COMMUNITY MATTERS

ISNA Executive Director, Basharat Saleem, former ISNA president Azhar Azeez, and other ISNA leaders met with President Joe Biden at the Eid celebration event at the White House on May 1.

In his opening remarks, President Biden said, “Welcome to your home. Eid Mubarak.” He emphasized the diverse contributions Muslims have made to our nation as teachers, engineers, doctors, lawyers, business owners, congresswomen, and congressmen.

Through its office in Washington D.C., ISNA is engaged in interfaith and government relations and continues to build bridges for the Muslim community.

With the White House Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships office, ISNA works with the federal government to serve various needs of our community. ISNA has worked on

Minneapolis Allows Publicly Calling Adhan

many initiatives, including a program with the Environmental Protection Agency to address climate change.

President Jimmy Carter addressed the 2014 ISNA convention. President Biden and President Obama have sent video messages in previous conventions. ih

Muslim immigrants. It has three Muslim Council members too: Aisha Chughtai, Jeremiah Ellison and Jamal Osman.

Year-round broadcasts were allowed last year but only between 7am and 10pm. Ellison, Chughtai and Osman remarked that previous actions to expand the adhan carried the feeling of asking permission — as opposed to practicing a protected right enjoyed by other religions.

January is Muslim Heritage Month in New Jersey

The Minneapolis City Council unanimously voted (12-0) on April 13 to allow unfettered broadcast of the Muslim call to prayer — the first major American city to do so. The change to the city’s noise ordinance ensures that the adhan can be broadcast from speakers year-round, five times a day. Previously, the city’s noise rules prevented some morning and evening calls at certain times of the year because they occurred at night with tighter noise restrictions.

“The Constitution doesn’t sleep at night,” Jaylani Hussein, executive director of the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, said after the vote. Hussein said the development should serve as a signal to the world that a “nation founded on freedom of religion makes good on its promise.”

Minneapolis has a huge population of

On April 28, New Jersey Governor, Philip D. Murphy signed into law the Muslim Heritage Month Resolution which designates January of each year as “Muslim Heritage Month” in the state. It calls upon local government agencies and organizations to observe this month with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and educational programs that pay homage to the growing Muslim American community.

The signing ceremony was held during the Governor and First Lady’s Eid celebration at Drumthwacket, the Governor’s residence in Princeton, attended by members of the New Jersey Muslim community.

In a statement, CAIR-NJ executive director Selaedin Maksut, said, “We are happy to take this small step towards pushing back against anti-Muslim bigotry, and we are excited for what’s to come. We also want to thank the Governor and his administration for their support of this resolution.”

“The history of Islam and the growing Muslim Community in New Jersey is rich in the lessons of how the human spirit struggles against social, political, and economic adversity to successfully establish a model life working to serve God and bring forward a model human society,” said Imam Wahy-ud Deen Shareef, Council of Imams in New Jersey.

New Jersey has the highest percentage of Muslim residents in the U.S., at 3.5%, according to 2020 US Religion Census and the Association of Religion Data Archives. The state also leads the way for local representation, with over 40 Muslim elected officials, including the first ever Muslims to the New Jersey State Legislature, Sadaf Jaffer and Shama Haidar.

First Muslim Mayor in Maryland

District council member Dr. Fazlul Kabir was elected mayor of the City of College Park, Md., following a landslide victory in a special election held in May. He is reportedly the first Muslim Mayor of any city in Maryland.