Obama's New Envoy To OIC Profiled

Today's Washington Post profiles Rashad Hussain, President Obama's recently appointed special envoy to the Organization of the Islamic Conference. (See prior related posting.) The 31-year old Hussain who grew up in Plano, Texas, is both a scholar of the Qur'an and an ardent North Carolina Tar Heels basketball fan (his undergraduate alma mater). After completing a master's degree in Arabic and Islamic studies at Harvard, he was working with the House Judiciary Committee at the time of 9-11. He later attended Yale Law School and, until his recent appointment, worked in the White House Counsel's Office. Hussain has memorized the Qur'an and prays daily, often in a room in the Eisenhower Executive Office Building used by all faiths.