Professor Amir al-Islam

http://amiralislam.wordpress.com

Amir Al-Islam is currently an Assistant Professor at Zayed University in Abu Dhabi, UAE.  Dr. Al-Islam formerly held the post of Distinguished Lecturer on African American History, Islam, and World Civilization at Medgar Evers College, City University of New York (CUNY) in Brooklyn, NY. He received his Ph.D. from New York University in African American and African Diasporic History.  Prior to joining CUNY, Professor Al-Islam worked for 15 years as the Coordinator of Religious Affairs (Dawah) and Community Outreach of the Muslim World League Office to the United Nations.  He is the former Secretary General of the World Council of Muslims for Interfaith Relations, U.S.A., served as Secretary General of the World Conference on Religion and Peace USA, and is a founding Director of the Joint African / African American Muslim Commission on HIV/AIDS and Orphaned Children, located at the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood in Harlem, New York. 

Dr. Al-Islam has helped facilitate collaboration among people of various religious, ethnic and culturally diverse backgrounds internationally through his participation in peace and interfaith initiatives such as the UN Conference on Social Development in Copenhagen, 1994; the World Conference of Religious Leaders at the Vatican, 1995; the UN World Habitat II, Istanbul, 1996; the Millennium World Peace Summit at the UN, New York, 2001; and two meetings of the World Parliament of Religions in South Africa, 2000 and in Spain, 2004.  During Sierra Leone’s civil strife in the 1990’s, he helped establish one of their first interfaith councils in that country. 

Dr. Al-Islam assisted in organizing the first delegation of Muslim leaders to visit Auschwitz, Poland during the 1990’s.  He also served as Senior Advisor for several World Youth Peace Summits convened from 2004 through 2007 to address critical social issues, including those sponsored by the World Council of Religious Leaders in Bangkok and Sarajevo, and the Global Peace Initiative of Women in the U.S. and India in 2008.  Dr. Al-Islam is one of the founders and serves on the leadership council of the Muslim Alliance in N. America (MANA) headquartered in New York City. Currently Dr. Al-Islam is the Chairman of the Board of the Inner City Muslim Action Network (IMAN) a non-profit NGO headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, USA, which focuses on issues of social justice and delivers a range of direct services including a free medical clinic, a post-release program for former incarcerated Muslims, and an expansive youth program which engages young people, particularly artists, in programs of service and social change.  Additionally, he is the founder of the newly established Institute for the Study of Islam Among Black Americans.