Muslim Public Affairs Council
Encyclopedia
- This article is about the US organisation headquartered in Los Angeles. For the US organization headquartered in Raleigh, see Muslim American Public Affairs CouncilMuslim American Public Affairs CouncilThe Muslim American Public Affairs Council is an American-Muslim political and public advocacy group headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina. MAPAC began having annual fundraisers in 2003.The mission of MAPAC is two-fold...
.
The Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) is a national American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
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...
advocacy and public policy organization headquartered in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
and with offices in Washington D.C. MPAC was founded in 1986.
MPAC has participated in a number of coalitions and networks, and worked with Japanese-American organizations.
History
MPAC was founded in 1986 as the "Political Action Committee of the Islamic Center of Southern California". It was later renamed in 1988 to the "Muslim Public Affairs Council."In its history, it has condemned the death fatwa against Salman Rushdie and the attacks on the World Trade Center
World Trade Center
The original World Trade Center was a complex with seven buildings featuring landmark twin towers in Lower Manhattan, New York City, United States. The complex opened on April 4, 1973, and was destroyed in 2001 during the September 11 attacks. The site is currently being rebuilt with five new...
, and denounced the Taliban and Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Laden
Osama bin Mohammed bin Awad bin Laden was the founder of the militant Islamist organization Al-Qaeda, the jihadist organization responsible for the September 11 attacks on the United States and numerous other mass-casualty attacks against civilian and military targets...
.
Mahdi Bray
Mahdi Bray
Wright Mahdi Bray , a Black American convert to Islam, is a civil and human rights activist who serves as Executive Director of the Muslim American Society's Freedom Foundation based in Washington, DC...
formerly was political director of MPAC.
Envisioning Peace: Israeli-Palestinian Conflict
Calling it the "most complicated and intractable (issue) of our time" MPAC recommends a peaceful solution which will lead to coexistence and mutual respect. "The Muslim Public Affairs Council believes that this dialogue will lead to a strategy to end this conflict that has taken too many lives and has destabilized an entire region of global significance." Their position paper states:.- " At MPAC’s core is an Islamic sensibility that human beings should conduct their lives in accordance with a higher ethical and moral wisdom, tested through the ages and designed to afford maximum dignity and justice to human life. It is these ideals shared by our friends in the interfaith community, that we appeal to as we continue to travel the extremely difficult road of peace between Israelis and Palestinians."
- "In addition to offering our position as stated above as clearly as possible with the hopes of facilitating fruitful and honest dialogue and strategizing, we conclude by offering principles for the pro-Israel camp to engage with us in the future in a manner that we believe will yield better results enabling us to have a positive influence on the peace process."
Actions against terrorism
MPAC started "The National Grassroots Campaign to Fight Terrorism" by providing guidelines to American Muslim community leaders to ensure that Mosques are not used by potential terrorists and to monitor activities inside Mosques. This program is instituted in cooperation with Mosques across this great country to regulate what kind of groups may assemble in a Mosque and inform the United States Department of Homeland SecurityUnited States Department of Homeland Security
The United States Department of Homeland Security is a cabinet department of the United States federal government, created in response to the September 11 attacks, and with the primary responsibilities of protecting the territory of the United States and protectorates from and responding to...
if any suspicious activity takes place.
Large publications have taken a note of MPAC's activities to prevent terrorism on American soil. The Wall Street Journal praised American Muslims for being "part of the solution". The Philadelphia Inquirer said to "credit Muslims who speak out" against terrorism.
Response to the 2006 transatlantic aircraft plot
On August 10, 2006 the London Metropolitan PoliceMetropolitan Police Service
The Metropolitan Police Service is the territorial police force responsible for Greater London, excluding the "square mile" of the City of London which is the responsibility of the City of London Police...
announced that it had arrested key suspects in a terrorist plot to detonate bombs on a number of flights from the UK to cities in the U.S. and that the plot had been disrupted as it was "getting close to the execution phase", with a dry run planned within two days of the arrests according to U.S. intelligence officials. High security measures were put in place at all UK airports, including a banning of all non-essential hand luggage. Security was also increased at many airports around the world, with a large number of flights into the UK being cancelled.
A few hours later U.S. President George W. Bush
George W. Bush
George Walker Bush is an American politician who served as the 43rd President of the United States, from 2001 to 2009. Before that, he was the 46th Governor of Texas, having served from 1995 to 2000....
said the plot was "a stark reminder that this nation is at war with Islamic fascists who will use any means to destroy those of us who love freedom, to hurt our nation."
Both the MPAC and the Council on American Islamic Relations criticized the use of the term 'Islamic fascism.' Edina Lekovic
Edina Lekovic
Edina Lekovic is the Director of Policy & Programming at the Muslim Public Affairs Council and frequently acts as a national spokesperson for the American Muslim community to media outlets, government officials, interfaith leaders, academic institutions, and community...
, spokeswoman for the Muslim Public Affairs Council in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, said, "The problem with the phrase is it attaches the religion of Islam
Islam
Islam . The most common are and . : Arabic pronunciation varies regionally. The first vowel ranges from ~~. The second vowel ranges from ~~~...
to tyranny and fascism
Fascism
Fascism is a radical authoritarian nationalist political ideology. Fascists seek to rejuvenate their nation based on commitment to the national community as an organic entity, in which individuals are bound together in national identity by suprapersonal connections of ancestry, culture, and blood...
, rather than isolating the threat to a specific group of individuals."
Senior National Staff
- Salam Al-Marayati - President
- Edina Lekovic - Director of Policy & Programs
- Haris Tarin - Director, Washington D.C. Office
- Suhad Obeidi - Director of Operations
Coordination
MPC is also a member of the American Muslim Political Coordination Council (AMPCC), along with the American Muslim Alliance (AMA), American Muslim CouncilAmerican Muslim Council
The American Muslim Council is an Islamic organization and registered charity in the United States. Its headquarters is located in Chicago, Illinois....
(AMC), and Council on American-Islamic Relations
Council on American-Islamic Relations
The Council on American-Islamic Relations is America's largest Muslim civil liberties advocacy organization that deals with civil advocacy and promotes human rights...
(CAIR). AMPCC's primary concern is to coordinate the member organizations on activism and lobbying.