 | |
| Abbreviation | MAS |
|---|---|
| Formation | 1993 |
| Type | Nonprofit |
| Legal status | 501(c)(3) organization |
| Headquarters | Washington, DC |
| Location | |
Executive Director | Ayman Hammous |
| Affiliations | Dar Al-Hijrah |
| Website | muslimamericansociety |
The Muslim American Society (MAS) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1993 and headquartered in Washington, D.C. MAS describes itself as a grassroots Islamic movement. [1] It has more than 50 chapters across the United States. [2]
Muslim American Society (MAS) was founded by a small group of American Muslims who wanted to have a Muslim organization in the United States that would allow them to "organize and integrate Muslims to be a contributing part of American society, to see themselves as Muslim Americans." [3] According to its website, the society is a "charitable, religious, social, cultural, and educational organization" aiming for a virtuous and just American society. Its mission is to "move people and nurture lifelong, God-centered agents of change”. [4]
MAS was incorporated in Illinois in 1993 [2] and established its headquarters in Washington, DC, in 1998. [5] [6] Founding members of the organization were involved in the Muslim Brotherhood, [7] an organization started in Egypt in 1928. The Muslim American Society acknowledges its early connection to the Muslim Brotherhood, [2] including on its website, [8] but says that it has moved "beyond that point of conception" and "has no connection with the Brotherhood and disagrees with the international organization on many issues". [2]
In 1999, the organization began publishing a bimonthly English-language magazine, The American Muslim. The following year, the MAS Youth Center opened in Brooklyn, and MAS helped start the Islamic American University, based out of Southfield, Michigan, and Kansas City, Missouri, as a distant-learning program for classical Islamic studies. [6] In response to anti-Muslim hate following the September 11 attacks, MAS organized events such as Muslim American Heritage Day in Washington, D.C., where 150 Muslims gathered on October 5, 2002, to pray together on Freedom Plaza. [5] The Muslim American Society Freedom Foundation, a public policy division led by Mahdi Bray as executive director, [9] also offered seminars on how to positively change the perception of Islam among Americans. [10]
In 2002, the Muslim American Society held its first joint conference with the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA). [6] The MAS–ICNA conference has since been held annually in Chicago. [11]
In November 2014, MAS was designated a terrorist organization by the United Arab Emirates, [12] [13] with 84 other organizations including the Muslim Brotherhood and its regional and local affiliates, and other regional and international groups. MAS, CAIR and similar European groups were listed due to their alleged Muslim Brotherhood ties. [14] The U.S. State Department subsequently released a statement saying that the department "does not consider these organisations to be terrorist organisations". [15] [16] Muslim American Society stated that it had had "no dealings with the United Arab Emirates" and were "perplexed by this news". [13]
MAS started the “Know your Muslim neighbor" program in January 2016 in response to growing anti-Islam sentiment. With the first event held in Metro Detroit, the program includes opportunities to learn about Muslim culture and traditions. [17] Similar events were held in Cherry Hill, New Jersey, in 2018 [18] and the Galveston Bay Area in 2019, following the Christchurch mosque shootings at a mosque in New Zealand and Easter bombing attacks on churches in Sri Lanka. [19]
In 2019, the Middle East Media Research Institute published a video of children in a Philadelphia MAS center singing about the "blood of martyrs". [20] [21]
In September 2019, the Muslim American Society of Minnesota co-organized a protest along with the Council on American–Islamic Relations and Anti-War Committee to “condemn human rights abuses and security crackdowns under India's Hindu nationalist-led government". The protest was in response to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi's appearance with U.S. president Donald Trump at a rally in Houston. [22] Following the murder of George Floyd, members of MAS of Minnesota participated in the protests calling for justice for the African American man who was killed by police. [23]
During the 2020 U.S. elections, Ismahan Abdullahi, executive director of the Muslim American Society, said that the organization made 185,000 calls and texts to Arab and Muslim communities in eight states including Michigan. [24] Abdullahi is also executive director of MAS PACE National, a policy advocacy division of MAS. [25]
Asad Zaman, executive director of the MAS of Minnesota, said in August 2020 that the organization's food distribution program run at its three Minnesota mosques was up 500% due to the COVID-19 pandemic. [26] In early April 2021, Zaman helped organize a COVID-19 vaccination campaign based out of 16 mosques in Minnesota which succeeded in vaccinating 7,000 people in the lead up to the month of Ramadan. [27]
The Society of the Muslim Brothers, better known as the Muslim Brotherhood, is a transnational Sunni Islamist organization founded in Egypt by Islamic scholar and schoolteacher Hassan al-Banna in 1928. Al-Banna's teachings spread far beyond Egypt, influencing today various Islamist movements from charitable organizations to political parties.
