Imam Promotes Interfaith Harmony in Washington, D.C. and Abroad

December 18, 2005

Source: The Washington Post

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2005/12/17/AR2005121701008.html

On December 18, 2005 The Washington Post reported, "At a time when his adopted country is engaged in a struggle with terrorism driven by Islamic extremists, [Yahya] Hendi, senior imam of the Islamic Society of Frederick County, preaches interfaith understanding and calls on fellow Muslims to rescue their religion from extremists. That message has helped him open doors to senior government officials searching for ways to build better relationships in the Islamic world. The State Department calls on him to host visiting Islamic clergy, and news organizations dial him up for comment, usually after a terrorist attack. Part of the attention comes with being the first full-time Muslim chaplain at GU, which also was the first such post in the United States. Hendi teaches theology there and also serves as a chaplain at the National Naval Medical Center in Bethesda. And he teaches an introduction to Islam class in Rockville for Johns Hopkins University's Evergreen Society for older adults. As the senior imam of the Islamic Society, Hendi also has shaped the growing Islamic presence in the outer Maryland suburbs. After years of holding services in a doctor's waiting room, a hotel ballroom and wherever else there was space, his congregation recently opened the doors of its first permanent mosque."