For past several years, local Muslim community leaders have been striving to establish a council to promote coordination and cooperation among mosques and Muslim non-profit organizations through collective consultation.

The Northern California Muslim community achieved a milestone on Dec 8, 2007 with the formal launch of the Northern California Islamic Council (NCIC). The inauguration event was attended by 250 directors, Imams and members of Masajid and Muslim non-profits across California.

Shura is an Arabic word for consultation which is rooted in the central idea that people are equal in their rights and responsibilities.

Northern California Islamic Council is a peer-to-peer network of advice and support for Muslim non-profits with an aim to provide a united Muslim voice to the community at large. We hope that the non-binding consultation among Muslim non-profit organizations will help build trust and confidence in the light of Qur''anic verse, "…those who conduct their affairs by counsel" (43:38)

The primary goals and objectives of the council are to:

• Promote collaboration and cooperation among Muslim non-profits
• Help build consensus on issues of common interests and concerns
• Improve leadership communication and management skills
• Strengthen communities through education, empowerment and mobilization

The Mosques and Muslim organizations in Northern California serve more than half a million Muslims and Northern California Islamic Council aspires to leverage the collective wisdom of a truly representative body with clergy and lay leaders from a very diverse Muslim community. Such a successful model already exists in the Shura Council of Southern California for over a decade