Nihad Awad (

Arabic Arabic (, ' ; , ' or ) is a Semitic language spoken primarily across the Arab world.Semitic languages: an international handbook / edited by Stefan Weninger; in collaboration with Geoffrey Khan, Michael P. Streck, Janet C. E.Watson; Walte ...

: نهاد عوض) is the co-founder and Executive Director of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR).

Early life

Nihad Awad was born in Amman New Camp, a

Palestinian Palestinians ( ar, الفلسطينيون, ; he, פָלַסְטִינִים, ) or Palestinian people ( ar, الشعب الفلسطيني, label=none, ), also referred to as Palestinian Arabs ( ar, الفلسطينيين العرب, label=non ...

refugee camp A refugee camp is a temporary settlement built to receive refugees and people in refugee-like situations. Refugee camps usually accommodate displaced people who have fled their home country, but camps are also made for internally displaced pe ...

in Amman,

Jordan Jordan ( ar, الأردن; tr. ' ), officially the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,; tr. ' is a country in Western Asia. It is situated at the crossroads of Asia, Africa, and Europe, within the Levant region, on the East Bank of the Jordan Ri ...

. He studied at Second Amman Preparatory School for Boys, located at the camp and belongs to

UNRWA The United Nations Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) is a UN agency that supports the relief and human development of Palestinian refugees. UNRWA's mandate encompasses Palestinians displaced by the 1948 P ...

, and at Salaheddine High School in Achrafieh in

. He moved to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

and later to the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., federal district, five ma ...

to pursue his university studies.

Career

After studying

civil engineering Civil engineering is a professional engineering discipline that deals with the design, construction, and maintenance of the physical and naturally built environment, including public works such as roads, bridges, canals, dams, airports, sewa ...

at the

University of Minnesota The University of Minnesota, formally the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities, (UMN Twin Cities, the U of M, or Minnesota) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in the Minneapolis–Saint Paul, Tw ...

in the 1990s, he worked at the

University of Minnesota Medical Center M Health Fairview University of Minnesota Medical Center (UMMC) previously known as University of Minnesota Medical Center, is an 1700-bed non-profit, tertiary, research and academic medical center located in Minneapolis, Minnesota, servicing the ...

. After the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a Coalition of the Gulf War, 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Ba'athist Iraq, ...

, he was Public Relations Director for the

Islamic Association for Palestine Islamic Association of Palestine (IAP, also known as Islamic Association for Palestine) was an organization accused of raising money in the United States for Hamas established in 1981 and defunct since 2004. It described itself as "a not-for-profit ...

(IAP). In June 1994, IAP President Omar Ahmad and Rafiq Jabir founded the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), and Awad was hired as the Executive Director. In a March 1994 speech at

Barry University Barry University is a private Catholic university in Miami Shores, Florida. Founded in 1940 by the Adrian Dominican Sisters, it is one of the largest Catholic universities in the Southeast and is within the territory of the Archdiocese of Mi ...

, future CAIR Executive Director Awad said in response to an audience question about the various humanitarian efforts in the Palestinian Occupied Territories, "I am in support of the

Hamas Hamas (, ; , ; an acronym of , "Islamic Resistance Movement") is a Palestinian Sunni-Islamic fundamentalist, militant, and nationalist organization. It has a social service wing, Dawah, and a military wing, the Izz ad-Din al-Qassam Bri ...

movement more than the

PLO The Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO; ar, منظمة التحرير الفلسطينية, ') is a Palestinian nationalist political and militant organization founded in 1964 with the initial purpose of establishing Arab unity and s ...

... there are some

amas Amas or AMAS may refer to: * Amas Musical Theatre, in New York * AMAS Awards, Spanish music awards * American Music Awards (AMAs) * Academy of Machinima Arts and Sciences * Amas, Bihar, a village in Gaya district, Bihar, India People with the n ...

radicals, we are not interested in those people." At the time Awad expressed support for Hamas, the group had not conducted suicide bombings and was not designated a terrorist organization by the US. Awad has said he no longer supports the group and has condemned suicide bombings. A few days after the

September 11 attacks The September 11 attacks, commonly known as 9/11, were four coordinated suicide terrorist attacks carried out by al-Qaeda against the United States on Tuesday, September 11, 2001. That morning, nineteen terrorists hijacked four commerc ...

in 2001, Awad was one of a select group American Muslim leaders invited by the

White House The White House is the official residence and workplace of the president of the United States. It is located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Northwest, Washington, D.C., NW in Washington, D.C., and has been the residence of every U.S. preside ...

to join President Bush in a press conference condemning the attacks and acts of anti-Muslim intolerance that followed.

Controversies

Fundraising Request to Muammar Gaddafi

In April 2011, Rep. Frank Wolf, R-Va. cited a 2009 letter sent from Awad, to

Muammar Gaddafi Muammar Muhammad Abu Minyar al-Gaddafi, . Due to the lack of standardization of transcribing written and regionally pronounced Arabic, Gaddafi's name has been romanized in various ways. A 1986 column by '' The Straight Dope'' lists 32 spelli ...

asking Gaddafi for funding for a project called the Muslim Peace Foundation at a U.S. House of Representatives Appropriations sub-committee hearing with

Robert Mueller Robert Swan Mueller III (; born August 7, 1944) is an American lawyer and government official who served as the sixth director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) from 2001 to 2013. A graduate of Princeton University and New York ...

. The letter also said, in part, "I am pleased to send to Your Excellency in my name most solemn assurances of thanks and appreciation for the efforts you exert in the service of Islam, Muslims and all mankind through your initiative to teach Islam, spread the culture of Islam, and solve disputes, for which you are known internationally."

Awards & honors

* The Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre's "500 Most Influential Muslims 2009" * Among 100 of the "World's Most Influential Arabs" for 2010 by

Arabian Business ''Arabian Business'' (''AB'') is a weekly business magazine published in Dubai and focusing on global and regional news analysis. The brand is aimed at the English- and Arabic-speaking communities and is published in both languages. Its circul ...

magazine * Recipient of the Phillip Brooks House Association's Robert Coles Call of Service & Lecture Award at Harvard College in 2017. * Listed Among "19 of the Most Important Civil Rights Leaders of Today" by USA Today in 2020.

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Awad, Nihad Living people Palestinian Muslims Palestinian Sunni Muslims American Muslims American Sunni Muslims Palestinian emigrants to the United States University of Minnesota College of Science and Engineering alumni University of Minnesota faculty People from Amman Palestinian Muslim activists American Muslim activists Year of birth missing (living people)