Sunday, April 8 was the second annual Open Mosque Day in Massachusetts, in which more than 21 mosques across the state opened their doors to people of all backgrounds so they could meet their Muslim neighbors and learn more about Islam. According to the event's interfaith participants, the Open Mosque Day provided a great opportunity to learn about another faith's beliefs and practices. As one Muslim leader said, "The real benefit of this is people get to meet real people and make their own ...
The Roots, Causes, and Consequences of Islamophobia
As the fight against Islamophobia is becoming a mainstream social justice issue, read this engaging interview on Vox.com with Khaled Beydoun, a law professor and the author of a new book called American Islamophobia: Understanding the Roots and Rise of Fear, about the roots, causes, and consequences of anti-Muslim bigotry in the U.S., as well as the possible positive outcomes of bringing the fight against Islamophobia into mainstream discourse. READ MORE (Vox) ...
American Muslim Identity
As my children entered their teens, I noticed that they and their friends were expressing Islam in a manner that was quite different from their parents. A rather sensible version. When we had opened the doors of our mosque in Staten Island in 1990, Muslims of various ethnicities filled up the prayer hall—Pakistani, Indian, African-American, Arab, Turkish... Each group was expressing the faith in their own way... READ MORE (SabeehaRehman.com) ...
A NYC Muslim Teacher’s Reflection
Sadia Reza is a Muslim teacher on Staten Island, the one borough of New York City that voted heavily in favor of President Trump in the 2016 election. In this engaging and important piece, Ms. Reza reflects on her Muslim identity and her role as an educator during this time of heightened bigotry, saying that despite challenges, she is committed to her job and her role in shaping her students' minds and encouraging them to think broadly: "My purpose, more than anything, is to enable students to ...
A Night of Spiritual Music in New York City!
On March 22 at East End Temple, Cordoba House organized a Qawwali event led by the Zaman Zaki Taji Qawwals from Pakistan. The program was part of Cordoba's overall mission of building a wider bridge of understanding across interfaith groups and creating the emerging Muslim American identity. Cordoba House Executive Director, Naz Ahmed Georgas, opened the performance with a verse from the holy Quran that emphasizes a commitment to realizing Abraham and Ishmael's prayers for establishing a ...