| Shaker Elsayed | |
|---|---|
| Religion | Muslim |
| Personal | |
| Nationality | Egyptian/American |
| Born | 1951 (age 60–61) Cairo, Egypt |
| Senior posting | |
| Title | Imam of Dar Al-Hijrah |
| Period in office | June 1, 2005 – present |
| Predecessor | Mohammed Adam El-Sheikh |
| Religious career | |
| Previous post | Muslim American Society; Secretary General (2000–05) |
Shaker Elsayed (born in Cairo, Egypt, in 1951) is a dual citizen of Egypt and the US, and has been the Imam of the Dar Al-Hijrah mosque in Falls Church, Virginia, since June 1, 2005.[1] He is well known in the Muslim community for his political activism.[2][3]
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Elsayed has an undergraduate degree in Economics and Independent Islamic Studies from Cairo, and has done graduate work in Educational Administration and Psychology at the University of Houston in Texas. He has written his own English translation of the Koran.
In 1990, he was the Principal of the Al-Ghazly Islamic School in Jersey City, where El Sayyid Nosair, the man who killed Rabbi Meir Kahane, sent his children until early 1989. Elsayed argued that the killing of Kahane was not in violation of Islamic law. Discussing how some Muslims viewed the killing, Elsayed said: "It was not a violation, in the sense that Kahane adopted a position against all Arabs and Muslims. He put himself in that category."[4] Nosair was subsequently convicted of Kahane's assassination and involvement in the 1993 World Trade Center bombing.[5]
Prior to becoming imam at the mosque, Elsayed was Secretary General of the Muslim American Society (MAS), a Washington-based national educational, social, and religious organization that promotes community development through the development of the individual and the family, from 2000–05.[2][3][6] While still at MAS, in 2004 Elsayed was also on the mosque's Executive Committee.[7]
When federal agents raided a series of homes and offices in March 2002, looking for evidence of Sami Al-Arian's terrorist links and other terrorist fronts, Elsayed said: "This is becoming a war on Muslim institutions."[8][9][10] Al-Arian ultimately made a plea agreement, pleading guilty to conspiracy to help a "specially designated terrorist" organization, the Palestinian Islamic Jihad.[11]
When three defendants who were part of the Virginia Jihad Network were convicted in March 2004 of conspiring to help wage violent jihad in Kashmir and possibly against American troops in Afghanistan, Elsayed said "It is evident that Muslims should not expect justice. Muslims are besieged after 9/11, for no fault of their own."[12]
In April 2005 Ali Al-Timimi went on trial for treason for, in the week following the 9/11 attacks, telling a group of Northern Virginia Muslims that it should train for violent jihad abroad and wage war on the US. Elsayed said: "He is not accused of anything except talking. It's all about him saying something. If this isn't a First Amendment issue, I don't know what is."[13] After Al-Timini's conviction, Elsayed said that "Ali never opened a weapon or fired a shot, and he is going to get life imprisonment for talking. What kind of country are we turning the United States into today?"[14]
Some commentators say that Elsayed's sermons take a political tone. "Islam forbids you to give allegiance to those who kick you off your homeland, and to those who support those who kick you off your homeland," Elsayed told worshippers. "We do have license to respond with all force necessary to answer our attackers." M.A. Muqtedar Khan, an expert on Islam and a political scientist at Adrian College in Michigan, said Elsayed is not a typical American imam. "Shaker Elsayed is more like a political figure than a religious figure," said Khan, who worshipped at Dar al-Hijrah for several years. "Dar al-Hijrah is a very Arab-centric mosque, very much centered on Arab politics."[2]
Elsayed also served as an unofficial spokesman for the family of Ahmed Omar Abu Ali, who was convicted of plotting to assassinate President Bush. Abu Ali worshipped at Dar al-Hijrah. Elsayed said the case against Abu Ali was based on a confession to Saudi authorities he termed "laughable,"[15] and accused the Justice Department of unfairly targeting Abu Ali and other young Muslims for prosecution.[2][3]