Liberties: Covering Civil Liberties, Civil Rights, Religious Liberties, Hate Crime Legislation, Racial Profiling, Privacy, Secret Evidence and denial of due process, Employment Discrimination, Congressional oversight, etc.

 

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Interfaith Relations in 21st Century America: American Muslims learning from Corporate and Warfare Strategies to define Themselves

(Pictured above left to right: Secretary General of AMJA Sheikh Salah Alsawy, Dr. Jamal Badawi and Mohamed Elibiary. Hossam Ayloush, Executive Director of CAIR-CA and F&J President Mohamed Elibiary. Sheikh Waleed Basyouni, Imam and Director of the Texas Dawah Convention in Houston, Sheikh Yasser Fazka Imam of Mission Viejo, CA and F&J President Mohamed Elibiary.)

 

A Report was delivered by the Freedom and Justice Foundation (F&J) at the May 3-7, 2007 Assembly of Muslim Jurists of America (AMJA) organized conference jointly with the North American Imams Federation (NAIF) on Interfaith Relations.

 

To read the 16 Page Report in PDF <--- Click Here.

 

Though several Islamic Scholars presented on the Islamic theological ground rules for interfaith relations, F&J focused on the socio-political developments within the larger Christian majority and how those sociological trends should be understood and engaged by the American Muslim Community Leadership.

 

Some of the items covered in the report include:

• A brief sociological history of interfaith relations from the founding of Christianity until today.
• Global mega trends framing society and how each denomination is navigating these trends.
• Explanation of the historical and developmental trends amongst Mainline Protestants, Catholics, Mainstream Evangelicals and Fundamentalist Evangelicals.
• Challenges ahead for Muslims, Christians and Jews.
• The "civic" developments in Liberalism and Conservatism that are driven by larger "religious" developments and how that is playing out in Post 9/11 America.
• How American Muslims can utilize corporate lessons learned such as Mr. Croc standardizing customer expectation at McDonalds and building the most successful franchise in history. Or how American Muslims can utilize the same network centric strategies utilized by the Pentagon and 21st Century Asymmetric Warfare Agents to deliver effective Dawah. Utilizing these techniques for good instead of just to make money or dominate others.

F&J also conducted a "Communications Workshop" to teach Imams on how to create a "message" and deliver it via the most effective methods possible, as well as how to create a "counter-message" in response to attacks on Islam and Muslims even if the Imam has a language hurdle.

 

As a bonus F&J shared with the Imams from numerous states around the country the denominational breakdown of faith observant Americans in every county nationwide. It was very enlightening for many Imams to see the percentage of Baptists, Catholics and others and how that has a great effect over the public affairs perspectives of Islam and Muslims.

 

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Contact:   Thomas Muhammad
                 tmuhammad2003@yahoo.com                 

                 Mohamed Elibiary
                 me@freeandjust.org
 

 Website:  www.votingrightsmuseum.org  
                 www.freeandjust.org
                                      

Texas's Very Own Receives the "Invisible Giant" Award
 @ National Voting Rights Museum in Selma, Alabama on March 6, 2004

Dallas (February 27, 2004):  Mohamed Elibiary, a resident of Plano, Texas and currently the President of the Freedom and Justice Foundation (F&J) has been chosen by the National Voting Rights Board of Trustees to receive the highly prestigious "Invisible Giant" award at the Jubilee Celebration on Saturday, March 6th, which will be followed by a re-enactment of the Voting Rights March on Bloody Sunday (39th Anniversary) the following day.  Elibiary has been chosen for this award based upon his work on the electoral process in the Dallas-Fort Worth community.  Past awardees include Reverend Jesse Jackson, Congresswoman Maxine Waters, Thomas Muhammad, and Congressman John Lewis to name a few. 

The Freedom and Justice Foundation (F&J), is a statewide public policy coordinating organization around the Lone Star State.  One of the Foundation's biggest accomplishments was the "1st Annual TX Muslims Legislative Day" on March 18, 2003, where hundreds of citizens converged upon the state capitol to support the first Imam in opening the Texas House with an Islamic prayer. F&J, also, led and coordinated the statewide effort to pass the Texas Halal (Dietary-Food) Law in 2003 .

Shortly after the Bloody Sunday Voting Rights March led by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. on March 7th 1965, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Voting Rights Bill which provided African Americans the protection to go to the polls and vote. The "Invisible Giant" award applauds those individuals across the nation who possess the same passion for voting rights within them as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.  Thomas Muhammad said that he nominated Elibiary for his "aggressiveness in your [his] actions of assisting Muslims in realizing their rights under the law and in setting real achievable goals to realize such quests."  Elibiary has played a vital role in encouraging his community to exercise their right to vote.

For more information on F&J, please contact the Communications Director (Saadia Ahmed) at 214-893-3485 or saadia@freeandjust.org.

 

 

 

 

 

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