Hussam Ayloush

Hussam Ayloush

Hussam Ayloush has been a lifelong human rights and democracy activist for causes here and abroad. He took his current position as Executive Director of the Greater Los Angeles Area office of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-LA) in 1998. In 2018, he also took the role of CEO of the California Chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-CA). Through his work at CAIR, Hussam engages elected officials, law enforcement, media, and the public to enhance understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, empower American Muslims, and build coalitions that promote justice. As an expert on American Muslim issues, Hussam regularly appears on local, national and international media; and frequently speaks at schools, Islamic centers, churches, conferences, and universities. Hussam is a member of the West Coast Muslim-Catholic Dialogue and the Abrahamic Faith Peacemaking Initiative. He has been an elected delegate and Executive Board member for the CA Democratic Party for nearly 10 years. He serves on the Advisory Board of the Orange County chapter of Asian Americans Advancing Justice (AAAJ). He is one of the founders of the CAIR-CA PAC, which aims to support political candidates who stand for civil rights and encourage Muslim Americans to run for office. He is the past National Chairman of the Syrian American Council (SAC), an organization that advocates for democracy and human rights in Syria. In 2016, Hussam was chosen by the Orange County Register as one of the “100 Most Influential” individuals in Orange County. In 2017, Hussam joined more than 20 plaintiffs in a federal lawsuit filed in Virginia by the national Muslim civil rights group challenging President Trump’s Muslim Ban on the grounds it violates the First and Fifth amendment of the constitution. In 2018, he was one of the first of the 32 inter-faith leaders arrested at the U.S.-Mexico border as more than 300 people, leaders of churches, mosques, synagogues and indigenous communities, t

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