The Council on American–Islamic Relations (CAIR) is a Muslim civil rights and advocacy group. It is headquartered on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., with regional offices nationwide. Through civil rights actions, media relations, civic engagement, and education, CAIR promotes social, legal and political activism among Muslims in America.
Islam is the third largest religion in the United States (1%), behind Christianity and Judaism, equaling Buddhism and Hinduism percentage wise. A 2017 study estimated that 3.45 million Muslim Americans live in the United States, about 1.1 percent of the total U.S. population. In 2017, 20 states which were mostly in the South and Midwest reported Islam being the largest non-Christian religion. In 2020, the U.S. Religion Census found there to be 4.45 million Muslim Americans in the country, making up 1.3% of the population.
The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) is a nonprofit organization based in Plainfield, Indiana. It provides a number of programs and services to the Muslim community and broader society. ISNA holds an annual convention which is generally regarded as the largest annual gathering of Muslims in the US.
Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) is an Islamic North American grassroots umbrella organization. It seeks to propagate Islam and promote the Islamic way of life among American Muslims. It has links to the Jamaat-e-Islami in South Asia.
The Muslim World League is an international Islamic NGO based in Mecca, Saudi Arabia that promotes what it calls the true message of Islam by advancing moderate values that promote peace, tolerance and love.
Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center is a mosque in Northern Virginia. It is located in the Seven Corners area of unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia, in the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.
Esam S. Omeish is a Libyan-born American physician and chief of the Division of General Surgery at Inova Alexandria Hospital since 2006. He is also a member of the Board of Directors of the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque and former President of the Muslim American Society (MAS).
Mohammad Ahmad Hasan Qatanani is the Imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic County in New Jersey. Mohammad Ahmad Hasan Qatanani migrated to America in 1996 as the Imam of the Islamic Center of Passaic County. Qatanani has a Ph.D. in Islamic studies from Jordanian University.
Lorenzo G. Vidino is an Italian-American writer on Islamism in Europe and North America, with a special focus on the Muslim Brotherhood. Since June 2015, he has headed the George Washington University Center for Cyber and Homeland Security's Program on Extremism.
The Yemeni Congregation for Reform, frequently called al-Islah, is a Yemeni Sunni Islamist movement established in 1990 by Abdullah ibn Husayn al-Ahmar, Ali Mohsen al-Ahmar, Abdul Majeed al-Zindani, with Ali Saleh's blessing. The first article of Islah basic law defines it as "a popular political organization that seeks reform of all aspects of life on the basis of Islamic principles and teachings".
The International Union of Muslim Scholars is an organization of Muslim Islamic theologians headed by Ahmad al-Raysuni described as the "supreme authority of the Muslim Brotherhood", founded in 2004, and with headquarters in Qatar and Dublin.
Al Islah was an Islamist group based in the United Arab Emirates that was highly affiliated and considered part of the Muslim Brotherhood. The political group was banned and was designated as a terrorist group after attempting to form a military wing for a coup d'état against the government.
The Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD) is a 501(c)(3) non-profit think tank and a registered lobbying organization based in Washington, D.C., United States.
Ahmed Elkadi was a prominent leader of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood and other organizations including the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), the Muslim Youth of North America (MYNA) and the Islamic Medical Association (IMA). He is considered to have been instrumental in the founding of the Muslim American Society. He died in Tampa, Florida, at the age of 69.
American Muslims often face Islamophobia and racialization due to stereotypes and generalizations ascribed to them. Due to this, Islamophobia is both a product of and a contributor to the United States' racial ideology, which is founded on socially constructed categories of profiled features, or how people seem.
The Muslim Association of Britain (MAB) is a British Sunni Muslim organisation founded in 1997. MAB has been well known for its participation in the protests opposing the Iraq War. More recently, it has been known for promoting Muslim participation in Britain.
The Islamic Society of Baltimore (ISB) is a Muslim community center located in Catonsville, Baltimore County, Maryland, consisting of Masjid Al-Rahmah, Al-Rahmah School, and several other services. The society was founded in 1969 by three Muslim physicians and is known for then-President Barack Obama's visit on February 3, 2016. As of 2019, the society serves around 3,000 people.
Hassan Ahmad Hassan Al Diqqi is an Emirati co-founder of Al Islah party in the United Arab Emirates and the leader of Emirates Al Ummah party. Al Diqqi has been described by United Arab Emirates officials as an extremist Islamist and has been linked to supporting terrorist activities and groups in Syria and elsewhere in the Middle East and North Africa through his party.
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