About Us / History

AFMI's Inception

In this meeting Dr. Nakadar proposed the formation of AFMI and it was unanimously adopted.

1987, was a significant year.

My election to be the president of the Michigan Association of Physicians of Indian origin (MAPI) set in motion chain of events. Few months later in the same year by virtue of being MAPI president the Council of Organizations of Indian Associations in Michigan (CO AIM) also elected me to chair that organization.

CO AIM, consisted of over 40 heads of various organizations that included regional, religious, cultural and linguistic organizations of Indian origin. But there was no representation from a Muslim organization as none existed locally. The focus of these organizations was to serve the interest of their own religious or ethnic community back in India.

Later, in the year 1987, I called a meeting of like-minded and interested local Muslims. They all whole heartedly approved my plan of forming an Indian Muslim Association. Thus in November of 1987 the Association of Indian Muslims (AIM-MI) came in to being, electing me as its president.

To strengthen our efforts I recommended to AIM-MI board of directors to call a meeting of heads of Consultative Council of Indian Muslims (CCIM) in Chicago, the Indian Muslim Relief Committee (IMRC) in San Francisco and AIM in Washington DC along with other interested individuals and Muslim activists in USA under the auspices of AIM-MI.

In 1988 AIM-MI called a convention in Detroit with the intention of forming a national federation. The response was overwhelming. During deliberations I suggested, giving reasons, to form a national federation of all the existing organizations. There was an instant unanimous approval of those who were present.

The members formed an ad hoc committee, approved that I be its ad hoc president assigning me to draw up the federation constitution and to file for tax exempt status. It took me almost a year to consult the heads of other organizations and interested Muslims in forming the constitution and to apply for the tax exemption.

In 1989 the ad hoc committee called a meeting in Washington D.C., approved the constitution and elected its first governing board. They unanimously elected me to be its first president.