About Us
Vision
An America in which constitutional rights and liberties are upheld equally for all, regardless of ethnicity, religion, or cultural heritage.
Mission
Our mission to advance equality and justice for American Muslim organizations and individuals by promoting legal compliance and protecting their rights in matters concerning national security law.
Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA) is a 501 (c ) 3 nonprofit organization that funds legal work and programming to defend Muslims and Muslim organizations against injustice in American courtrooms, prisons, and communities. Muslim Legal Fund of America is the ONLY national tax-exempt nonprofit legal fund dedicated to defending Muslims’ civil rights and liberties at the federal level.
MLFA 20th Anniversary Virtual Symposium
Current Active Cases Funded by MLFA
Current Active Cases
Current ACTIVE MLFA Funded Cases
United States v. Georgianna Giampietro
Muslim convert Georgianna Giampietro had studied Islam in depth, she was following
the sad and shocking events in Syria on the news between 2016 and 2019, and she had read
about the different political groups in Syria fighting against Bashar Al-Assad.
CLCMA began representing Mr. Haisam Elsharkawi in 2017, after he endured hours of extensive searches and detention at LAX airport for no identifiable reason while on his way to Saudi Arabia for hajj. Mr. Elsharkawi is on appeal to the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals
2 of 18Akili Ujima, a Bureau of Prisons employee who works as an educator, began his administrative challenges seeking religious accommodations in the workplace in 2015. His employer refused to allow him to attend Friday prayers on his lunch hour, even though he had been allowed to do that before, and even though he was only requesting to go to the mosque that was across the street from his place of work.
3 of 18
Appeal Case #1 – Dr. Rafiq Sabir (Criminal Appeal)
Dr. Sabir is a physician who was born and raised in New York and who converted to Islam in the 1980s. Years later, unbeknownst to Dr. Sabir, a friend of his made promises on his behalf to an undercover FBI agent who was posing as an al Qaida recruiter. When Dr. Sabir’s friend introduced him to the agent, the agent asked him to repeat a bayat (or pledge) in Arabic. The problem: Dr. Sabir did not understand Arabic beyond casual niceties and some religious phrases so he struggled to follow the agent’s words.
4 of 18
Appeal Case # 2 – Mohammad Khalil (Immigration Appeal)
Mohammad Khalil was granted asylum in the United States over 20 years ago, has no criminal record, and fully disclosed to USCIS his role in fighting against the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan alongside U.S. forces in the 1980s.
5 of 18
Immigration Case #1 to highlight M.M. – Application pending with USCIS for lawful permanent residence (green card) with request for a Waiver of Inadmissibility for Terrorism-related inadmissibility ground
6 of 18
Mr. K., a lawful permanent resident from Pakistan, came to the U.S. in 2001 as an unmarried son of a U.S. citizen based on his father’s Petition for Alien Relative.
7 of 18H. Abdullah
Constitutional challenge to anti-BDS legislation
Active litigation (District Court)
Awaiting District Court Rulings on Pending Motions
8 of 18 M. Al Seraji Consitutional challenge regarding: TWIC card On Appeal to the D.C. Circuit Awaiting reset date for oral argument 9 of 18A. Ghedi
Constitutional Challenge to watchlisting
ON appeal to the 5th Circuit of Appeals
10 of 18 M. Jibril (7 clients) Constitutional challenge to watchlisting On appeal to the D.C. Circuit Oral argument set for 9/20 (virtual) 11 of 18 H. Muthana (2 clients) Constitutional challenge to citizenship revocation Active litigation (supreme court) Supreme Court petition submitted, motion to be distributed 9/27 12 of 18 ICN Constitutional challenge to discriminatory tax provision Active litigation (state court) Argued 8/26; panel granted dismissal to go back to admin proceedings on 9/13 13 of 18 L. Magassa Constitutional challenge to discriminatory revocation of SIDA badge On appeal to the 9th Circuit Notice of Appeal filed; initial briefing under way 14 of 18CLCMA defended Mr. Arnaout in a civil denaturalization case filed by the government, and continues to monitor his status
15 of 18 N. Mowery Employment; religious discrimation On appeal to Fourth Circuit Notice of Appeal filed 9/13 16 of 18AMP (Boim, 2017)
CLCMA’s Motion to Dismiss remains pending before the District Court.
17 of 18 I. Khan travel difficulties (SSSS and NFL); watchlisting former civil litigation, current admin primarily immigration, awaiting further travel to determine next step as of 7/23 18 of 18Facebook Feed
Donations to THE
Muslim Legal Fund of America (MLFA)
Tax-deductible and Zakat Eligible.