Rashad had visited Super 30 in Patna

Story by  ATV | Posted by  Aasha Khosa • 2 Years ago
Rashad with Super 30 founder Anand Kumar in Patna
Rashad with Super 30 founder Anand Kumar in Patna

 

Sami Ahmed / Patna

Indian-American Rashad Hussain who has been nominated by the US President Joe Biden as Ambassador for international religious freedom hails from Bihar in India and some of his relatives still live in Patna.

His appointment will come only after being approved by the Senate. He will be the first Muslim to hold this coveted position. On being confirmed his responsibility  will be monitoring religious freedom around the world.

Rashad, 41, is currently the Director of the Partnerships and Global Relations Division of the US National Security Council. He has also served as a Senior Counsel in the National Security Division of the Department of Justice.

Rashad Hussein who holds a law degree from Yale Law School has also a Masters' degree in Arabic and Islamic Studies from Harvard University. President Barrack Obama had appointed him as America's Special Representative to the OIC.

Hafiz Rashad's father, Mohammad Akbar Hussain, was a mining engineer, who went to America in 1970. Although his relatives still live in Patna's vegetable garden, Rashad had once said his father had come from a village in Bihar that had no electricity back then. Rashad Hussain's sister Lubna, brother Saad and mother Rukaiya are medical doctors.

Senior journalist Suroor Ahmed remembers Rashad’s visit to Patna in 2010. At that time, he had also met Anand Kumar, the founder of Super 30 that prepares students from poor sections of society for entrance to IIT, and addressed the students there. He had also visited Khuda Baksh library of Patna at that time. Anand Kumar remembers Rashad as a man of simple nature. He said Rashad’s nomination is a matter of pride for Bihar and India.

Rashad's selection to this post is being seen as a great example of the generosity of American society and equal opportunity there. Congratulating him, Moin Moon Khan, a resident of Muzaffarpur living in America said that the world should learn from America how responsibility goes to a deserving person regardless of religion and caste. He said that those countries should also learn from this selection of Rashad, where the level of religious tolerance is very poor.

Rashad, who was included in the world's 500 most influential Muslims in 2009, is also identified in making strategies to counter terrorist propaganda. He has also contributed to establishing better communication centers for this work in the UAE, Nigeria, Malaysia, and Saudi Arabia.