Speaker to discuss Muslim political involvement

COLUMBIA — Encouraging Muslims to get involved in the upcoming elections will be the topic of a lecture on Thursday.

Parvez Ahmed, chairman of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, a nonprofit civil rights advocacy group, will be discussing the political role of Muslims at a forum at 6:30 p.m. Thursday, in Room 22 in Tate Hall at MU. The lecture, titled “Muslims, Politics and the 2008 Elections,” is sponsored by the Muslim Student Organization and the Islamic Center of Central Missouri.

Rashed Nizam, event organizer and chairman of the education board at the Islamic Center, said Ahmed will discuss the importance of Muslims being actively engaged in the mainstream political process.

The center has invited other Islamic communities from around Missouri to take part in the event, Nizam said.

Ahmed is an associate professor of finance at the University of North Florida in Jacksonville and an at-large board member for the American Civil Liberties Union in Florida, according to CAIR’s Web site. In 2002, Ahmed received a Civil Liberties award from the South-Central Pennsylvania chapter of the ACLU. CAIR is the largest Muslim civil liberties group in the U.S., according to the Religion Newswriters Association.

Along with his scholarly research, Ahmed has written many editorials targeted at dispelling Islamic stereotypes that have been published in major newspapers across the country. He also maintains a personal blog at drparvezahmed.blogspot.com.

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