The first visit of Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro to America was in 1966, when, at the invitation of the North Lake College Association, from April through June, he gave more than forty-four lectures in Indiana, Ohio and Michigan, educating students and church members about Islam and justice in Palestine. Recently, Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro came to believe strongly that America can recover its religious heritage and share the Islamic heritage in order to renew global civilization in the twenty-first century. His eminence acted on this belief in June, 1989, by a two-week visit, sponsored by the U.S. State Department, to lecture and visit many religious centers and leaders in Washington D.C., Massachusetts, Connecticut, New York, Florida, and Texas. In August, 1990, he attended "The Assembly of the World's Religions" in San Francisco, where he gave several lectures, entitled, "Spirituality in the 21st Century" and "The Holy Qur'an Extends its Helpful Hand to All Humankind." In December, 1992, he was invited to a religious conference to be held in Greece, to give a lecture entitled "The Conscience in Islam"; however, the Mufti was unable to attend due to poor health and the speech was sent to New York, the home of the invitation and delivered in absentia. In 1993, Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro's Abu Nour Center opened a branch in Baltimore, Maryland, the An Nour Institute, and sent it a short message. The chronological evolution of Sheikh Ahmad's priorities throughout his life shows that he first focused inwardly on rebuilding Islam through education, freedom of religion, and Da'wah among Muslims, and then shifted his focus outwardly through Islam to rebuild the world through interfaith cooperation, stewardship of the earth, and developing a moral leadership for the twenty-first century.