[Congressional Record (Bound Edition), Volume 147 (2001), Part 16]
[House]
[Page 22593]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office, www.gpo.gov]



                       WELCOMING IMAM YAHYA HENDI

  (Mr. LaFALCE asked and was given permission to address the House for 
1 minute.)
  Mr. LaFALCE. Mr. Speaker, as we begin Ramadan, we are especially 
pleased to have a Muslim Imam give our opening prayer to the House of 
Representatives. I am honored to welcome Imam Yahya Hendi as our guest 
chaplain this morning, and I thank him very much for those inspiring 
words and reading from the Koran.
  Imam Hendi currently serves as the Muslim chaplain at Georgetown 
University, which is where I first heard him. He also serves as 
spokesman and member of the Islamic Jurisprudence Council of North 
America and directs the ``PEACE'' office of the Muslim American 
Society. Now an American citizen, Imam Hendi was born in Nablus in the 
Palestinian Territories and educated at the University of Jordan in 
Amman and the Hartford Seminary in Connecticut. He was one of the 
Muslim leaders who met with President Bush in the aftermath of the 
September 11 tragedy.
  I asked Chaplain Dan Coughlin to invite Imam Hendi to deliver our 
opening prayer today to mark the commencement of Ramadan, the Islamic 
holy month of fasting and spiritual renewal. Observance of Ramadan 
begins tomorrow evening at dusk, and fasting will commence at sunrise 
on Saturday.
  There are 1.5 billion Muslims in the world, including almost 7 
million in the United States alone. During these troubled times, I 
believe it is important to show all Muslims and the world our good will 
toward the Muslim community and our respect for the Islamic faith.
  Again, our thanks and appreciation to Imam Yahya Hendi for offering 
our opening prayer this morning.

                          ____________________