ABDUL RAUF AND MISS DAISY AT CHATAUQUA INSTITUTE…..BUILDING BRIDGES TO ISLAM POSING AS INTERFAITH
http://www.ciweb.org/religion-lectures-week-two/
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf is the Founder of Cordoba Initiative, an independent, multi-faith, and multi-national project that works with state and non-state actors to improve Muslim-West relations. In this capacity, he provides innovative solutions to those areas where conflict between Islamic and Western communities undermines local and global security.
Under Imam Feisal’s leadership, the Cordoba Initiative’s programs craft strategic avenues for approaching divisive Muslim-West tensions. The programs include the Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow (MLT), which cultivates the next generation of Muslim leaders from all over the world, and the Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality (WISE), which empowers Muslim women globally.
Imam Feisal often receives requests for his expertise and advice because of his skillful approach to the complex intersection of Islamic and Western viewpoints. A number of these requests have resulted in working relationships with offices in the U.S. Department of State, members of the U.S. Congress, and representatives of foreign governments.
Imam Feisal balances his international responsibilities with his dedication to local and national concerns. In 1997, he founded the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA) the first Muslim organization committed to building bridges between Muslims and the American public by elevating the discourse on Islam through educational outreach, interfaith collaboration, culture, and arts. Imam Feisal is a Trustee of the Islamic Center of New York and is a Vice Chair on the board of the Interfaith Center of New York.
Recognizing his interreligious bridge-building work Imam Feisal has been a recipient of numerous awards such as the AICPR Annual Alliance Peace Builder Award and the Annual James Parks Morton Interfaith Center of New York Award. In 2010, he received the Open Center of New York Interfaith Award, Arianna Huffington’s “2010 Game Changer” Award, and was listed as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2010 by the Foreign Policy magazine. Most recently, he received the UUSC Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award, was ranked among the Top 50 Arabs by The Middle East magazine, and Time magazine named him among the 100 most influential people of the world.
A charismatic public speaker, Imam Feisal is frequently asked to comment on issues pertaining to Islam and the Muslim world. He has appeared regularly at the Council on Foreign Relations, in national and international media such as CNN and BBC, and has been widely quoted in The New York Times, Huffington Post, and the Jerusalem Post. Imam Feisal has written op-eds for The Wall Street Journal, Philadelphia Inquirer and Huffington Post to name a few.
Imam Feisal comes from a family steeped in religious and spiritual activity. Born of Egyptian parentage and educated in England, Egypt, and Malaysia, he holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Columbia University in New York and a Master of Science in Plasma Physics from Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey. He speaks English, Arabic, and Malay.
Tuesday, July 3
Daisy Khan
executive director, American Society for Muslim Advancement
Daisy Khan is Executive Director of the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA), a non-profit organization dedicated to developing an American Muslim identity while building bridges between the Muslim community and general public through dialogues in faith, identity, culture, and arts. Ms. Khan mentors young Muslims on challenges of assimilation, gender, religion and modernity, and intergenerational differences.
In the aftermath of 9/11, Ms. Khan created interfaith programs to emphasize commonalities among the Abrahamic faith traditions, such as a groundbreaking theater titled Same Difference and the interfaith Cordoba Bread Fest. On the 10th anniversary of 9/11, Ms. Khan brought together 300 people of all religions for a night of remembrance. The event, entitled In Good Faith: Stories of Hope and Resilience, highlighted hundreds of bridge-building projects undertaken since 9/11, while also paying tribute to the families of 9/11 victims of the Christian, Jewish, and Muslim faiths.
To prioritize the improvement of Muslim-West relations and the advancement of Muslim women globally, Ms. Khan has launched two cutting edge intrafaith programs to spur movement by change agents among the two disempowered majorities of the Muslim world: youth and women. The MLT: Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow and WISE: Women’s Islamic Initiative in Spirituality and Equality programs were launched at an international scale in Doha (MLT) and in Malaysia (WISE). Both programs seek to convene, empower, and build networks in their target groups, and to facilitate the emergence of a leadership that speaks with a credible, humane, and equitable voice in the global Muslim community.
Ms. Khan has recently received major national coverage in the media on the recent rise of Islamophobia. In March 2011 Ms. Khan organized a rally called Today I Am a Muslim, Too with a broad coalition of more than 100 interfaith groups to show solidarity with Muslim Americans in the wake of Congressman Peter Kings’ congressional hearings. The rally was noted in White House communications and was widely cited as an important retort to King’s claims that Muslims are not proactively fighting extremism.
She is also actively lecturing and debating these topics on a global scale. Her appearance on a panel with Christiane Amanpour in 2010 helped shift the narrative on how the media covers Islam in America. In response to the Danish cartoon crisis, she debated with Christopher Hitchens on National Public Radio and moderated a discussion in Denmark between young Muslims and Flemming Rose, the original publisher of the controversial cartoons. In May 2007 Ms. Khan became the first Muslim woman to speak at Thanksgiving Square in Dallas, Texas on the National Day of Prayer.
Ms. Khan frequently comments on important issues in the media, and has appeared on ABC, PBS, BBC World, CNN, Fox News, National Geographic, Al Jazeerah, and the Hallmark Channel. She has also been quoted in several print publications, such as TIME Magazine, Newsweek, Chicago Tribune, New York Times, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Saudi Gazette, The National and Khaleej Times. In July 2007, Ms. Khan appeared on the cover of Newsweek; in the same issue, she co-wrote an article on the symmetry between core Islamic values and the Constitution of the United States.
The recipient of various awards, her most notable ones include The Interfaith Center’s Award for Promoting Peace and Interfaith Understanding; Auburn Theological Seminary’s Lives of Commitment Award; Hunt Alternatives Prime Movers Award; Women’s E-News 21 Leaders for the 21st Century; Jericho High School’s Alumni Hall of Fame Award; and the Arab American Support Center’s Women Who Inspire Other Women Award. In June 2011, she received the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee’s 2011 Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award.
Born in Kashmir, India, Ms. Khan spent the first 25 years of her career as an interior architect at various Fortune 500 companies. In 2005 she decided to fully dedicate herself to elevating the discourse on Islam, improving the lives of Muslims and non Muslims globally through ASMA and its sister organization the Cordoba Initiative.
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