The Muslim American Public Affairs Council (MAPAC) is an American-Muslim

Islam in the United States

From the 1880s to 1914, several thousand Muslims immigrated to the United States from the Ottoman Empire, and from parts of South Asia; they did not form distinctive settlements, and probably most assimilated into the wider society....

 political and public advocacy group headquartered in Raleigh

Raleigh, North Carolina

Raleigh is the capital and the second largest city in the state of North Carolina as well as the seat of Wake County. Raleigh is known as the "City of Oaks" for its many oak trees. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, the city's 2010 population was 403,892, over an area of , making Raleigh...

, North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

. MAPAC began having annual fundraisers in 2003.

The mission of MAPAC is two-fold. First, it is focused on Political Affairs to participate in the political process in order to "Influence policies affecting Muslim

Muslim

A Muslim, also spelled Moslem, is an adherent of Islam, a monotheistic, Abrahamic religion based on the Quran, which Muslims consider the verbatim word of God as revealed to prophet Muhammad. "Muslim" is the Arabic term for "submitter" .Muslims believe that God is one and incomparable...

s, provide Islam

Islam

Islam . The most common are and .   : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...

ic perspectives on various issues, and defend the civil rights

Civil rights

Civil and political rights are a class of rights that protect individuals' freedom from unwarranted infringement by governments and private organizations, and ensure one's ability to participate in the civil and political life of the state without discrimination or repression.Civil rights include...

 of Muslims." Second, it is focused on Media

Mass media

Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

 to develop a working relationship with the media in order to "Present Islamic viewpoints on political and social issues, respond to defamation and misinformation of Islam and Muslims, and educate media personnel about Islam and Muslims."
http://www.mapacnc.com/about_us1.htm

MAPAC is one of the newer American Muslim advocacy group

Advocacy group

Advocacy groups use various forms of advocacy to influence public opinion and/or policy; they have played and continue to play an important part in the development of political and social systems...

 in the United States

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

. It has hosted a number of progressive speakers, and recently brought Nihad Awad

Nihad Awad

Nihad Awad is the Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations .- Early life :Nihad Awad was born in Amman New Camp, a Palestinian refugee camp in Amman, Jordan. He studied at Second Amman Preparatory School for Boys, located at the camp and belongs to UNRWA, and at Salaheddine...

, Norman Finkelstein

Norman Finkelstein

Norman Gary Finkelstein is an American political scientist, activist and author. His primary fields of research are the Israeli-Palestinian conflict and the politics of the Holocaust. He is a graduate of Binghamton University and received his Ph.D in Political Science from Princeton University...

, and Cindy Sheehan

Cindy Sheehan

Cindy Lee Miller Sheehan is an American anti-war activist whose son, U.S. Army Specialist Casey Sheehan, was killed by enemy action during the Iraq War. She attracted national and international media attention in August 2005 for her extended anti-war protest at a makeshift camp outside President...

.

MAPAC-Live TV

MAPAC has its own regular television

Television

Television is a telecommunication medium for transmitting and receiving moving images that can be monochrome or colored, with accompanying sound...

 program in the The Triangle called MAPAC-Live TV. It discusses current issues of local, national, and international topics. Guest panelists include both non-Muslim and Muslim individuals. The goal of the program is to give the media a Muslim voice and shed light on the misconceptions of Muslims and Islam.
http://www.mapacnc.com/mapaclive_tv.htm

MAPAC announced Marc Conaghan as their first Executive Director in January 2007.