South Brunswick Muslim Leader is Guest at State of the Union

South Brunswick, NJ - One of your South Brunswick neighbors will be in the audience Tuesday night when President Barack Obama gives his final State of the Union address.

Longtime South Brunswick Muslim leader Imam Hamad Chebli was invited by U.S. Congresswoman Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-12th Dist.) to be her plus-one to Tuesday night’s SOTU. Chebli is the imam of the Islamic Society of Central Jersey, located just off Rt. 1.

Watson Coleman said she invited Chebli as a response to anti-Muslim attitudes in the U.S. today. Last month, Chebli’s mosque held an open talk about Islamophobia, and more than 300 people, including many non Muslims, attended. Today, however, he declined to comment on Donald Trump, saying, “I don’t want to return evil with evil.”

“I will never say ‘no’ if I am given such an invitation. This is a gift from God,” Chebli told Patch Tuesday afternoon. He was already in Washington, D.C. and said he was ”trying to find” Watson-Coleman’s office.

“As Muslims, this is our country, too, our capital, our Congress. We are not strangers here,” he said.

Chebli himself is no stranger to the halls of Congress. He led a Ramadan prayer in Congress when Bill Clinton was president, and in 2014, he helped lead a prayer when Congress first opened for session.

Originally from Lebanon, Chebli has lived in South Brunswick since 1982 and led the Islamic Society of Central Jersey since 1986.