on Amal Legal Group

Amal Law Group, of Palos Heights, IL (southwest of Chicago) was founded by six Muslim women that targets its services to the Muslim community. The Chicago Tribune has a lovely profile of the firm; here is an excerpt:

The women's differing opinions on the practice of Islam rarely are expressed in office discussions, they say. Islam might come up only when drafting a will according to a family's wishes to follow Islamic guidelines.

"We never talk about it," Hashim said. "We are all open-minded and respect each other's beliefs. It just doesn't matter to us."

Instead, Hashim, who said she has an ancestor on her mother's side who signed the Declaration of Independence, hopes that when people see the lawyers at her firm they will realize that not all Muslim-Americans are foreigners. They are not the "other."

"We're part of the American fabric," she said.

Khan pipes up: "You may not be used to seeing it, but this is what Muslim women in America look like. We're educated and we're professionals, and we're not an anomaly."