Resisting Islamophobia Iftar: A Night Of Community

The Justice For Muslims Collective held our second annual community resistance iftar against Islamophobi, June 8.

We are still in awe of the amount of support we had in the room from members of our community. We had Muslim women share their poetry in an Open Mic session, heard from our incredible organizers Azza Altiraifi and Kristin Garrity Sekerci who shared why they joined JMC, while co-directors Dr. Maha Hilal and Darakshan shared our vision, impact, and future direction. We also displayed the artwork of Guantanamo Bay prisoner Khalid Qassim and the work of Tasneem who created artwork in honor of survivors of sexual assault. All the meanwhile we curated our own Liberation Beats mix we created of artists from countries on the ban list.

We also shared beautiful patches that The Sanctuaries – Washington, DC, made for us that illustrate our fundamental approach to organizing – based on a hadith that says that the Muslim ummah is like one body and when one part of it ales, the rest of the body comes to its defense. As Justice for Muslims Collective continues to grow, we hope that we can uplift the various and diverse Muslim communities along racial and ethnic lines, socioeconomic statuses, sects, abilities, etc. We strive to be inclusive in our work, and we hope that the platform we’ve built continues to evolve so that we do our part in addressing the many challenges that our the Muslim community faces, because we are one.

But we can only get there if JMC has more capacity to organize. Therefore, help us by donating to our Ramadan campaign to hire Dr. Maha Hilal. Dr. Hilal’s work have been pivotal in shaping the narratives on Muslims in the War on Terror and in directly challenging institutionalized Islamophobia (see some of her writings here, here, and here). Thanks to your donations, we’ve raised almost $7,000, which is half our goal of raising $15,000 by the end of Ramadan! Donate here!

Lastly, please join us for our last resistance iftar in Ramadan, where will have free West African Food.