Illinois could become the first state to officially support the Muslim community if Governor Bruce Rauner signs into law a measure that establishes a permanent advisory council made up of Muslim American leadership.

bruce rauner“Given all that is going on with the misinterpretation about Islam and the interests and concerns of the Muslim American community, it’s almost obligatory on behalf of a governor of this state and all governors to have such a body,” Kareem Irfan, a Chicago lawyer who led an earlier iteration of the council under Gov. Pat Quinn, told the Chicago Tribune.

“So we’re not subject to the whims of each governor, it would be good to make this a lasting institutional body.”

Pat Quinn was the first to set up such a committee during his term as governor.

Quinn’s Muslim American Advisory Council was the only religious group from which Quinn sought counsel – there were no Catholic, Protestant, Hindu or Jewish panels listed during the Quinn administration.