AMCLI Alumni
The following individuals have participated in the American Muslim Civic Leadership Institute. To date, 86 fellows from four cohorts have participated in AMCLI.
Please note that some of the affiliations have changed subsequent to the program.
Amira Ahmed
Amira Ahmed is founder and executive director of Midwest Community Development, Inc. (MCDI). She has been recognized as a leader in expanding Somali women dream, building cross-cultural collaborations, streamlining idea and incorporating accountability measures, and promoting strategies to increase individual...
Kasar Abdulla
Kasar Abdulla was born in Kurdistan of Iraq. When former Iraqi President Saddam Hussein waged war on the region in 1988, Kasar lost several family members and she was forced to become a refugee.
Mustafah Abdullah
Having experienced marginalization as an American-Egyptian Muslim in both the U.S. and Egypt, Mustafa has worked to build the beloved community in which everyone feels a sense of belonging. As a senior at Wake Forest University and a member of...
Suzy Abu-Nie
Suzy Abu-nie has a strong commitment to contribute to society in a variety of ways as taught in Islam. She currently assists underserved Muslim women, men, and families with social and mental health services at Hyde Street Community Services in San Francisco.
Junaid Afeef
Junaid M. Afeef is an attorney, community organizer and writer. He serves in the Office of General Counsel at the Illinois Criminal Justice Information Authority where he works on a range of criminal justice policy matters.
Amer Ahmad
Amer Ahmad is the comptroller of the City of Chicago, appointed by Mayor Rahm Emanuel. Until recently, he served as Deputy State Treasurer and Chief Financial Officer for the State of Ohio Treasury.
Samar Ahmad
Samar Kaukab Ahmad is the executive director of the Ohio Alliance to End Sexual Violence (OAESV). Prior to serving at OAESV, she was the executive director at SalamCorps, a Central Ohio based community service organization promoting civic engagement within the American Muslim community.
Reema Ahmad
Reema Ahmad is the executive director of Project Mobilize, a nonprofit dedicated to increasing civic participation and representation from politically marginalized communities. In its first year, Project M recruited, trained, and ran seven Muslim American candidates for local offices. A...
Sameer Ahmed
Sameer Ahmed is a Skadden Fellow and staff attorney at the Asian American Legal Defense and Education Fund (AALDEF). He provides direct representation, community education and policy advocacy for low-income South Asian, Arab, and Muslim residents of New York City.
Fahd Ahmed
Fahd Ahmed is legal and policy director of Desis Rising Up and Moving (DRUM). Currently, Ahmed leads DRUM’s work on national security, racial profiling, and police accountability in the Racial and Immigrant Justice program, and is also developing a community...
Tanzila Ahmed
Tanzila "Taz" Ahmed is the voter engagement manager for the Asian Pacific American Legal Center in Los Angeles, where she is working on the Your Vote Matters! 2012 campaign, a non-partisan voter engagement and mobilization effort turning contacting over 500,000...
Rabia Akram
Rabia Akram is the president of the American Muslim Health Professionals. Previously, he served as a board member and led the Health Research and Policy Committee.
Ishraq Ali
Ishraq Ali is a movement building fellow at the Long Island Civic Engagement Table, close to his hometown of Ronkonkoma, New York. In a county where Latinos, African Americans and Muslims are under-represented, the organization has registered over 4,000 new...
Marwa Aly
Marwa Aly has been the Muslim Chaplain at Trinity College and Wesleyan University since 2008. She is an activist that provides pastoral care from an Islamic perspective and guidance counseling for the Muslim students on campus. She has been invited...
Shahed Amanullah
Shahed Amanullah, senior advisor for technology at the U.S. Department of State, works on digital diplomacy projects for the Special Representative to Muslim Communities,
Nermeen Arastu
Nermeen Arastu is an attorney whose practice area includes commercial litigation, immigration law and civil rights matters. Presently, Nermeen is an associate in Simpson Thacher & Bartlett's New York office where she has worked on securities, white collar and antitrust...
