In the name of Allah, The Most Beneficent, The Most Merciful

As salaam Alaykum,

As many of you are aware, there is an Evangelical Christian organization, Ministry to Muslims (M2M) which has been appearing at mosques to proselytize to Muslims. M2M is one of several organizations that may send their members to mosques or Islamic organizations to proselytize.

Given that these organizations continue to engage in these activities, CAIR-LA will be developing a more thorough outline of best practices and what to do in these situations. In the meantime, we wanted to provide some background on what these individuals can and cannot do and some quick best tips for masajid and Islamic organizations.

  1. These individuals have the right to:

    1. Be on public sidewalks and areas even if in close proximity to the masjid.

    2. Hold signs and posters on public sidewalks as long as the material is not obscene.

    3. Distribute leaflets, flyers, or other literature on public sidewalks as long as the material is not obscene.

    4. Engage in loud speech that is not overly disruptive.

    5. Engage in speech that challenges the practices or beliefs of Muslims.

  2. If these individuals are engaging in protected activity:

    1. Leave them alone and do not engage with them.

    2. Inform your community and congregation to not engage with them.

    3. Many of the individuals are looking to get a rise out of you. Ignoring them is the best practice.

  3. These individuals do not have the right to:

    1. Disrupt the normal operations of the masjid.

    2. Block access to entryways or exists.

    3. Engage in speech that is likely to incite disruptive or dangerous behavior.

    4. Engage in loud disruptive behavior that is in violation of local noise ordinances. You can google your local county or city noise ordinances for more information.

    5. To enter the masjid or any other related private property without consent.

    6. Generally organize marches or large rallies outside the masjid without proper permits.

  4. If the individuals are engaging in activity that is not protected:

    1. Ask them to leave.

    2. If they are aggressive or disruptive, do not engage with them and contact local law enforcement.

    3. Do not provoke the situation with inflammatory language or actions.

  5. Some other best practices:

    1. If you are aware of these individuals coming to your masjid, inform your local police force to ensure a record of your concerns is documented. Internally document every time you contact local police.

    2. Develop internal policies and practices for dealing with outside visitors who are not congregants. For example, non-congregant visitors must sign in with the front office before visiting the masjid. Also, consider implementing policies that prohibit publicly expressive activity (e.g., flyering, holding signs, etc.) on masjid property that is not approved by the masjid or that is not directly related to masjid purposes.

    3. Post signs regarding these policies.

    4. Consider posting no trespassing signs around your facility.

    5. Make sure your security and parking personnel are informed and trained on dealing with these individuals.

    6. Install security cameras and implement other security measures.

    7. Contact CAIR-LA at (714) 776-1177 (#2) if individuals are engaging in an activity they do not have the right to engage in.

Empowering You

How We Help

Working Together

The Shura is committed to bringing together Muslims in our region to connect with one another.

Education

We are committed to being an educational resource for our region. This includes helping empower our Muslim organizations and educating the greater community on Islam.

Best Practices

We are constantly striving towards setting the standard for our community with the best practices.

Leadership

One of our milestones as Shura is to build capacity for our leadership to succeed.

About Us

Our Mission & Vision

Mission: The Islamic Shura Council of Southern California represents the consensus of Southern California Muslims, promotes communication and service among member organizations and society-at-large, advocates on behalf of its members, and advances leadership development.

Vision: Excellence in Leadership and Strength in Unity.

 

Our History

The Islamic Shura Council was formed on April 20, 1995, by the Muslim leadership as a  community-based nonprofit – 501(c)3 organization. This was a response to fill the need for an umbrella organization representing and advocating on behalf of the growing number of mosques and Muslim organizations in Southern California. It now has an impressive membership of 60 mosques and Muslim organizations. The organization also coordinated outreach campaigns and workshops on relevant issues for its constituencies. The linguistic meaning of Shura is the procedure of making decisions by mutual consultation and consensus. More History Coming Soon…

Our Board of Directors

Dr. Azeem Syed, Board Chair
Institute of Knowledge
Munir Shaikh, Vice Chair
Bayan Islamic Graduate School
Dr. Omar Latif, Secretary
Islamic Center of Irvine
Ibrahim K. Dyfan, Treasurer
Masjid Al-Shareef, Long Beach
Azizah Ali-Regan, Board Member
Islah-LA
Sheikh Tarik Ata, Board Member
Orange County Islamic Foundation
Deana Helmy, Board Member
ICNA Relief SC
Dr. Fahd Jamil, Board Member
Chino Valley Islamic Center
Dr. Ahmed Soboh, Board Member
Islamic Center of Yorba Linda

