Dar Al-Hijrah - Board of Directors and Executive Committee

Board of Directors and Executive Committee

The mosque's 9-member board of directors consists of the Secretary General of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), the President of the Muslim Arab Youth Association (MAYA), the General Manager of the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), the President of Muslim American Society (MAS), the President of the Dar Al-Hijrah Executive Committee, and four other members. Directors serve for five-year terms, and new directors are elected by the currently serving directors.

Dar Al-Hijrah has a 7-member executive committee; every two years four committee members are appointed by the mosque's board of directors, while the other three are elected by its membership. Imams Shaker Elsayed and Johari Abdul-Malik serve on the Executive Committee.

The mosque had 250 voting member families as of September 2004.

Dr. Esam Omeish, former President of the MAS, is a member of the Board. In 2004 Omeish, at 36 then the youngest member of the mosque's Board, said there is "no question" that the mosque leadership needs to be more open and inclusive of younger people, including women. "The bottom line is that this is a mosque that is in the heart of Washington," he said. "Our goal is to make the congregation reflect that reality." Omeish acknowledged that some mosque members raised acceptable questions about the mosque's constitution, and that proposals under consideration in 2004 included direct elections to the mosque's board of directors, director term limits, and phasing out the board seats that the constitution assigns to officials of certain Muslim organizations.