Founded in 2004, the Cordoba Initiative is a multi-national, multi-faith organization dedicated to improving Muslim-West relations.
The name Cordoba was chosen to symbolize the time in history when Muslims, Jews and Christians lived together in peace and harmony and created a prosperous center of intellectual, spiritual, cultural and commercial life in the city of Cordoba in Southern Spain.
Cordoba Initiative is often asked about extremist interpretations of Islam, the conflict between the secular and religious traditions in the Muslim world, the lack of young Muslim leaders speaking out against violence and the role of women in modern Islam. The Cordoba Initiative tackles these and other tough issues in a practical way in order to break the cycle of fear, misunderstanding and mistrust that fuels extremism and radicalism around the world. Click to learn more about the programs of The Cordoba Initiative.
You contributions to our mission are most welcome. Help us as we Unite People and Inspire Change.
Apply for an Internship: The Cordoba Initiative internship program provides young professionals with the opportunity to gain substantive work experience in a fast-paced, high-profile NGO.
Cordoba Initiative is a 501(c) (3) organization.
The Cordoba Initiative is the vision of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf. Imam Feisal brings together leaders across the Muslim-West divide to speak out for innovative, proactive, and positive solutions to shared challenges. In this capacity, Cordoba Initiative can provide novel solutions to those areas where conflict between Islamic and Western communities undermine local and global security.
In 1997, he also co- founded the American Society for Muslim Advancement (ASMA); the first Muslim organization committed to building bridges between Muslims and the American public by elevating the discourse on Islam through educational outreach, interfaith collaboration, culture and arts.
Background: Born of Egyptian parentage and educated in England, Egypt, and Malaysia, Imam Feisal holds a Bachelor of Science in Physics from Columbia University in New York and a Master of Science in Plasma Physics from Stevens Institute of Technology in New Jersey.
Published Work: What’s Right with Islam Is What’s Right with America (HarperCollins, 2005); Islam: A Sacred Law (Threshold Books, 2000); Islam: A Search for Meaning (Mazda Publishers,1996); “What is Islamic Law?” Mercer Law Review (2006); “Justification & Theory of Sharia Law: How the American Declaration of Independence, Bill of Rights and Constitution are Consistent with Islamic Jurisprudence” University of St. Thomas Law (2010); and Moving the Mountain: Beyond Ground Zero to a New Vision of Islam in America (Free Press, 2012).
Awards: Alliance for International Conflict Prevention and Resolution (AICPR); Annual Alliance Peace Builder Award ; the Annual James Parks Morton Interfaith Center of New York award; Open Center of New York Interfaith Award (2010), Arianna Huffington’s “2010 Game Changer” Award, and was listed as one of the Top 100 Global Thinkers of 2010 by Foreign Policy Magazine; TIME magazine included him among the 100 most influential people of the world in 2011; and most recently, along with his wife, Daisy Khan, were the recipients of the Eleanor Roosevelt Human Rights Award presented by the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee.