Omar Ahmad
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Omar Ahmad is the founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR). He had been the chairman of CAIR's board of directors since its founding in 1994, but stepped down from that position in May, 2005.[6] He was formerly the director of CAIR's parent organization, the Islamic Association for Palestine. Ahmad is also the founder, President and CEO of a software technology company in the Silicon Valley. He holds B.S and M.S in computer engineering.[7]
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Omar Ahmad is the founder of the Council on American-Islamic Relations, better known by the acronym CAIR, a Washington DC-based grassroots civil rights and advocacy group which seeks to empower the North American Muslim community through political and social activism. As the Chairman of the Board of Directors since founding in 1994, Mr. Ahmad has successfully led CAIR to becoming the largest Muslim civil rights organization with 29 regional offices and chapters.
Mr. Ahmad is a well-known activist and a community leader in the San Francisco Bay Area. He is frequently interviewed by national news media such as the New York Times, Washington Post and the LA Times. Mr. Ahmad is also the founder, President and CEO of a software technology company, TrustedID, (a vendor of Identity Theft services). [8] TrustedID's Phone is: 1.888.548.7878. And they can be reached by mail at: 555 Twin Dolphins Drive, Suite 610, Redwood City, CA 94065. Unusually enough, Mr. Ahmad is also the Agent for Service of Process at TrustedID, according to the California Secreatry of State.[9]
He holds B.S and M.S in computer engineering and was formerly with Napster, the company which achieved notoriety for file sharing of copyrighted material.
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On July 4, 1998, the San Ramon Valley Herald reported on a public address by Ahmad at a conference on the subject of "How Should We as Muslims Live in America?" [1] The article reported Ahmad's remarks as follows:
- Muslim institutions, schools and economic power should be strengthened in America. Those who stay in America, he said, "should be open to society without melting (into it)," keeping mosques open so anyone can come and learn about Islam, he said.
- "If you choose to live here (in America) ... you have a responsibility to deliver the message of Islam, he said."
- Islam isn't in America to be equal to any other faiths, but to become dominant, he said. The Koran, the Muslim book of scripture, should be the highest authority in America, and Islam the only accepted religion on Earth, he said.
CAIR's national spokesman, Ibrahim Hooper, said "[Ahmad] never made the statement, and we have sought a retraction."[2] CAIR also issued a press release stating the "alleged statement about the Quran by CAIR's board chairman was not in fact a quote. It was a paraphrase of remarks that were either reported inaccurately or wrongly attributed by a reporter at a small California newspaper. CAIR is seeking a retraction from that newspaper."[3] However, the reporter stood by her story and her editors backed her up; no retraction was issued.[4]
