Current Events

ISNA Joins with Interfaith Community During Papal Visit
On April 17th, 2008 Dr. Sayyid Syeed National Director along with staff from the ISNA Office for Interfaith and Community Alliances will participate in festivities related to Pope Benedict XVI’s visit to the United States. 

Dr. Sayyid M Syeed attends Compassion Forum in Pennsylvania

On Sunday April 13th, Dr. Sayyid M Syeed National Director of the Islamic Society of North America attended the Compassion Forum at Messiah College in Brubaker PA.  Senator's Barack Obama and Hillary Clinton participated in this forum that focused on moral issues such as torture, the crisis in Darfur, domestic and international poverty, AIDS, climate change as well as the candidates own faith and moral convictions.  Read More.


ISNA Endorses Hate-Crimes Sign-on Letter

Members of the hate crimes coalition have been working to make Department of Education campus hate crime statistics (included as part of its overall crime data reports, http://ope.ed.gov/security/search.asp) consistent with FBI Hate Crime Statistics Act categories.  These efforts were successful in the House-passed version of the Higher Education Act reauthorization legislation (H.R. 4137).  

In February, the House approved an HEA reauthorization bill with a provision to make the crime categories required to be reported to the Department of Education parallel those collected by the FBI.  The amendments will benefit both parents and children by providing them with a more accurate sense of campus safety.  As House and Senate conferees meet to reconcile differences in their HEA reauthorization bills, we want to highlight the importance of retaining the House-passed campus hate crime improvements provision – with a sign-on letter in support of this simple, important provision.

Read the letter here.

ISNA Participates in National Prayer Breakfast

On February 7, 2008 Dr. Sayyid Syeed, National Director and Mohamed Elsanousi, Director of Communications and Community Outreach were invited to the 56th Annual National Prayer Breakfast.  ISNA was the only national Muslim organization that was invited to and attended this major event.  Attended by 4,000 people representing  155 nations, the National Prayer Breakfast began as a Congressional prayer circle in 1951 and has grown to  be a major world event attended by every president since Dwight D. Eisenhower.  President Bush in his remarks stated, “When we lift our hearts to God, we're all equal in His sight. We're all equally precious; we're all equally dependent on His grace. It's fitting that we gather each year to approach our Creator in fellowship -- and to thank Him for the many blessings He has bestowed upon our families and our nation. It is fitting that we gather in prayer, because we recognize a prayerful nation is a stronger nation.” (White House)  Read the full article.

Children of Abraham: Muslims and Jews in Conversation

In conjunction with the Union for Reform Judaism, the Islamic Society of North America has helped in creating a dialogue guide for mosques and synagogues to facilitate understanding between the two faith groups. This initiative hopes to provide a vital link between the two religions. The dialogue guide will be implemented communities where there is both a mosque and synagogue interested in participating.