Continuing the Legacy and Changing the Narrative
The ISB developed the 100 Influential Georgia Muslims program to showcase the achievements and diversity of Georgia’s Muslim community. We are proud of our community’s success in many sectors of our society: corporate leaders, volunteer activists, medical practitioners, educators, high-tech entrepreneurs, and public servants.
Family, hard work, education, perseverance, compassion, achievement and service to others drive the Influential Georgia Muslims. They are mentors and role models, passing on what they have learned from their mentors and role models. Each Influential pairs his/her professional accomplishments with a deep commitment to serving others.
The 100 Influential Georgia Muslims are examples to us all.
Honorees 2022
Honorees 2014
U.S. Olympic-weightlifter, first woman to compete wearing hijjab
“You can accomplish more than you think you can, in spite of the odds and challenges you face, if you are determined.”
CEO, Future Foundation, Inc
“My work is grounded in the principles of Islam. Charity, giving back to the community, is my life’s work and purpose.”
Former NBA All-Star; Director of Player Personnel, Sacramento Kings
“I believe, as a Muslim, I should strive for excellence in all my actions.”
Entrepreneur, technology and medical device start-ups
“Success is the ability to derive happiness from proper belief and action.”
Rheumatologist, Co-founder Saad Abubaker Foundation
“If you have something you believe in, go for it, you can do a lot. People might follow you or go along with your idea, but you have to believe in yourself first.”
Psychiatrist, Co-founder Saad Abubaker Foundation
“The Muslim women in our communities are serving as lawyers and doctors – that’s the message we are relaying, that we want to give back to this society.”
Deputy Sheriff, Bartow County
“Helping others, protecting others from wrongdoers, saving their lives and their property: my accomplishments are in direct correlation with my faith.”
Chief of Staff, Houston Medical Center, Warner Robins, Georgia
“We need to share the narrative – and publicize it. And not allow others to cast us in a false narrative.”
Regents’ Professor , School of Computer Science, Georgia Institute of Technology
“To be influential is to have impact in affecting the lives of others; explicitly by actions that one takes to improve people’s situation and implicitly by being a role model for others to emulate.”
Charles Howard Candler Professor of Law, Emory Law School
“Each of us is responsible for his or her freedom, and we should never delegate our right to defend our freedom – if we don’t protect it, nobody will.”
Vice President,Corporate Internal Compliance and Ethics , UPS
“I am motivated by success so I can help myself, my family and my community.”
Asa Griggs Candler Professor of Middle East and Islamic Studies and Chair, Department of Middle Eastern and South Asian Studies (MESAS), Emory University
“We should use our focus on the past a stimulus to develop new resources for using the past to live fully in the present.”
CEO, Premier Petroleum; Co- Fatima Charitable Foundation
“American Muslims should strive to break past the stereotypes and the prejudices society holds against us, and strive for excellence in all that we do. That is how we can truly change the Muslim story in America.”
Co-founder, I Speak for Myself
“Narratives cannot be changed overnight, but they also can’t be changed without anyone taking the time to tell their stories. Thus changing the narrative, for me is as simple as telling one’s story.”
Judge, DeKalb County Juvenile Court
“I have a strong abiding belief that the world is basically good. If you do good, good comes to you.”
Imam Emeritus, Atlanta Masjid of Al-Islam
“I am motivated by Allah, the Most High, the Glorious Qur’an and the example of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him), and the souls and minds of men and women who cleared and paved the way ahead of me.”
Regents Professor of Chemistry & Biochemistry, Georgia Institute of Technology
“We were not brought here to eat, sleep and make money. There is something behind all that God wants us to do: Our presence on Earth should be to make a difference.”
Obstetrician / Gynecologist, Co-Founder Fadel Educational Foundation
“If I’m all by myself, I can’t do very much, but the Muslims in a community more or less share the same ideas and goals,and are working as a team. That empowers a person to continue to do what he is doing.”
Obstetric Anesthesiologist; Co-Founder Fadel Educational Foundation
“Be good to the community. Help as people need help.”
Chair of Operations, Roswell Community Masjid, Interfaith Leader
“We are the sum of our experiences. What we do defines us.”
Executive Director of Performance and Engineering, AT&T.
“We want to become strong leaders in our specialty, give the best to our country and give back to our community.”
Principal, Bain & Company; Former COO, City of Atlanta
“Building credibility is more difficult when there are perception challenges to navigate but when you overcome them based on the results you can deliver, it is deeply gratifying and impactful.”
