Islamic Educational Center of Orange County (IECOC) is a Shi’a non-profit organization based in Orange County, California, serving all the communities of Orange and Los Angeles Counties since 1996. It provides religious and educational services to Shi’a Muslims in the area.

The IECOC Youth organization is composed and run by Muslim youths, who manage and shape each session according to the issues that interest them.

The creed of this organization will be: There is no god, but God, and Mohammad (PBUH) is His rightful messenger. The purpose of this Youth Group is to serve the best interests of Islam and the Muslims of Southern California. Towards this end, members of the Youth Group shall aspire to:

– Lead a life according to the principles of Islam as provided for by (a) Allah (SWT) in the holy Quran; (b) His messenger, Prophet Muhammad (SAWS); and (c) the Ahlul Bayt (AS).

– Help young Muslims conduct themselves in accordance with Islamic principles.

– Create a support system for Muslim youth in Southern California.

– Prepare the youth to be the future leaders of the community and maintain Islamic heritage for future generations.

– Promote unity and joint action among Muslims.

– Encourage and provide Islamic education to the members of Youth Group

– Promote charitable activities within the greater community of California.

– Promote cooperation and good relations with both Muslims and non-Muslims, and their respective organizations.

– Create a professional network for youth who hope to be future professionals.

– Encourage organized civic engagement.

– Provide services for community members that increase access to (a) jobs; (b) career opportunities; and (c) career advice.

Founder and Director

Dr. Sayed Moustafa al-Qazwini is the Founding Imam of the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County and Founding President of the Shia Muslim Council of Southern California. He is a graduate of the Islamic seminary of Qum, holds a PhD in Islamic Studies from UK and is the author of a number of books.

In September 1996, he founded the Islamic Educational Center of Orange County (IECOC). Drawing on his experience in Islamic studies, he has maturated the center for educational, religious and social events. As the founder and imam of IECOC, he serves as a mentor for the Muslim community.

Contacts

• Address: 3194-B Airport Loop Dr, Costa Mesa. CA 92626, USA
• Phone: +1(714) 432 0060
• Email: info@iecoc.org
• Website: https://iecoc.org/

The mosque promotes the idea that religious authority can be held by lay American Muslim women, as opposed to only male religious scholars with traditional credentials.

Most of the women who deliver sermons and lead prayer at this mosque do not have formal religious training or Arabic expertise. They are a racially and ethnically diverse group who bring their various professional and community activist experiences to their roles as religious authority figures.

Moreover, the mosque is invested in using scriptural teachings to work toward social justice causes in the U.S. particularly with respect to anti-Black racism and Islamophobia.

The Women’s Mosque of America appeals to women who are dissatisfied with mainstream American mosques and eager to take on more central roles in their religious development. Its alternative culture also appeals to Muslim women who may have otherwise turned away from their faith. And in providing opportunities for women to preach and lead prayer, I contend that the Women’s Mosque of America pushes American Muslims to collectively reimagine the very notion of religious community by raising important questions about what a mosque is and whom it should be for.

Source: The Conversation

Harvard Law School student Hassaan Shahawy said he hoped his election represented “legal academia’s growing recognition of the importance of diversity, and perhaps its growing respect for other legal traditions”.

Among the legal and political luminaries who have worked at the Harvard Law Review was former US president Barack Obama, named the journal’s first Black president in 1990. Three serving members of the Supreme Court were editors of the Harvard Law Review, as were the late judges Ruth Bader Ginsburg and Antonin Scalia.

Law reviews are staffed by the top students at US law schools, who are often recruited for judicial clerkships and other prestigious jobs in the profession.

Source: The Dawn

A series of letters sent to mosques throughout California that threaten genocide against Muslims does not rise to the level of a hate crime, but police are still searching for the author or authors of the racist screeds, officials said Monday. Flanked by faith leaders and police commanders at the Islamic Center of Southern California in Los Angeles, law enforcement leaders said they are still doggedly pursuing the letter-writer or writers to ensure they don’t pose a larger threat.

“We know that incidents routinely evolve into crimes,” LAPD Cmdr. Horace Frank said. “We don’t want to wait until this evolves.” The gathering near Koreatown was sparked by a series of handwritten messages recently sent to Muslim faith centers in Los Angeles, Signal Hill, Northridge, Claremont, San Jose and Savannah, Ga. Each missive was addressed to the “Children of Satan” and called Muslims a “vile and filthy people.” The letters also praised President-elect Donald Trump and called for Muslims to be eradicated in the U.S.

“Your day of reckoning has arrived,” the letter read, according to the Council on American-Islamic Relations’ Greater Los Angeles chapter. “There’s a new sheriff in town — President Donald Trump. He’s going to cleanse America and make it shine again. And, he’s going to start with you Muslims.”  The letter, signed only by “Americans for a Better Way,” said Trump was “going to do to you Muslims what Hitler did to the Jews.”

Stephen Woolery, who heads the counterterrorism division of the FBI’s Los Angeles office, said the messages are too vague to constitute a hate crime. While the FBI does not have an open investigation into the letters, police in Los Angeles, Pomona, San Jose and other jurisdictions are still trying to find the author or authors, and plan to document the threats as a “hate incident.” Frank said threats like these could be indicative of a larger threat, pointing to the October arrest of an Agoura Hills man who called the Islamic Center of Southern California and threatened to kill people there because of his “hatred for Muslims.” When that man, 40-year-old Mark Feigin, was arrested, a search of his home turned up thousands of rounds of ammunition and several weapons, police and prosecutors have said.  Investigators said the letters appear similar, and it is likely each was sent by the same person…

Continue reading at: Los Angeles Times