ISNA Secretary General, Safaa Zarzour, and ISNA Development Foundation Executive Director, Ahmed ElHattab, attended the annual dinner of the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC) to celebrate the impressive work of the council on behalf of Muslims in the greater Chicago area, and to invite the representatives of the 60-member strong council to the ISNA Convention and ask them to encourage their members to attend the convention as well. The ISNA convention will be held in Chicago during the period of July 2-5, 2010. 

The council event included an impressive list of speakers including Congressman Keith Ellison, Illinois State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, Illinois Republican Minority Senate Leader Christine Radogno and several state senators and representatives from around the state. 

Safaa Zarzour introduced the keynote speaker Rashad Hussain, United States Special Envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference and Deputy Associate Counsel to President Obama. In the introduction, Zarzour emphasized the example Rashad sets for members of the Muslim community both young and old in terms of hard work, achievement, and service to ones country. 

In turn, Rashad spoke about President Obama's outreach to the Muslim community both abroad and in the US and urged the Muslim community to continue to do its part in combating violent extremism and building bridges with other interfaith groups and civil society organizations.

"This is a wonderful event highlighting the tremendous progress the Muslim community in Chicago has made in community building," said Ahmed ElHattab. "We are excited to have the ISNA annual convention here and are happy with the support we receive from CIOGC whenever we are in Chicago," he added.