Founder and President, Aventure Aviation
“To be influential, one needs to be involved in activities, irrespective of who the beneficiaries are and ensure that decisions made respect the Muslim community and make a positive impact in our society.”
Oncologist; President, Islamic Society of Augusta,
“For any community leader, whether it is an imam, a president or anyone else, we should never ask others to do what we will not do ourselves.”
Associate Professor of Religion, University of Georgia
“What empowers me to continue striving is knowing, through experience, that change is possible, that that life’s beauty can suddenly appear even when it is least expected.”
Director, Division of Bacterial Diseases, Centers for Disease Control & Prevention
“Do good at any time. I don’t think we should miss any opportunity to do good in life, whether you’re helping a student or someone else in the community, or just doing your work well.”
Co-founder, Clarkston Community Health Center; CEO, First Medical Care, Inc.
“My faith teaches me, ‘Service above all,’ that we are brought here to help and elevate the lives of other people. After all, is that not what Islam is all about?”
Founder, Transformational Leadership, Inc.
“We all want a better life for ourselves and for our future generations, and we all want to experience some laughter in our day. Let’s focus on that. Let’s focus on the good in others and ourselves. Let’s focus on tolerance and empathy and forgiveness.”
Social entrepreneur, activist, blogger and community organizer
“My life mission is to give people knowledge that will empower and then inspire them.”
Co-founder, Glitter of Hope
“American Muslims have to carve out their own success in this growing society.”
Founder and Executive Director, Amana Academy,
“I pray for God’s guidance, that I use my time wisely and serve as a positive role model in the community in the tradition of the Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings upon him).”
World-renowned Composer and Pianist
“Our search for beauty and truth is our moral obligation – as artists, journalists, Muslims, human beings.”
Former Professor of Religion , Spelman College; Independent Scholar
“Faith keeps me aspiring toward lofty goals because I know I can achieve anything with God’s help.”
Professor and Assistant Dean, University of Georgia College of Pharmacy/Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy
“Make a positive impact in other people’s lives. Help them achieve success.”
Vice President, Atlantic Institute
“Humans are attracted to beauty so we must be representatives of beauty. You may ask, ‘What is beauty?’ Honesty, generosity and kindness.”
Co-Founder and Administrator, Baitul Salaam Network, Inc
“I was raised to believe that you work to make your community better than you found it.”
Principal and Managing Partner, MSGlobal Partners, LLC
“There can be no ‘leadership’ without influence, because influence is how leaders lead and make a difference in society.”
Imam, Masjid Al-Muminun
“Being Muslim is just being human. Islam lets people see others not as a color or religion, but in a human aspect.”
Vice President of Network Operations, AT&T
“Good deeds should not be limited to the Muslim community. We should support other groups socially and integrate into American society while preserving our own values.”
Founder, Yemen Peace Project
“If each American Muslim sees their community as a dynamic place where they can have the power to change and interact, then that will have a positive impact on how it functions.”
Chairman, Department of Pathology, Medical College of Georgia
“Conducting yourself with honesty, compassion and respect for life is a simple way of influencing others.”
Leader for the Persons Impacted by Incarceration Collaborative
“Our core value is collaboration – working together towards a common goal that cannot be attained without the assistance of one another with integrity, teamwork, accountability and trust.”
National Program Director, Muslim Interscholastic Tournament (MIST)
‘If even one person feels like they have benefitted from me, then praise belongs to God who allowed me to benefit anyone.”
Founder and Senior Attorney, The Secret Firm, P.C.
“The true measure of success is righteousness. One is only truly successful when he lives his life committing to righteous deeds and helping as many people as he can throughout his life.”
National Security/Immigrants’ Rights Project Director , American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU)
“Things are not going to change unless we stand up, speak up and demand our rights.”
Julian T. Hightower Chair in Systems & Control, School of Electrical & Computer Engineering, Georgia Institute of Technology
“One notion of being influential is having a lasting effect on people’s perspectives.”
Endocrinologist; Director of Outreach, Al-Farooq Masjid of Atlanta
“We shouldn’t become part of the melting pot; we should enrich the brilliance of the melting pot with our own values, beauty and faith.”
Community volunteer: Masjid AL-Hedaya, SHARE Atlanta, Islamic Relief USA
“Reach out with everything you can, and give the best you can to those who need your help.”
Founder, Publisher Azizah Magazine
“At a time when Islamophobia abounds, it’s really important for Muslims in America to be well rounded in their Muslim American perspective.”
Co-founder, Matrix Engineering Group
“Always respond with that which is better.”