Urooj Arshad
Urooj Arshad is the associate director, Equity and Social Justice at Advocates for Youth. She provides capacity building services to community based organizations working with youth of color around reproductive and sexual health. She has also designed a project that...
Ameen Ashraf
Ameen currently serves as the president of Islamic Circle of Bay Area, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter. Driven by a desire that American Muslims should play out their faith by benefiting the society at large, he was previously responsible for...
Muneer Awad
Muneer Awad is the executive director of the Oklahoma Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-OK). Before working with CAIR-OK, Awad helped launch an international renewable energy company based in New York that provided solar powered equipment to developing...
Nur Aziz
Nur Aziz is the marketing and outreach manager at the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center. In this capacity, she coordinates community programming, runs outreach projects and develops the overall marketing strategy for the ISBCC. Nur is also the program...
Kevin Barrow
Kevin Barrow is co-founder of DC Qur'an Halaqa and serves as head of partnerships for Green Muslims in the District.
Umbreen Bhatti
Umbreen Bhatti is a lawyer with experience in civil rights and constitutional law, and a passion for making important legal concepts accessible to non-lawyers.
Zahra Billoo
As the executive director for the CAIR San Francisco Bay Area (CAIR-SFBA) chapter, Zahra Billoo strives to promote justice and understanding. In 2009, Zahra joined CAIR-SFBA and immediately embraced her roles as community organizer and civil rights advocate. She frequently...
Shahid Buttar
Shahid Buttar is a civil rights lawyer, musician, columnist, and grassroots organizer. He is the executive director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee in Washington, D.C. He served as former counsel of a national program combating racial and religious profiling at Muslim Advocates.
Rabia Chaudry
Rabia Chaudry is an attorney and principal of the Chaudry Immigration Law firm with over a decade of experience in federal immigration law. She is the president of the Muslim Coalition of Connecticut, a community service and educational organization.
Farhad Chowdhury
Farhad Chowdhury is co-founder and chairman of the Micro-philanthropy 100 (M100) Foundation, which supports nonprofit organizations in the Washington, D.C., metro area.
Tamim Chowdhury
Tamim Chowdhury is a community organizer, entrepreneur and real estate professional. Professionally, Tamim is a member of the Center for Realty Policy with the U.S. General Services Administration in the Public Building Service. He is an entrepreneur in the hospitality...
Dustin Craun
Dustin Craun is a writer, educator, community organizer and a communications strategist who has worked with more than 25 different nonprofit and social movement based organizations over the last twelve years in the United States, Mexico, and Ghana. Dustin works...
Makram El-Amin
Imam Makram El-Amin’s commitment to service and civic leadership has made him a pillar in the Minneapolis community. As imam of the historical Masjid An-Nur, he’s led a growing, culturally diverse congregation in his hometown to the forefront of interfaith...
Mohamed Elibiary
Mohamed Elibiary co-founded the Freedom and Justice Foundation in November 2002 to promote a centrist public policy environment in Texas by coordinating the state level government and interfaith community relations for the organized Texas Muslim community.
Basim Elkarra
Basim Elkarra is the executive director of the Sacramento Valley Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-SV). Elkarra was re-elected in 2011 to the California Democratic Party's executive board and chairs its Arab American Caucus and Affirmative Action Committee.
Fatemeh Fakhraie
Fatemeh Fakhraie is an editor, author, and blogger who writes about issues from her perspective as an Iranian-American Muslim woman. Her work has appeared in B*tch magazine, CNN, Ms. magazine, The Guardian, and AltMuslimah.
Hebah Farrag
Hebah Farrag is program manager of the Pentecostal and Charismatic Research Initiative at the USC Center for Religion and Civic Culture.
Nadia Firozvi
Nadia J. Firozvi serves as a policy advisor in the Office for Civil Rights and Civil Liberties in the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. She previously served as domestic policy coordinator at the Arab American Institute and for three years,...
Taha Gaya
Taha Gaya is the executive director of the Pakistani American Leadership Center, the premier political advocacy organization representing the Pakistani American community to the U.S. Government.