Our Staff

Elaine Younes

Office Manager

Kalim Farooki

Development Director

Imam Abdul Hafiz

Prison Outreach Project Director

Wali Abdul Hanifzai

Shura TV President

Our Projects

Young Inspirers

The Young Inspirers is a project of Shura Council of Southern California that provides education, mentorship, and an avenue to give back to their community and make positive contributions to the Muslim community through the Shura network.

Believing in the youth and the young talents, Shura councils launched this amazing program in 2017 as an intensive training to young professionals on the best practices of running a non-profit organization and serving on its board. From non-profit law to governance, to media relationships and other aspects of work needed in the non-profit sector. After nine months of training, participants will receive a certificate showing they could be the best contributors when serving on the board of their organization.

Are you a Young Professional? Do you want to connect with other Muslim Young Professionals across Southern California?
Shura Council’s Young Inspirers project does just that! We provide an avenue to bring together young people across the Southern California region to connect, learn and serve their community.

Our community is full of innovative, changemakers in every field, join today and become a member of our growing young professional’s network and give back to your community!

Sign up now: https://goo.gl/CKqkSi

Board Of Imams

Imams are the spiritual leaders of our Masjid, the source of religious information to our community members, and the first consultants our community members go to when guidance is needed. The board of imams will serve to support the imams and empower them to serve the community in the best way. It will also serve to keep the imams and scholars in touch with the rest of the community members to assure good spiritual nourishment that fits the challenges of our times.

Open Mosque Day

Since 2002 thousands of neighbors, friends and curious Americans visited mosques and Islamic centers in Southern California to learn about the faith practices and cultures of their Muslim neighbors, enjoying food and tours of the mosques.

Want to participate but do not know how to start? Need resources for your center? Here is a helpful manual to get a center started

Open Mosque Day Manual 

Muslim Speakers Network

Muslim Speakers Network promotes religious literacy and mutual respect through on-site presentations and interfaith dialogues to schools, colleges, universities, churches, and other community organizations.

Well-prepared presentations on Islamic topics, endorsed by well-known scholars are presented by certified speakers who went through rigorous training to be able to convey the message in a positive way to the audience. This project brought a lot of positive changes to how students in public and private schools view their Muslim classmates.

For more info visit: www.MuslimSpeakersNetwork.org

Prison Outreach Program

Prison Outreach Program (P.O.P)  liaises with county, state and federal prison systems to secure the rights and fulfill the needs of Muslim inmates. It also, represents the Shura Council in all prison and criminal justice-related initiatives, campaigns and conferences.

For many inmates who were introduced to Islam while in prison, P.O.P comes to play a major role in educating them the true message of Islam by providing the certified materials and the qualified teachers who will help them to achieve the change needed to be able to gain their lives back and live it on the right path.

Muslim Charities Association

Muslim Charities Association (MCA SoCal) is a gathering of Muslim Charities serving the Southern California region. MCA strives to foster learning and collaboration between charities in order to benefit the Southern California community in the most impactful way. For the long term, we’re working to improve the infrastructure of Muslim charitable groups by advising new organizations and consulting with existing ones. Want to join MCA?

Please fill out this form to be added to our mailing list.

Association of Islamic Schools

The purpose of this initiative is to create a more cohesive relationship between our Islamic schools. To facilitate meetings to exchange best practices, strengthen the bonds between our students, and create a body that can strongly advocate and negotiate on behalf of Islamic schools. We conduct retreats, training, and continuing education for our communities’ educators and school staff.

Some Facts About the Shura Council
79
Member Organizations
25
Years in Service
145
20/20 Participants
21,000+
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The Islamic Shura Council is an umbrella organization of Mosques and Muslim organizations serving the Muslims of Southern California and is a tax-exempt 501c3 non-profit. Since 1995 the Shura Council continues to foster the spirit and culture of “working together” at all levels in one of the most diverse and largest Muslim populations in the country.



Mailing Address:

2854 N. Santiago Blvd.
Suite 200
Orange, CA 92867
(855) SHURASC (748-7272)
info@shuracouncil.org
(714) 462-3887

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