Dr. Omar Suleiman null
Founder & President of Yaqeen Institute
Imam Omar Suleiman is a world renowned scholar and theologically driven activist for human rights. He is the Founder and President of the Yaqeen Institute for Islamic Research and a Professor of Islamic Studies at Southern Methodist University. He frequently writes for CNN, USA Today, The Guardian, Huffpo, and The Dallas Morning News amongst others. He has been recognized by CNN as one of the 25 most influential Muslims in America.
His career started in his hometown where he served as the Imam of the Jefferson Muslim Association in New Orleans for 6 years and directed the “Muslims for Humanity” Hurricane Katrina Relief effort. It was in this time that he was noted on a national level as being a strong advocate of community service, interfaith dialogue, and social justice.
In July 2016, he marched with demonstrators in Dallas against the killings of Alton Sterling and Philando Castile. In the wake of the tragic shooting of officers after that protest, he was chosen to lead the invocation at the Presidential memorial alongside former Presidents Barack Obama and George W. Bush. He has also led the airport protests in Dallas against Donald Trump’s Muslim ban in 2017, led a group of clergy to the Mexico border that intercepted a bus of children taken from their parents under the family separation policy, and has worked closely with the families of victims of police brutality to amplify their cause.