News from Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta

On Saturday, November 8, the Islamic Speakers Bureau of Atlanta held its fifth annual Building Bridges Awards Dinner to honor Atlantans who have reached across lines of religion, creed, race, and ethnicity to find common ground between people of diverse backgrounds.

The event commenced with invocations by Rabbi Scott Colbert of Temple Emanu-El, Dr. Daniel Vestal of the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and Imam Furqan Muhammad of Masjid Al-Muminun.

Bassem Fakhoury was the Master of Ceremonies. Guests included members of Atlanta's diplomatic, business, faith, academic, education, and legislative communities, as well as producers from Atlanta Interfaith Broadcasting (AIB) and CNN.

ISB Executive Director, Soumaya Khalifa spoke about the mission of the ISB and stressed the importance of building relationships by being invited to present in various venues where "we teach, not preach."

She also revealed that the ISB has now obtained 501c-3 status and thanked the AHAD Foundation for helping the organization in its infancy. In her words, the ISB "put a face to the words 'Islam' and 'Muslim.'" Finally, she noted that in 2008, the ISB presented to 8333 Atlantans.

The ISB's Speaker of the Year was Ehab Jaleel, who introduced his project 'Meaningful Conversations'.

Dr. Waleed El-Ansary, Professor of Islamic Studies at University of South Carolina at Columbia, delivered the keynote speech on behalf of Dalia Mogahed, who had an unexpected emergency. He mentioned the recent world conference in the Gulf in which top scholars from the Christian and Muslim worlds met and discussed ways to combat extremism and come closer together under the Common Word initiative, which emphasizes "Love of God, Love of Neighbor".

Dr. El-Ansary also discussed Ms. Mogahed's book, Who Speaks for Islam and Muslims?: What a Billion Muslims Really Think, coauthored with Dr. John Esposito in a groundbreaking Gallup research project.

Daniel Tutt, Outreach Coordinator of Unity Productions Foundation, producers of the PBS documentary Prince Among Slaves, also addressed the audience, expressing interest in creating a documentary film based on Ms. Mogahed's and Dr. Esposito's research.

The highlight of the evening was the awards ceremony.The ISB bestowed three Building Bridges Awards. The first honoree was Dr. John Weaver from the Pitts Theology Library of Emory University, introduced by Huma Faruqi. Soumaya Khalifa introduced the next honoree, Temple Emanu-El, represented by Norman Zoller, temple President. Finally, Ehab Jaleel recognized Kids4Peace USA. Dr. Henry Carse, Founder and Executive Director of Kids4Peace, accepted the award on behalf of the children. He was accompanied to the stage by several young people who related their experiences with Kids4Peace, an annual program in which youngsters from the three Abrahamic faiths gather in Atlanta and other venues to get to know each other.

The ISB also inaugurated its Lifelong Achievement Award this year. The recipient of this award was Dr. Mostafa A. El-Sayed, Julius Brown Chair, Regents Professor, and Director of the Laser Dynamics Laboratory at the Georgia Institute of Technology. In 2007, President George W. Bush honored Dr. El-Sayed as the sole recipient of the National Medal of Science in Chemistry for his "contributions to our understanding of the electronic and catalytic properties of nanostructures and nanomaterials."