Local media are reporting that Dalia Mogahed, one of President Obama’s “faith advisors”, was a featured speaker at this year’s national convention of the Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA) and Muslim American Society (MAS). According to one report:
Dalia Mogahed spoke in Hartford this weekend, during the 34th Islamic Circle of North America annual convention. Dr. Dalia Mogahed said the country needs young Muslims to help write America’s next chapter. Mogahed is the Executive Director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies. Her research is on Muslim attitude, opinion, and state of mind from around the world. …U.S. Mogahed was recently appointed by President Obama to serve on the Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. She said she is the first Muslim Women in the white house to wear a head scarf. Mogahed said there is something positive about the current administation’s relationship with religious groups. “They’re really approaching faith communities as a source of solutions and ideas rather than seeing them as a possible liability. So I think that’s a very constructive way to view what is a huge resource, which is faith traditions in this country to solve common problems.” The Islamic Circle of North America is one of the largest non-profit Islamic organizations in the US. The three-day convention drew about 10,000 Muslims from across the country.
Ms. Mogahed, who was born in Egypt and lived in the U.S. since the age of 5, is the daughter of Elsayed Mogahed, an Egyptian immigrant who is a former engineering scientist at the University of Wisconsin and director of the Islamic Center of Madison (ICM). The website of the ICM links mainly to U.S. Muslim Brotherhood organizations and Souheil Ghannouchi, the President of the MAS was ICM Imam and President for several years. In 2003, Ms. Mogahed was identified in 2003 as the Outreach Coordinator for the Islamic Center of Pittsburgh (ICP) whose co-founder recently lost a DOE security clearance and whose Imam will probably be deported on immigration violations. Ms. Mogahed is currently the executive director of the Gallup Center for Muslim Studies that also includes Georgetown University academic Dr. John Esposito and she also co-authored a book with Dr. Esposito suggesting that majority of the world’s Muslims support some form of democracy. Dr. Esposito, in turn, is a long-time supporter of the global Muslim Brotherhood , has espoused views consistent with Brotherhood doctrine, and has at least a dozen past or present affiliations with global Muslim Brotherhood/Hamas organizations. Dr. Esposito also spoke at the conference which, according to other reports, was attended by some 10,000 Muslims.
ICNA and the MAS have been holding joint annual conventions for many years. The MAS is a part of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood and known to be close to the Egyptian organization while ICNA is generally thought to be tied to the Jamaat-e-Islami organization of Southeast Asia, itself known to be allied with the global Muslim Brotherhood. ICNA is particularly close to the MAS and Other expected featured speakers at the conference included the following individuals known to be associated with the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood:
- Siraj Wahhaj (Islamic Society of North America, ISNA)
- Jamal Badawi (ISNA,MAS)
- Ingrid Mattson (ISNA)
- Muzammil Siddiqi (ISNA)
- Altaf Hussain (MAS)
- Parvez Ahmed (former Council on American-Islamic Relations )
- Talat Sultan (ISNA)
- Agha Sayeed (American Muslim Alliance)