DAWUD WALID

Dawud Walid is currently the Executive Director of the Michigan chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MI), member of the Imams Council of Michigan, and advisory board member of Muslim Endorsement Council (MEC) which is a national endorsement and support organization for Islamic chaplaincy.

Walid formerly served in the U.S. Navy under honorable conditions receiving several commendations including two Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medals (NAM) working under the Administrative Officer and the Command Judge Advocate General (JAG).

Walid has studied under qualified Islamic scholars the disciplines of Islamic law, Prophetic narrations, and sciences of the exegesis of the Qur’an including receiving license (Ijazat) in several texts as well as receiving a degree in elementary education.  He formerly served as an imam at Masjid Wali Muhammad in Detroit, Michigan and the Bosnian American Islamic Center in Hamtramck, Michigan as well as and the chairperson of the board of Al-Ikhlas Training Academy which is a private K-12 Islamic school based in Detroit. He also was a 2011 – 2012 fellow of the University of Southern California (USC) American Muslim Civil Leadership Institute (AMCLI), a 2014 – 2015 fellow of the Wayne State Law School Detroit Action Equity Lab (DEAL), a 2021 – 2022 Racial Justice and Religion Task Force fellow at Aspen Institute, and a 2017 – 2023 senior fellow at Auburn Seminary based in New York.

Walid is the author of the books Futuwwah and Raising Males Into Sacred Manhood, Blackness and Islam, and Towards Sacred Activism as well as co-author of the books Centering Black Narrative: Black Muslim Nobles Among the Early Pious Muslims, and Centering Black Narrative: Ahl al-Bayt, Blackness & Africa. He is also the author of essays in the 2012 book All-American: 45 American Men on Being Muslim, the 2014 book Qur’an in Conversation, and the 2023 Yaqeen Institute research paper “How to Overcome Racism: Lessons From West African Scholars’ Tafsīr of Sūrat al-Ḥujurāt” and the forewords to the 2021 book The Spirits of Black Folks: Sages Throughout the Ages, 2023 book Reports on the Dajjal (Akhbar al-Dajjal), and the 2023 book The Enemy Within: Why We Black Americans Must Confront Ourselves.

Walid has lectured at over 100 institutions of higher learning and conferences in North America, Great Britain West Africa, and the Middle East about Islam, multi-faith cooperation, and social justice as well as spoken at the 2008 and 2011 Congressional Black Caucus Conventions alongside prominent speakers such as the Rev. Jesse Jackson and former Congressman Keith Ellison. He has been interviewed and quoted in approximately 150 media outlets ranging from the New York Times, Wall St Journal, National Public Radio, CNN, BBC, FOX News and Al-Jazeera.  He has also received awards of recognition from the city councils of Detroit and Hamtramck and from the Mayor of Lansing as well as a number of awards from other religious and community organizations.