Muslim activist strives to bridge cultures

http://www.freep.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070325/NEWS05/703250607/1007/NEWS05

March 25, 2007
BY NIRAJ WARIKOO
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER

When Dawud Walid opened the mail one day last June in his Lathrup Village office, he found a torn page of the Quran smeared with feces.

It was an unpleasant reminder of the challenges that face the Michigan branch of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), which Walid heads.

"We have a lot of work to do," Walid said he thought after opening the letter.

Those efforts are drawing a growing number of supporters in metro Detroit, as evidenced by a sold-out fund-raising dinner in Dearborn today that's expected to attract about 1,100 guests -- compared to 600 two years ago.

"Islam isn't often portrayed correctly," said Nayeem Amin, 18, of Bloomfield Hills, a CAIR supporter. "They're educating the public on what Islam is about."

Walid, a Sunni Muslim, does that by speaking often at universities and churches and to media outlets. Since becoming executive director of the council's Michigan branch in July 2005, Walid has frequently been the public face of Islam in metro Detroit.

His first week on the job, after terrorists struck the London subway on July 7, 2005, Walid quickly organized a group of imams to condemn the attacks at a news conference at the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn.(MORE)