Feisal Abdul-Rauf, Imam, The Cordoba initiative (USA)Imam Abdul-Rauf was born 1948 in Kuwait. He is author and activist whose stated goal is to improve relations between the Muslim world and the West. He studied physics at Columbia University, where he earned his bachelor's degree in nuclear engineering in 1969, before earning a master's degree in plasma physics at Stevens Institute in Hoboken, New Jersey. After ἀnishing college he focused on religion.
He has written three books on Islam and its place in contemporary Western society, including What’s Right with Islam Is What’s Right with America. He is founder of American Suἀ Muslim Society (ASMA ‒ 1997), which has since been renamed the American Society for Muslim Advancement. He founded in 2003 the Cordoba Initiative, another nonproἀt organization with ofἀces in both New York and Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. As CEO of Cordoba Initiative he coordinates projects that emphasize the bonds that connect the Muslim world and the West.