Safiya Ghori-Ahmad
Safiya Ghori is MPAC’s Government Relations Director in the Washington, D.C. office. She earned a joint Juris Doctor and Master of Arts in May 2006 from the University of Arkansas.
Tannaz Haddadi
Tannaz Haddadi is a co-founder of the Next Wave Muslim Initiative (NWMI), Inc., which works to engage the Muslim community in the Washington, D.C. Metropolitan Area. NWMI is an organization that aims to galvanize the talents and serve the needs...
Umar Hakim
A graduate of Compton High School, Umar Hakim ignored an opportunity for higher education and pursued a telecommunications job for the next 13 years. It was there that a customer introduced Al Islam to him.
Karim Hakim
Karim Hakim is the program manager for MY DEEN, a Muslim non-profit organization based in Fresno, California, that is dedicated to connecting Muslims to faith and community through several campaigns and programs. Hakim has also served as a coordinator and...
Ahmed Heban
Ahmed Heban has served as the executive director of Somali Community Services since 2004. Prior to joining Somali Community Services, he served as a program coordinator at the Bay Area Somali Community, where he planned, organized, and coordinated the Somali community.
Khizer Husain
Khizer Husain is the president of American Muslim Health Professionals, a national public health nonprofit organization. Under his leadership, AMHP convened the first-ever faith-based roundtable at the Department of Health and Human Services focused on mental health wellness. Mr. Husain...
Tariq Hussain
Tariq Hussain is the executive director and co-founder of SMILE, a New Jersey, nonprofit organization dedicated towards poverty relief. Tariq’s vision for SMILE was to establish an institution that would take a multi-faceted approach towards poverty relief addressing obvious issues...
Zeba Iqbal
Zeba Iqbal is the executive director of CAMP International (Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals). In her role as executive director, Zeba’s focus has been on refining CAMP’s vision and on strengthening CAMP as an organization.
Milia Islam-Majeed
Milia currently serves as the Executive Director of the South Coast Interfaith Council (SCIC), the largest interfaith council in Southern California encompassing some 35 cities and approximately 1.8 million people.
Kyle J. Isma'il
Kyle J. Isma’il is the national programs manager for Islamic Relief USA, the largest Muslim charity in the world whose mission is to alleviate poverty.
Maryam Jamshidi
Maryam Jamshidi is founder of Muftah, a magazine focusing on the domestic issues confronting countries in the Middle East and North Africa.
Shenaaz Janmohamed
Shenaaz Janmohamed has worked on ending domestic violence since 2004. She has held positions within national, state and grassroots organizations, shaping a broad understanding of the complexities in dismantling violence against women within communities.
Sarah Jawaid
Jawaid is the director of Green Muslims (GM). GM is a group started to raise awareness of global environmental issues within a Muslim community while hoping to create a language of Muslim-based environmentalism that precipitates across communities. GM organizes events...
Taif Kaissi
Dr. Taif Kaissi is the co-founder, vice president, and executive director of Medical Network Devoted to Service (MiNDS), a nonprofit organization based in southern California that provides charitable specialty healthcare to the uninsured patients. MiNDS also focuses on economic empowerment...
M. Bilal Kaleem
Bilal has served as Executive Director, then board president, of the Muslim American Society's Boston chapter (MAS Boston), which manages the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (ISBCC).
Sarah Kalim-Ullah
Sarah Kalim-Ullah is the development assistant coordinator for Unity Productions Foundation (UPF)—a non-profit organization that promotes peace through the media.
Ruby Khan
Ruby Khan is the executive director of the Hamdard Center for Health and Human Services in Chicago, IL. She previously worked for the Chicago Council on Global Affairs and for the daily talk radio show, Radio Islam.
Moein Khawaja
Moein Khawaja is executive director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations - Pennsylvania (CAIR-PA). He is committed to protecting the rights of all Muslim Americans and to promote the understanding and integration of Islam into the American experience.
