Imam who led prayers at Ramadan event co-sponsored by the Israeli embassy says he regrets it
‘Interfaith dialogue should never be used as a tool to whitewash genocide,’ said Imam Faizul R. Khan
Imam Faizul R. Khan prays at an interfaith service at Congregation B’nai Tzedek in Potomac, Maryland, on March 21, 2024 Photo by Lauren Markoe
By Lauren Markoe March 28, 2024
The imam who led prayers at a Ramadan event at a Maryland synagogue last week said he regrets attending, because he didn’t realize it was co-sponsored by the Israeli embassy.
In a statement published on social media, Imam Faizul R. Khan also took aim at a Muslim woman who helped arrange the event, calling her a “fringe activist.”
Congregation B’nai Tzedek last Thursday hosted a service and iftar — the dinner that breaks the daily fast during the Muslim holy month of Ramadan — co-organized with the embassy and several other interfaith and Jewish groups.
“I was never informed that this event was sponsored by the Israeli embassy,” Khan wrote. “Having been so deceived, I sincerely regret that my participation in this even resulted in the false impression that I would have willingly participated in any activities that could be viewed as endorsing or supporting Israel’s ongoing genocide in Gaza.”
He added that “interfaith dialogue should never be used as a tool to whitewash genocide.”
Khan, the imam of the Islamic Society of the Washington Area and a frequent participant in interfaith events, was criticized on social media for his participation after the event.
The imam’s statement bore the logo of the Islamic Maryland Action Network, which describes itself as a recently-formed group that includes more than two dozen mosques and Muslim organizations, including the Maryland office of CAIR, or the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Rabbi Stewart Weinblatt, the spiritual leader of B’nai Tzedek, said in a phone call that he enjoyed talking to Khan at the iftar and called his statement “unfortunate.” At a time of high tensions over the war, he said, the event “was such a short-lived ray of hope of being able to join together, for members of the Jewish community and the Muslim community.”
Weinblatt, founding chairman of the Zionist Rabbinic Coalition, said he is on his way to Israel but that he hopes to be in touch with Khan. He also excoriated CAIR, which retweeted Khan’s statement, as “pro-Hamas.” The group denies supporting Hamas.
Khan also lambasted a Muslim woman who helped organize the iftar. Anila Ali, he wrote, “has a history of smearing, and feuding with, American Muslims who support Palestinian rights.”
Ali, founder of the American Muslim & Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council, a Washington-based nonprofit, described Khan’s statement in a text as “an effort to silence moderate Muslim voices.” She added: “Is this Ramadan behavior?”
Members of Masjid Mohammad, which calls itself “The Nation’s Mosque” and was credited on the invitation to the iftar as an organizer, did not attend the event. Mosque leaders did not respond to inquiries but Kelly Goldberg, a Jewish board member of Ali’s group, said they had expressed discomfort over the Israel embassy’s co-sponsorship of the event.
About 150 people turned out for the iftar, most of them Jewish.
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