Shaker Elsayed, the lead imam of Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center in Falls Church, Va., one of the nation’s largest and oft-embattled mosques, drew a wave of condemnation from young Muslim activists after he he appeared to endorse a certain form of female genital mutilation as sometimes necessary to prevent “hypersexuality.” In response, Johari Abdul-Malik, a fellow imam…
At the Northern Virginia mosque where Anwar al-Aulaqi once preached, the news of his killing ripped open a wound that congregants wish would heal. For a decade, Dar al-Hijrah has been haunted by its association with Aulaqi, who was the imam at the Falls Church mosque on Sept. 11, 2001, but had yet to publicly…
One day after al-Qaeda leader Anwar al-Awlaki was killed by a U.S. drone strike in Yemen, Northern Virginia Muslims he once worshiped alongside gathered for an event that was both a community gathering and an effort to portray a version of Islam much different from the one he espoused. The timing of Saturday’s annual Civic…
Several groups are planning to protest outside a fundraiser for a mosque. The protesters argue that the Falls Church mosque, the Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center, in Northern Virginia is linked to violence. Democratic Committee Chairman and former Virginia Governor Tim Kaine and US Representatives Jim Moran and Gerry Connolly (D-VA) are invited to attend the…
