Ramadan , fasting , a dialogue with Imam Johari

I

Imam Abdul Malik serves as the director of Community Outreach for the Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center. He was the first Muslim Chaplain installed at Howard University. The imam is the former chair of Government Relations for the Muslim Alliance in North America [MANA founded by Imam Siraj Wahhaj] and is the founding President of the Muslim Society of Washington, DC Inc.


Known nationally for his fundraising efforts for masjids, schools and relief organizations, Imam Johari is a founding member of the Muslim Advocacy Commission of Washington, D.C. and “Muslim Men Against Domestic Violence” [MMADV] and has edited a book on “What Islam Says About Domestic Violence”.


In his native Brooklyn community his mother kept the family busy with community service. From an Episcopal choir boy-who visited the deep southern Pentecostal “COGIC” holiness church during his summer vacations as youth-until at confirmation the teachings of the Ten Commandments exposed what he believed were contradictions within western Christianity. Beginning in high school he became a musician playing trumpet, flugelhorn, flute, soprano sax and conch shells. The first band he performed with in New York City, Black Oasis and later with The New World Percussion Ensemble and Visions. He has opened for such greats as Tito Puente, Pharaoh Saunders, Third World, Flora Purim, Melba Moore and Sun Ra. His journey lead him through Taoism, Asian Spirituality, sufism and other world religions.


In College he became a community organizer, musician-cultural warrior, he practiced Transcendental Meditation-TM and became a vegetarian and started the Chakula Food Coop. In graduate school, Allah showed him the light of Islam. He served as the President of Ubiquity (Co-Ed Social Service Fellowship), President of the Muslim Student Association and later became Howard University's first Muslim Chaplain.


Imam Johari and along with Rev. Graylan Hagler started the “Ramadan Feed-the-Needy” Interfaith Program in Washington, DC feeding over 100 hundred homeless women of all faiths nightly during the fasting period of Ramadan.


Boards, Commissions and Task-Forces

2010-Present Pre-Disaster Recovery Plan Working Group

(Fairfax County Office of Emergency Mgt, Virginia)

2009-2010 Virginia Complete Count Committee

2009-Present Virginian New Majority - Advocacy Board

2005-Present DC GAPS Advisory Board;

DC Department of Health and HUH

2004-PresentMELD-EvenStart Board member

2001-presentFaces of Our Children, Inc, Sickle Cell Foundation,

Board member and executive director

2001-presentSickle Cell Initiative Taskforce, Maternal and

Child Health, D.C. Department of Health

2001-2004 D.C. Health Services Reform Commission,

Executive Office of the Mayor

2009-Present Fairfax County - Multi-Cultural Advisory Committee

2004-Present Muslim Alliance in North America (MANA)

2009-2010 2010 Complete Count Committee Fairfax County, VA

2009-Present Virginia New Majority

2008-Present Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations

of Greater Washington, DC (Treasurer)

2006-2008 Coordinating Council of Muslim Organizations

of Greater Washington, DC (President)

2005-present North American Imam’s Federation (NAIF)