The website of the International Institute of Islamic Thought (IIIT) has reported on a meeting of the “Northern Virginia Catholic-Muslim Dialog group” that included prominent members of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood. According to the announcement:
Members of the Northern Virginia Catholic-Muslim Dialog group were hosted for a review and planning meeting at IIIT earlier this month. The meeting was a follow-up of an agreement signed between Catholic and Muslim religious leaders signed more than a year ago.Fr. Don Rooney, Fr. Bob Menard, Dave Natella, and Rick Caporali constituted the Catholic team while Dr. Muhammad Shafiq, Dr. Sayyid M. Syeed, Imam Johari Abdul Mailk and Farhanaz Ellis represented the Muslim side. Also participating from the Muslim side were IIIT officers and staff including Dr. Jamal Barzinji, Dr. Hisham Altalib, Dr. Abubaker al Shingieti, Dr. Iqbal Unus, and Khalid Troudi.
The report also identified a schedule of unidentified programs to take place 2008-2009 and, interestingly, also said that certain members would be working together on Facebook, the social-networking Internet site. IIIT officials Barzinji and Altalib were instrumental in the founding of most of the important U.S. Muslim Brotherhood organizations including the Muslim Student Association and the Islamic Society of North America as well as IIIT while Sayyid M. Syeed is the current Secretary-General of ISNA and was formerly director of outreach at IIIT. Dr. Al-Shingieti’s background was examined in an earlier post. The relationship between the global Muslim Brotherhood and the Catholic Church has been rocky of late following Pope Benedict’s statement on Islam made last year. Another post has discussed Pope Benedict’s plan to host a “summit” of Catholic and Muslim leaders in November that will likely include a substantial representation from the global Muslim Brotherhood