Islamic Circle of North America

  

Islamic Circle of North America (ICNA), formally chartered in 1971 but active since 1968, is an Islamic North American grassroots umbrella organizationIt is an offshoot of the Muslim Students' Association (MSA), was founded by immigrants from the Indian subcontinent, and its members are primarily of South Asian descent, primarily Pakistanis and IndiansIt is smaller and more conservative than the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), holding separate sessions at its national conventions for women In 2001 it would not allow the female vice mayor of the city where its convention was held to welcome the membership because some felt that a woman's voice is sexually seductive, but in 2002 it allowed a woman to address its annual convention for the first time Its headquarters are in Jamaica, New York, and includes classrooms, a reading room, and a small mosque, and it has offices in Detroit, Michigan, and Oakville, OntarioThe Message International (formerly "Tahreek"), begun in 1989, is ICNA's bi-monthly publication.Its major Dawah activities include a toll-free number for non-Muslims (1-877-WhyIslam), and dawah: field trips, distribution of Islamic literature, through mosques, by mail, through media, in prisons, campus support, flyers online, and through email. WhyIslam.org is an ICNA program. Since Why Islam (WI) was launched in April 2000, the website has been used to propagate a better understanding of Islam for the general public. Sound Vision was an ICNA division, established in 1988, that produces educational Islamic video and computer programs for children and adultsWhen the Jyllands-Posten Muhammad cartoons controversy broke, ICNA condemned the depiction of any prophet, from Adam to Moses to Jesusn July 2002 Anwar al-Awlaki, believed to be a senior talent recruiter and motivator for al-Qaeda who had contact with three of the 9/11 hijackers, the Fort Hood shooter, and the Christmas Day bombing suspect (Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab), spoke at a joint ICNA/MAS convention in Baltimore with Siraj Wahhaj.^{[citation needed]} In fact, ICNA maintains that until 2007, many American Muslims enthusiastically listened to lectures by al-Awlaki. It also maintains that at that time al-Awlaki was "level headed.Anwar al-Awlaki was not accused at the time of having any links to extremism, terrorism, or violence. After evidence was brought against al-Awlaki in 2010, the ICNA Shariah Council strongly denounced al-Awlaki's views, actions, and connections to terrorism, repudiating his ideology as a "call of hate" and called upon American Muslims to reject al-Awlaki's views

to MohammedAs of 2002, a dozen mosques were affiliated with ICNA