- Johari Abdul-Malik
Johari Abdul-Malik is the President of the Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations, [http://www.cnn.com/2005/US/07/25/muslims.nonviolence/index.html Muslim groups target youths in anti-terror campaign] CNN] Head of the National Association of Muslim Chaplains in Higher Education, President of the Muslim Society of Washington, Inc. [http://www.imamjohari.com/biography.htm Biography] Imam Johari Abdul Malik ] , and a founding member of the Muslim Advocacy Commission of Washington, D.C. He served as
Muslim chaplain ofHoward University inWashington, D.C. . Currently he works as the outreach director for the Dar Al Hijrah Islamic Center inNorthern Virginia [http://www.tkb.org/NewsStory.jsp?storyID=78762 For use in Friday PMs newspapers of July 29 and thereafter] MIPT Terrorism Knowledge Base] and serves as the chair of government relations of theMuslim Alliance of North America . [http://www.wrmea.com/archives/may2002/0205090.htm AMGPJ Press Conference on Middle East Crisis] Washington Report on Middle Eastern Affairs]Abdul Malik and
Reverend Graylan Hagler created the Ramadan Feed-the-Needy Program in Washington D.C., an organization that gives food to 100 hundred homeless every night duringRamadan .Early life
Abdul-Malik was raised
Anglican by hisAfrican American parents inBrooklyn ,New York until "atconfirmation the teachings of theTen Commandments exposed the inherent contradiction ofwestern Christianity ." His mother is from northernLouisiana and his father is fromBarbados . He exploredTaoism and "Asian Spirituality" in high school. When attending Howard University, where he received a BS in Chemistry and an MS in Genetics and Human Genetics, he became a self-described Black activist, musician andvegetarian , experimenting with "transcendental mediation." In Graduate school he converted toIslam and became President of theMuslim Student Association and later the first officially recognized Muslim Chaplain in higher education in theUnited States . He completed his Clinical Post Graduate Training Program inBioethics atGeorgetown University Kennedy Center for Ethics, completing his PhD course work in Bioethics and Genetics.Dar al-Hijrah
As the outreach director for
Dar al-Hijrah mosque, Abdul-Malik said politicalsermon s had "to address the issues facing our community or else our faith will be irrelevant. That includes politics, education, health care ... the whole panoply of human issues." Abdul-Malik defended the choice ofShaker Elsayed , who has supported numerous convicted terrorists, as the newimam at Dar al-Hijrah, saying that "Elsayed is a good choice to lead Dar al-Hijrah because of his pre-eminence as a scholar and his ability to relate to both the immigrant and the native-born communities. Elsayed is an established religious authority who has previously served as imam at theIslamic Center of Washington ." Abdul-Malik denied claims that Dar al-Hijrah is a center ofIslamic fundamentalism and a center for the promotion of extremistSalafism , but stated his support forAli al-Tamimi , who was convicted in theU.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia for soliciting others to levy war against the United States and for recruiting for thePakistan i terrorist organizationLashkar-e-Toiba , and the paintball terrorist cell.Anti-terrorism press conference
In a press conference given on
July 25 , 2005 Abdul-Malik said, "People who would go out and kill anyone, of any religion, from any country, of any age, for no reason other than the fact they are angry, isolated and upset is againstGod by whatever name you call [him] ." He told reporters that the weekend before, when he attended hismosque , a young person told him someone had tried to "recruit" him, but Abdul-Malik said he had never heard ofal Qaeda recruiting in his community. He said he told the youth, "You need to alienate yourself from those people. They're saying to you that they're your friend, and that you'll be their confidant, when in reality, they're going to sell you out."Criticism of Israel
On
March 8 , 2002American Muslims for Global Peace and Justice held a press conference at the National Press Club. The panelists at the conference were Abdul-Malik, Dr.Phil Wogaman , pastor of theUnited Methodist Church and spiritual adviser to formerUnited States President Bill Clinton , andEugene Bird ofCouncil for the National Interest .Abdul-Malik began by stating that he did not speak for Howard University, mentioning that
Sami Al-Arian , who was convicted of conspiring to aid the terrorist organizationPalestinian Islamic Jihad , was fired from theUniversity of South Florida allegedly for not making such a disclaimer, and the dean of Howard University insisted on the pre-speech statement. He claimedIsraeli Prime Minister Ariel Sharon started theIsraeli-Palestinian conflict because it was in Sharon’s political interests to have "a police insecurity state," making people "rally ’round the flag before fanning the flames." Abdul-Malik compared theIsraeli separation barrier toSouth African Apartheid and advocated and amoratorium on entertainers who perform in Israel. He accused the Israeli government of engaging in ascorched earth policy. However, he ended his speech by quoting theQur’an icaphorism , "Do not let your hatred of a people cause you to be unjust."upport for Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin
Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, former chairman of the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee , was convicted in2002 of murdering Ricky Leon Kinchen, aFulton County, Georgia sheriff's deputy, and wounding another officer in a gunbattle at his store. [http://www.splcenter.org/intel/intelreport/article.jsp?pid=946 End of Watch] Southern Poverty Law Center] Abdul-Malik said he suspects Al-Amin was framed and that "Somebody has a vendetta against people likeH. Rap Brown , because he stood up during a period of great repression in this country and said it mattered to him." [http://www.blacknewsweekly.com/bin56.html Ex-Black Militant Awaits Trial] Black News]External links
* [http://www.imamjohari.com/ Official website]
References
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