In February, Obama named a Chicago Muslim, Eboo Patel, to his Advisory Council on Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, the controversial Muslim leader behind the plan to build the Islamic center and mosque two blocks from Ground Zero, wrote the afterword to Patel’s 2006 book, “Building the Interfaith Youth Movement: Beyond Dialogue to Action.”
Patel is listed as one of 15 “Muslim Leaders of Tomorrow” on the website for the American Society for the Advancement of Muslims, or ASAM, which is led by Rauf.
In Patel’s 2007 book, “Saving Each Other, Saving Ourselves,” he recounts discussing with Rauf the future of Islam in the U.S.
Patel boasts of a “critical mass” of Muslims in the U.S.“Islam is a religion that has always been revitalized by its migration,” he wrote. “America is a nation that has been constantly rejuvenated by immigrants. There is now a critical mass of Muslims in America.”