Amal Killawi
Amal Killawi is a social worker with a specialization in mental health and marriage education. She coordinates a research project through the Robert Woods Johnson Foundation focused on addressing health disparities among American Muslims.
Sophia Kizilbash
Sophia currently serves as a co-director of the Native Youth Leadership Alliance and expresses her faith and traditional values by working in partnership with indigenous communities in the United States.
Zahir Latheef
Zahir Latheef is the president of MSA National, an umbrella organization for Muslim Student Association (MSA) chapters across the U.S. and Canada. He has worked extensively with the MSA Lone Star Council (LSC), a coalition of MSAs in Texas, conducting...
Farhan Latif
Farhan Latif is the chief operating officer and director of policy impact at the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding.
Sofia B. Latif
Sofia is program development advisor at the World Wide Web Foundation, an organization that works to enhance the Web's inherently egalitarian, universal and decentralized potential, so as to transform societies towards greater equality, inclusion and transparency.
Edina Lekovic
As the Muslim Public Affairs Council (MPAC) director of policy and programs, Edina oversees strategic initiatives in government, media and Hollywood engagement as well as leadership development programs.
Hind Makki
Hind Makki is a leadership associate at the Interfaith Youth Core where she has developed and implements the One Chicago, One Nation program, an initiative that brings together diverse Chicagoans, with an emphasis on the Muslim community, through dialogue, community service and philanthropy.
Naveen Malik
Naveen Malik is a presidential appointee in the administration of President Barack Obama. She proudly serves her country at the Department of Defense, in the office of the secretary of Defense, where she was selected for the prestigious White House...
Asma Men
Asma Men works as the special projects coordinator for the Orange County Asian and Pacific Islander Community Alliance, serving the under-represented and under-privileged communities. Her concentrations are policy, advocacy, and youth leadership development.
Nadiah Mohajir
Nadiah Mohajir is the co-founder and director of programs for the HEART Women & Girls Project, a young nonprofit organization dedicated to empowering women and girls in interfaith and community settings to build self-esteem and leadership through health and wellness.
Jenan Mohajir
Jenan Mohajir is the leadership institute manager at Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), where she oversees curriculum development, recruitment and production for the Interfaith Leadership Institutes. Prior to this role she managed IFYC’s international projects including Interfaith Leaders for Social Action...
Syed Mohiuddin
Syed Mohiuddin is the director of strategic partnerships for the Council of Islamic Organizations of Michigan. He also serves as as chair of the ISNA-CIOM Diversity Forum to be held in January 2011.
Atif Moon
Atif Moon was born in 1985 with a late stage cancer of the spinal cord and had little chance of survival. Despite three surgeries at the age of one month and four more surgeries, one lasting 14 hours, he moved...
Sharaf Mowjood
Sharaf Mowjood is a master's degree candidate at the Columbia University School of Journalism. He is also the former Government Relations Coordinator for the Council on American Islamic Relations (CAIR) of Greater Los Angeles.
Precious Muhammad
Precious Rasheeda Muhammad—author, lecturer, researcher, poet, and publisher—is not only nationally known for her ability to educate and inspire audiences of diverse faiths and backgrounds about America’s unique Islamic heritage, but also for her ability to empower them with the tools to build community through a deeper understanding of history.
Sultan Muhammad
Sultan Muhammad, a native Chicagoan, is a community organizer with a background in strategic communications and multimedia production. He publishes educational resources and is co-founder of a Chicago-based multi-media production company.
Rushdan Mujahid-Deen
Rushdan Mujahid-Deen is assistant imam of Masjid Bilal Islamic Center. From 2001-2005, Imam Rushdan worked with the National Young Adult Association (NYAA) as the Western Sectional representative and vice president. As a member of the NYAA, he was invited to...
Zarinah Nadir
Zarinah Nadir serves as the secretary of the board of the Islamic Social Services Association-USA. She is also the co-founder and board member of Al-Mu’minah Young Muslim Women Association, dedicated to instilling activism and leadership skills in young Muslim women.
