North American Muslim Scout Leaders join the Hajj

A delegation from the US and Canada has been invited to perform the Hajj in Mecca, Saudi Arabia as part of a global invitation extended to approximately fifty Muslim Scout Leaders by the International Union of Muslim Scouts (IUMS) in appreciation, and as a reward for their outstanding achievements and support to the Muslim Ummah and Muslim Youth all over the world.

IUMS sponsors 15 million Muslim Scouts around the world. Muslim Scout leaders work through their country programs to also achieve the complementary goals and programs of IUMS.

The delegation will be composed of five leaders from the National Islamic Committee on Scouting in the US, and one leader from the Canadian Muslim Fellowship of Scouting.

The IUMS is a member of the Organization of Islamic Countries (OIC) and affiliated with the World Organization of Scouting Movement (WOSM).

The North American Delegation will be the guests of IUMS and will participate in consultations about the International Muslim Scouting Movement following the completion of the acts of worship included in the annual Hajj rituals.

The North American delegation represents the World Islamic Committee on Scouting (for Non Muslim Countries) and is headed by its Executive Director Syed Ehtesham Naqvi, who is also founder of the Islamic Council on Scouting of North America and Chairman of the Islamic Committee on Scouting, Boy Scouts of America.

Mr. Naqvi has recently been nominated to be a member of IUMS for Pan-American countries.

The additional delegation members include: Nawab Mosavi Agha, Vice Chairman, Islamic Council on Scouting of North America, Fazale Azeem Sharif, Skipper , Sea Scouting, California, Boy Scouts of America, Irshad Ahmed Rasheed, Western Region Islamic Committee on Scouting, Boy Scouts of America, Dawood Robert Zwink, Convener, Canadian Muslim Fellowship of Scouting and Canadian Board Member of the World Islamic Committee on Scouting (NMC), and Nasir Amin, Program Director, Islamic Council on Scouting of North America.

An estimated 5,000 Saudi Muslim Scouts will be serving the Hajj Pilgrims as part of their annual Scout duties. An estimated one third of the 28 million Scouts and 3 million volunteer leaders globally are Muslims. Scouting continues to grow among Muslim communities in North America because of its universal values of Peace, Service, and Duty to God, family, community and nation.

Dr. Abdullaha Omer Naseef is the President of the IUMS. Abdullah Salman Al-Fahd is the Chairman of the World Islamic Committee (for Non Muslim Countries), Vice President of the Saudi Arabian Scouts Association, and President of the Arab Region of the World Organization of Scouting Movement (WOSM).

Together, they will be the host of the Pan-American Scout Leaders Hajj Delegation. The Delegation will leave the USA and Canada on Nov 8 and will return home on Nov 23, 2010.