PLAINFIELD, Ind. - Imam and scholar Muneer Fareed, who led a program to teach Muslim youths about their religion, has taken over the day-to-day operations of the largest Muslim group in the U.S. as the new secretary general of the Islamic Society of North America.
Fareed, who began work Tuesday at the society’s Plainfield headquarters, taught at Wayne State University in Detroit until earlier this year. He earned a doctorate in Islamic Studies from the University of Michigan and also has studied in South Africa, Saudi Arabia and India.
“He was an excellent teacher, an excellent administrator, and a very good colleague,” said May Seikaly, chairwoman of the Department of Near East and Asian Studies at Wayne State.
The Islamic Society, formed in 1963, is an umbrella group that represents Muslim associations for youth, college students, engineers and others, and provides support to Muslim chaplains and North American mosques.
Fareed also has served as an imam, or prayer leader, at Detroit-area mosques.
“He brings both practical knowledge of lived Islam, as well as a depth of scholarship to this position,” Ingrid Mattson, who was elected the society’s first female president in August, said in a news release. “In addition, Dr. Fareed has a good understanding of the challenges faced by youth.”
Fareed was one of the founders and core scholars of the American Learning Institute for Muslims. The program based in the Detroit area is geared toward Muslim high school seniors and college students and “seeks to produce Islamically literate members of society that will have a positive effect on Muslim society as well as the society at large,” according to its Web site.
Fareed also might be expected to reach out to black, U.S.-born Muslims. In a September 2005 speech to the United Muslim Association of Toledo, Ohio, he said American Muslims had a moral responsibility to strengthen ties with black Muslims.
Fareed succeeds Sayyid M. Syeed, who will head ISNA’s new Office of Interfaith and Community Alliances in Washington, D.C., after holding the secretary general’s post since 1994.
The Associated Press left a message Thursday at the Islamic Society seeking an interview with Fareed.