Hironao Okahana
Hironao Okahana is an active member of the Islamic Institute of Orange County in Anaheim, California, where he serves as associate chair of the public relations committee. He also serves on the board of directors of Associated Students of UCLA,...
Ndidi A. Okakpu
Ndidi Amatullah Okakpu is a community advocate dedicated to empowering the socio-economic welfare of the Ummah. She is Assistant to the Editor of the Muslim Journal newspaper, and founding Director of NAIM Community Mentoring.
Salim Patel
Salim Patel is serving his second year in public office on the Passaic Board of Education, the 9th largest school district in New Jersey. He also serves as a founder/board member of an emergency food pantry at his local mosque.
Sharmeen Malik Premjee
Sharmeen Malik Premjee is currently a Master's in Public Affairs Degree candidate in International Development at Princeton's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs. She was awarded a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellowship for New Americans to pursue this graduate work.
Megan Putney
Megan Putney is program director of the Muslim Consultative Network, an organization that works to strengthen and unify the diverse New York City Muslim community through education, collaboration, capacity-building and social justice advocacy.
Faisal Qazi
Faisal Qazi currently serves as vice president of the American Muslim Health Professionals, a national Public Health group. Qazi founded and became the first CEO of Health Unit on Davison Avenue free clinic in Detroit in 2004.
Amanda Quraishi
Amanda Quaraishi is the web and database administrator for Mobile Loaves & Fishes, a non-profit organization that addresses the issue of homelessness in the U.S. Quraishi is a writer, blogger, interfaith activist and technology professional living in Austin, Texas, and...
Sabrina Qureshi
Sabrina Qureshi serves as the finance and operations director of the Council for the Advancement of Muslim Professionals (CAMP). She joined CAMP in 2006 as an events planner for the Chicago chapter. Sabrina was active in helping plan the CAMP...
Zeenat Rahman
Zeenat Rahman serves as Secretary Kerry’s special adviser on global youth issues and director of the Office of Global Youth Issues (J/GYI).
Noreen Rahman
Noreen Rahman is the Prevention Programs coordinator at Girls Incorporated of Orange County, a non-profit dedicated to "Inspiring All Girls to be Strong, Smart and Bold" through programming on topics such as body image, teen pregnancy prevention, career readiness, fitness...
Aisha Rahman
Aisha Rahman, Esq., is executive director of KARAMAH and also heads the Family Law Division. Ms. Rahman received her higher education at Emory University and the University of Tennessee College of Law, where she was a staff editor of the...
Qudsia Raja
Qudsia Raja is a domestic violence counselor and community education director at the YWCA Eastern Union County, the lead domestic violence agency in Union County, New Jersey. She provides direct counseling services to victims of domestic violence, as well as community education and policy advocacy work.
Khalis Rashaad
Khalis Rashaad serves as the resident imam of Ibrahim Islamic Center in Houston, Texas. Ibrahim Islamic Center is a mosque that focuses not only on the spiritual needs of its members, but also on the socio-economic issues in the urban...
Hussein Rashid
Hussein graduated with a BA from Columbia College of Columbia University and then went to the Harvard Divinity School where he completed a Masters in Theological Studies. He then received an MA and Ph.D. from Harvard’s Near Eastern Languages and...
Asim Rehman
Asim Rehman is president and co-founder of the Muslim Bar Association of New York (MuBANY), a professional organization for Muslim lawyers, law students, and legal professionals in the New York area. MuBANY provides services to members, builds bridges with members...
Mansoor Sabree
Mansoor Sabree serves as the resident imam of the Atlanta Masjid of Al-Islam. He is a member of World Pilgrims (Atlanta-based interfaith group of Muslims, Christians and Jews), co-founder of Muslim Neighbors Inc., and board chair for Neighborhood Works Inc.
Reem Salahi
Reem Salahi is a board member of the Muslim Legal Fund of America, which finances the legal representation of cases that impact the civil rights and liberties of Muslims in America. Salahi is an attorney at Hadsell Stormer Keeny Richardson...
