Islamic Society of North America

Islamic Society of North America

Islamic Society of North America logo
Abbreviation	ISNA
Formation	1982
Purpose	To unify Islamic organization and to contribute to the betterment of the Muslim community and society
Headquarters	Plainfield, Indiana
Region served	North America
President	Azhar Azeez
Affiliations	Muslim Student Association (MSA); the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT); Canadian Islamic Trust (CIT); Muslim Community Association (MCA); American Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS); American Muslim Scientists and Engineers (AMSE); The Elkadri Fund (TEF); Islamic Medical Association (IMA); Islamic Teaching Center (ITC), and Foundation of Internanm, lklikltional Development (FID).
Website	isna.net

The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), based in Plainfield, Indiana, USA, is a Muslim umbrella group. It has been described in the media as the largest Muslim organization in North America.

ISNA traces its origins to a meeting of several Muslim student organizations in 1963, at which the Muslim Student Association of the U.S. & Canada ("The MSA") was formed in January 1963. ISNA regards the MSA's 1963 convention as its first one, held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Present-day ISNA was founded in 1982 through a joint effort of four organizations: The Muslim Students Association of the US and Canada (The MSA), Islamic Medical Association (IMA), the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS), and the Association of Muslim Scientists and Engineers (AMSE) - to create a community-oriented organization due to the changing nature of the growing Muslim community. Many of the leaders of these four founding organizations took leadership roles in the newly formed ISNA. In 1983, ISNA completed a $21 million ($50,496,826 today) headquarters complex in suburban Indianapolis using funds raised in part from international sources. In 2008, ISNA claimed 4,000 members. On August 30, 2013, Tahera Ahmad became the first woman to recite the Quran to open the ISNA convention, which she did at the 50th annual ISNA convention in front of a mixed-gender audience.

ISNA's goal is "to be an exemplary and unifying Islamic organization in North America that contributes to the betterment of the Muslim community and society at large." ISNA is an association of Muslim organizations and individuals that provides a common platform for presenting Islam, supporting Muslim communities, developing educational, social and outreach programs and fostering good relations with other religious communities, and civic and service organizations.

Since 1982, ISNA's structure has changed, with several organizations either becoming defunct, or simply leaving ISNA's umbrella. Currently, ISNA includes under its umbrella: Muslim Student Association (MSA), the North American Islamic Trust (NAIT), Canadian Islamic Trust Foundation (CITF; NAIT's counterpart in Canada), Association of Muslim Scientists and Engineers (AMSE), Islamic Medical Association of North America (IMANA), and the Muslim Youth of North America (MYNA). Other organizations that either left ISNA or were disbanded include: Muslim Communities Association (MCA), Islamic Teaching Center (ITC), the Association of Muslim Social Scientists (AMSS), Islamic Media Foundation (IMF), and Foundation for International Development (FID), among others. It should be noted that although each of the umbrella groups under ISNA has a seat in the ISNA Board of Directors, ISNA itself has no reciprocal seat or say in the leadership of the lower umbrella groups.