Coalition of South Florida Muslim Organizations

tead of always reacting to events occurring in other
parts of the world. In order to achieve this objective the community leaders agreed to create a coalition of South
Florida Muslim organizations and engage the media and other community institutions on a
regular basis:
Nidal Hozein, Masjid AN-Noor
Dr. Mohsin Jaffer, Islamic Jaffaria Association
Irma Khoja, Islamic Jafferia Association
Khalid Mirza, Muslim Communities Association of South Florida
Komel Mirza, Muslim Student
Shabbir Motorwala, Miami-Dade County Asian American Advisory Board
Khalid Salahuddin, Masjid Al-Ansar
Mohammad S. Shakir, NUR Center
Syed Faisal, Crescent Chamber of Commerce/Muslim Communities Assoc of South Florida
Mehmet Ulutas, Miami-Dade County Asian American Advisory Board
Khurrum Wahid Esq., IFSF & EMERGE
The above Muslim leadership group began engaging the media and other community
organizations in a series of meetings. They had strategic level discussions with the leadership of
Miami Herald, WFOR CBS-Channel 4, WPLG ABC-Channel 10, NBC 6, Miami Dade County
Community Relations Board, Anti Defamation League (ADL) and MCCJ. . On April 29, 2010, the Coalition met the Miami Herald leadership: Myriam Marquez, Editorial
Page Editor, Aminda Marquez, News Editor, John Yearwood, World Editor, David Landsberg,
publisher. The meeting renewed old relations and resulted in an understanding to afford more
opportunities to Muslim opinion writers. In a similar meeting with WFOR-CBS 4, the delegation stressed to focus on local community
instead of defining Muslims/Islam by global incidence. The group also met Channel 10, and
NBC 6 stressing the same concern that our permanent presence in the community and Muslims
are equal contributors to the society. We told them that we are your viewers, and what you put
out on the tube affects us and our children—community’s children. The management of all three networks, acknowledged the failure on their part to discover the
Community—explores Muslim presence in south Florida. COSMOS intends to keep media engaged, respond to especial needs and to keep media informed
of Islam/Muslim related events and activities in the future. Please see the following picture
gallery of these meetings: