.
Hazim Fazlic was educated in Bosnia, where he obtained his education in classical Islamic disciplines at the oldest Muslim educational institution in South East Europe, Gazi Husrevbegova Medresa. He also obtained his BA in Islamic Studies from the University of Sarajevo. In 2002 he moved to England where obtained his MA in Islamic Studies at the Centre for Islam and Muslim –Christian Relations of the University of Birmingham. At the same institution, he successfully defended his PhD thesis, ‘Religious Changes in Former Yugoslavia from 1989 to 2009′ in 2012. His current research interests revolve around the Muslim diaspora from South East Europe and the issues of integration and assimilation. Hazim Fazlic is also a lecturer at Lake Forest College where he teaches Global Islam and Islam in 21st Century.
Modeled after one of Dr. Gianotti’s community programs in Canada, AIC’s “Light Upon Light” evenings of spiritual discussion and fellowship feature a variety of spiritually nourishing (sometimes challenging) subjects in an inclusive space where participants of all ages and faiths actively contribute in a manner that is respectful to all. In these gatherings, we frequently interweave textual study and facilitated discussion in an effort to deepen ourselves and promote a sense of spiritual fellowship across denominational and religious boundaries.
January topic: “The Mysteries of Light and Darkness.”
In-person only
President Gianotti interviews a special guest each month to discuss the formative encounters of their lives.
January special guest: Dr. Shakeela Hassan
Shakeela Zia Hassan is a philanthropist, poet, interfaith community organizer, caring physician, and author who has lived and promoted transformative encounters for nearly nine decades. She has also been a champion of human rights and the arts. Read more…
In-person and Live-streamed
