The MPower 100 — Muslim Social Justice Leaders Building Power Across the United State...

[Bilal Mahmud المكافح المخلص]

The MPower 100 — Muslim Social Justice Leaders Building Power Across the United States

In the name of God the Merciful, the Mercy-Giving

Ours is an age filled with fantasies of superheroes coming to the rescue and a daily existence filled with very real villains. This is an age where we can also feel hopeless, but we are here to show you that every day hundreds of sheroes and heroes spend their lives fighting for you. From racial justice organizers to union leaders, spiritual freedom fighters to street corner revolutionaries, these 100 people featured are just a small portion of the American Muslims who organize daily for a better world for all. We are deeply embedded in every layer of movement leadership in a country we know was founded with the blood and sweat of our ancestors who prayed with their foreheads on this land before it was called the United States of America.

We are moved by those who struggled under far worse circumstances than our own— from enslaved Africans practicing Islam in hiding, to government repression during the civil rights era, to an American war machine that has taken the lives of millions of Muslims abroad. It is in remembering these realities that we also reflect on how each of these generations before us stood up. They struggled to make the world better than what they were born into, and that is what we must do now. As the Qur’an states so clearly to us:

“You who believe, uphold justice and bear witness to God, even if it is against yourselves, your parents, or your close relatives. Whether the person is rich or poor, God can best take care of both.” (Qur’an 4:135)

This is a celebration of the people on this list and the thousands of other unsung heroes. Muslims are standing up daily in cities, communities, houses of worship and college campuses around this country in unprecedented numbers. We need each of us to face down what is in front of us. Together we will inspire each other, love one another and live into the call written in our faith and in the actions of our Prophets (May Peace and Mercy be upon them all).

Muslim Organizing Across the United States

The Muslim community lives at the center of a number of social injustices that impact people throughout the United States broadly, ranging from mass incarceration and immigration struggles to racial and religious profiling. However, the interfaith funders recent report Building Bridges, Building Power: Developments in Institution-Based Community Organizing reported that mosques represent only 1% of the 4500 total member institutions that make up the ecology of the Congregation-Based Organizing (CBO) field.

Within certain philanthropic circles, this has led to a myth that Muslim communities are not engaged in community organizing. While Muslim communities may not be broadly represented within the non-profit institution that is CBO, this says as much about that field as it does about Muslim organizing. For generations Muslim communities, led by the African American Muslims have been deeply embedded in civil rights and social justice movements across the United States.

One of the primary goals of MPower Change is to be a grassroots platform for the American Muslim community that has been missing on the national level. We believe that it is providential that we launched MPower in 2016, the year when so much has been said about Muslims without us. This election is just the beginning for us to build real political power to organize Muslims at the grassroots level in alliance with communities who stand with us for social justice and human rights.

There has never been a better time to create a strong, collective voice to organize and mobilize millions of Muslims and allies across the country. It is our hope that this list can be a call to Muslim organizers, activists and lovers of social justice everywhere to stand united in the face of injustice, in the face of hate to build for generations to come and on the shoulders of those who preceded us.

MPOWER CHANGE IS A GRASSROOTS MOVEMENT ROOTED IN DIVERSE MUSLIM COMMUNITIES THROUGHOUT THE UNITED STATES WHO ARE WORKING TOGETHER TO BUILD SOCIAL, SPIRITUAL, RACIAL, AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE FOR ALL PEOPLE.

Did we miss someone you think should be on the list? Tweet us at @MPower_Change

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[Bilal Mahmud المكافح المخلص]

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