DawudWalid
Dawud Walid is currently the Executive Director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI), which is a chapter of America's largest advocacy and civil liberties organization for American Muslims and is a member of the Michigan Muslim Community Council (MMCC) Imams Committee.
Walid has been interviewed and quoted in approximately 150 media outlets ranging from the New York Times, Wall St Journal, National Public Radio, CNN, BBC, FOX News and Al-Jazeera. Furthermore, Walid was a political blogger for the Detroit News from January 2014 to January 2016, has had essays published in the 2012 book All-American: 45 American Men on Being Muslim, the 2014 book Qur'an in Conversation and was quoted as an expert in 13 additional books and academic dissertations. He was also a featured character in the 2013 HBO documentary "The Education of Mohammad Hussein."
Walid has lectured at over 50 institutions of higher learning about Islam, interfaith dialogue and social justice including at Harvard University, DePaul University and the University of the Virgin Islands - St. Thomas and St. Croix campuses as well as spoken at the 2008 and 2011 Congressional Black Caucus Conventions alongside prominent speakers such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson and Congressman Keith Ellison. In 2008, Walid delivered the closing benediction at the historic 52nd Michigan Electoral College in the Michigan State Senate chambers and gave the Baccalaureate speech for graduates of the prestigious Cranbrook-Kingswood Academy located in Bloomfield Hills, Michigan.
Walid was also a featured speaker at the 2009 and 2010 Malian Peace and Tolerance Conferences at the University of Bamako in Mali, West Africa. He has also given testimony at hearings and briefings in front of Michigan state legislators and U.S. congressional representatives, including speaking before members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus in Washington, D.C.
Walid has studied under qualified scholars the disciplines of Arabic grammar and morphology, foundations of Islamic jurisprudence, sciences of the exegesis of the Qur’an, and Islamic history during the era of Prophet Muhammad through the governments of the first 5 caliphs. He previously served as an imam at Masjid Wali Muhammad in Detroit and the Bosnian American Islamic Center in Hamtramck, Michigan, and continues to deliver sermons and lectures at Islamic centers across the United States and Canada.
Walid was a 2011 - 2012 fellow of the University of Southern California (USC) American Muslim Civil Leadership Institute (AMCLI) and a 2014 - 2015 fellow of the Wayne State Law School Detroit Action Equity Lab (DEAL).
Walid served in the United States Navy under honorable conditions earning two United States Navy & Marine Corp Achievement medals while deployed abroad. He has also received awards of recognition from the city councils of Detroit and Hamtramck and from the Mayor of Lansing as well as a number of other religious and community organizations.
freedom of religion is not based on paid booths, it’s based on the rule of law. Western Law. in the tradition of Western Europe and Ancient Greece, not s\Shariah. That’s the fact. Accept it, if your religion can’t compete farely that doesn’t change freedom of religion.
This is America. Sharia law does not apply in Dearborn, Wayne County, Michigan or the USA. The four arrested do not have to “play by the rules” as defined by Sharia law. They do not have to “buy a booth” to discuss their faith. The Festival is a public festival held on public streets in AMERICA and AMERICAN law – not Islamic law – applies.
Your beef is with the Dearborn Police, who has a Christian chief.
By the way, Shari’ah isn’t a written codex of laws in a book.
These people (Missionaries) were inside the confines of the rented space for the festival, correct? But, they had not reserved a booth? In that case, it may be AMERICAN LAW they were breaking. However, I would like to know, did they try to rserve a booth? Were there any other religious booths, Christian or Jewish or other, at the festival? Why are those who practice the Islamic religion so afraid of Christianity? This IS AMERICA and if these folks do not wish their fellow Muslims to be exposed to other religions (we honor all religions, it is our basic principal for existanace) why in the world are they here? Why do they want to stay? Are they involved in a well paying job, going to one of our universities, visiting our cities and communities? What? Did the festival promoters speak with the missionaries before calling the police? I really would like to know if there were any other religions represented in an official booth at that festival.