Council & ISNA Hosts Unity Banquet

The Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chcago and the Islamic Society of North America co-hosted the Sixth Annual Interfaith Unity Banquet that Friday. The theme of working together and moving forward carried through the night, by the moderator Amina Saeed and the speakers. Dr. Sayyid Syeed kicked off the night by transforming the word "interfaith" into a verb, stating that the guests will be "interfaithing" with each other throughout the evening. Key speakers of the night included Rev. Dr. Bob Edgars, Jamal Badawi, and Tim Morris. Council Chairman, Abdul Malik Mujahid, in his welcoming address, reminded the guests of the responsibility to the poor. He asked them to pray with him for the victims of Hurricane Katrina, which has devastated the South, killed several hundred people and uprooted hundreds of thousands of evacuees.

The night's honoree was Mr. Rick Ufford-Chase, a co-moderator of the Presbyterian Peace Fellowship, an expert in non-violent conflict resolution, and the founder of the Samaritans, an organization that provides emergency assistance to migrants on the Arizona-Mexico border. The tone of the Unity Banquet emphasized the value of working together to move forward and to continuing the interfaith work that has already been done.