Charles Khalil Alawan was born in Detroit in 1930, the son of Lebanese immigrants. He earned an engineering degree from Wayne University and served in the U.S. Army for six years in the 1950s. He became a successful businessman, working for Altair Industries, a Brighton, Mich., manufacturer, and later for Ansar Communications, a marketing firm.
During the 1950s Alawan was part of a group of young men in the Dearborn area who helped found what became the Islamic Center of America. Under the spiritual leadership of Imam Mohamad Jawad Chirri the Center grew to become one of the largest mosques in North America. Alawan was instrumental in attracting Mohammad Ali Elahi to the Center in 1991 to become imam after Chirri's retirement. Elahi went on to found the Islamic House of Wisdom in Dearborn Heights, Mich., in 1995.
Alawan has been active in the Michigan Republican Party, elected president of the Republican State Nationalities Council in 1967. He has been involved in a wide variety of interfaith activities, working especially to improve communication and understanding between the Muslim and non-Muslim communities in Michigan.
From the guide to the Charles Khalil Alawan papers, 1940-2001, (Bentley Historical Library, University of Michigan)