Jihad F. Saleh
Jihad Saleh is the government affairs representative for Islamic Relief USA. He is responsible for managing IR-USA's advocacy and engagement with Congressional Offices, Federal Executive Departments, and foreign embassies in Washington, DC.
Murtaza Sanwari
Murtaza Sanwari is the director of strategic planning and decision support at Kaiser Permanente - Los Angeles Medical Center. He is also co-founder of Ehsan Center, a faith-based, nonprofit in north Los Angeles County, and was recently appointed to the Los Angeles City Human Relations Commission.
Linda Sarsour
Linda Sarsour is a working woman, community activist, and mother of three. Ambitious, outspoken and independent, Linda shatters stereotypes of Muslim women while also treasuring her religious and ethnic heritage.
Nura Sediqe
Nura Sediqe is currently a Masters in Public Policy candidate at Harvard University's John F. Kennedy School of Government. Prior to graduate school, she served as Research Director at the NAACP Legal Defense & Education Fund in the Washington, D.C. office.
Hashi Shafi
Hashi Shafi, was born in Mogadishu, Somalia, and received a bachelor’s degree in business and management from Somali National University in 1990. After the 1991 civil war, Hashi left Somalia and become refugee in neighboring Kenya.
Kashif Shaikh
Kashif Shaikh is currently a program officer for the McCormick Foundation, a Chicago based foundation committed to fostering communities of educated, informed and engaged citizens through philanthropic programs and is one of the nation's largest foundations, with more than $1 billion in assets.
Naba Sharif
Naba Sharif is a member of the board of directors of the Muslim Public Affairs Council - New York. Dr. Sharif has consistently merged her passions for humanitarian and outreach work, particularly related to underprivileged communities, international concerns and interfaith...
Jamiel Sheikh
Jamiel Sheikh, a native New Yorker, is managing director at Rainfall Capital, a value investment fund he started in 2009 and is currently managing in excess of $25 million in assets. He has successfully launched and exited several ventures including...
Maggie Siddiqi
Maggie Siddiqi is program coordinator at the Islamic Society of North America’ Office for Interfaith and Community Alliances in Washington, D.C., where she oversees implementation of interfaith dialogue and community outreach program and conducts outreach to government officials and stakeholders...
Hira Siddiqui
Hira Siddiqui is currently the director of operations and education at the UMMA center in Waukegan, IL. The UMMA Center’s mission is to empower the lives of underprivileged individuals in Lake County by providing educational support and community resources. The...
Haris Tarin
Haris Tarin is currently the director of the Washington DC office of the Muslim Public Affairs Council. Haris is currently pursuing his graduate work.
Asma Uddin
Asma Uddin is the founder and editor-in-chief of altmuslimah.com. She is also an international law attorney with The Becket Fund for Religious Liberty, a non-profit, non-partisan, public interest law firm based in Washington, D.C.
Yusufi Vali
Yusufi Vali is an organizer for the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, an Industrial Areas Foundation affiliate. Among his organizing victories include working with parents and teachers at an inner-city school in Boston to win a $40 million renovation.
Manar Waheed
Manar Waheed is the policy director at South Asian Americans Leading Together (SAALT). Prior to working at SAALT, she worked with Legal Services of New York City where she provided direct services to domestic violence survivors who were primarily from...
Arshia Wajid
Arshia Wajid established the American Muslim Health Professionals (AMHP) in 2004 to bring together professionals working in various sectors within healthcare to tackle issues of public health within their communities. She served as AMHP’s president for five years, and continues...
Dawud Walid
Dawud Walid is currently the executive director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI), a chapter of America’s largest advocacy and civil liberties organization for Muslims. Walid also serves as an advisory board member of the...
Khuram Zaman
Khuram Zaman is the general administrator of SeekersGuidance, an online Islamic educational institute specializing in the teaching of sacred knowledge in its modern context through online courses, webinars, weekend seminars, retreats, and through social media.
Shireen Zaman
Shireen Zaman is the executive director of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), where she has lead the organization’s efforts to establish a presence in Washington, D.C. and is focused on expanding the its impact and visibility in...