The website of the International Institute of Islamic Thought is reporting that:
IIIT Vice President Dr. Jamal Barzinji became the first recipient of the Faith in Action Award initiated by the International Center for Religion and Diplomacy (ICRD)… Dr. Douglas Johnston, founder and president of ICRD spoke about the role of Dr. Barzinji in bringing IIIT and ICRD together in encouraging the American Muslim community and the U.S. Government to work mutually for the common good. IIIT and ICRD recently formed a partnership to cooperate on important education projects in the Muslim world.
IIIT was founded in 1980 by important members of the Global Muslim Brotherhood (GMB) including Dr. Barzinji and is associated with the SAAR Foundation, a network of Islamic organizations located in Northern Virginia that was raided by the Federal government in 2003 and which is the subject of an ongoing investigation. The ICRD and IIIT held a prior conference in November 2006 that was co-sponsored by the Institute for Defense Analysis which according to its website is engaged with the Department of Defense in the study of national security issues.
A likely figure involved with the IIIT/IRCD partnership is the Vice President for Islamic Programs at ICRD, Dr. Abubaker Y. Ahmed Al-Shingieti whose IRCD biography omits was as of August 2006 identified by the IIIT website as an IIIT Regional director. His biography does state that he is a former Sudanese diplomat who also was a Research Associate at the Center for Muslim-Christian Understanding (CCMU) at Georgetown University School, an active member of the Association of Muslim Social Scientists of North America (AMSS), and a former editor of Islamic Horizons, the monthly magazine published by the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA). AMSS and ISNA are important elements in the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood and CCMU is headed by Dr. John Esposito, a long-time supporter of the GMB who gave the keynote address at the 2006 IIIT/ICRD conference.