The MLK Day Brotherhood Awards are NewsOne’s annual celebration of five important Americans who are continuing the work of Martin Luther King, Jr. — especially in the realm of interpersonal, cross-racial, and cross-ethnic understanding.

Our honorees are the bridge builders and the nation healers.

CHECK FOR MORE HONOREES AS THEY ARE REVEALED BEFORE MLK DAY HERE.

——————

Name: Aisha al-Adawiya

Age: 67

City of Residence: New York City

Occupation: Director and Founder of Women in Islam, Inc.

Her Work: al-Adawiya has been active in interfaith-based activism in New York City and the world for more than three decades. While her organization focuses on strengthening the role and voice of women in Islam, al-Adawiya has been very active in defending Muslims against Islamophobia and promoting interfaith unity in New York City.

On Her Brotherly Walk With Dr. King:

The best way to address brotherly (and sisterly) love is to begin in our own families. We have to be the ones to model that for our own constituencies, first of all. If I’m sitting a room and I hear people making racist statements, I will not sit quietly by, but I will speak directly to it. You don’t get to do that in my presence.  And it doesn’t always have to be confrontational. But if you’re saying bigoted things about other people not present, I always think that when I leave you could say the same things about me. So let’s not do that. And try to think, “Why are we doing that?” And as people of faith, whatever our faiths are, we must ask, “What are our higher callings? Is this something our spiritual elders would encourage us to do?”

I also think we have to start teaching our children at a very young age because I am finding all too often that, for the younger generation, religion seems old-fashioned and tradition is a dirty world. We must develop a conversation, a narrative that will resonate with our young people who think, “I’m not sitting in the room to hear this old man or woman read the same old passages from whatever scripture.”  So brotherly (and sisterly) love has to be meaningful and engage our youth wherever they are because today they are targeted and bombarded with an unprecedented amount of toxic information. So we have to be the first one in our family, in our environment, in our circle to say, “Not on my watch. You don’t get to do that in my presence.”

Much of my work in New York City to continue Dr. King’s mission of brotherly (and sisterly) love between Muslims and people of other faiths and communities is to ensure that Muslims extend that same love to each other.  The tragedy of Sept. 11 not only drew religious and ethnic hatred towards Muslims; it unearthed uncomfortable stereotypes various Muslims held towards other Muslims. More specifically, many Muslims who immigrated to the United States held stereotypes of African-American Muslims that they could comfortably live with. That is, until the Towers fell.

Nobody wants to identify with the underdog, the disenfranchised. So this notion of privilege associated with whiteness is what many new immigrants actively buy into, even though they look like us. But this is not unique to Muslims coming from Muslim majority countries. It is the typical attitude that people bring when they come to America seeking advantage, a better way of life.

But some of the toughest work I have as an activist in the Muslim community is to convince them they no longer have this “advantage.”

Part of what we try to say is ‘your honorary status associated with white priviledge after 911 was taken away.’ Many people now get that and understand the new reality that we all face. Still many continue to say, ‘Well, they don’t know us, they don’t know about Islam and Muslims.’ And we say,’ they do know us.’ You don’t know us.’ Many of us have been here for a very long time, but your choice was not to engage with us, the African-American Muslims.

Encouragingly, relations between the various Muslim communities in New York have significantly improved over the years, and much work remains to be done. But part of our mission to continue Dr. King’s work is to promote self love, that before we ask others to accept us , Muslims must first learn to love and accept each other.

Inspiration: Malcolm X

On How She Thinks We Can Continue The Work Of MLK:

Go to something that you know is out of your box. Go meet some people. One of the very effective ways I have found in terms of breaking down the “us and them” is to create these environments where people can work together on concrete issues that are common to everyone. And it doesn’t just have to be, “Oh, there’s this poor African somewhere in Africa starving. There are some real social justice issues right here at home that need to be addressed and we all need to come together and say, “This is not OK.”

I think, first and foremost, [we need] to be brave enough, strong enough and honest enough with ourselves to say, “Even if I am the only one standing, I will be the first one to speak up.”

Dr. King’s message was not just for black folks. Dr. King’s message was a universal message for everybody. And it called on everybody to acknowledge any deficits in our being, in our innermost selves. To look at those squarely in the face and acknowledge them and then get rid of them. And then you build this beloved community that we talk about because, in order to do that, you have to rid yourself of the noxious toxins that you have been living with for a very long time. Those toxins being our (negative) perceptions, our attitudes, our actions.

January 10th, 2012
Guest Contributor

Editor’s Note: As previous RIS-themed posts have noted (see our post from 2008, two posts from 2009, and two posts from the 2011 Convention), the lack of women scholars is a persistent problem at the Reviving the Islamic Spirit events.  Here, Sumaya, a guest contributor to MMW, outlines some of the reasons that this is problematic, and proposes possible speakers for future conferences.

So it’s been a couple weeks since the end of the 10th annual Reviving the Islamic Spirit conference. As a regular attendee who didn’t have the opportunity of attending this year, I would love to hear the experiences and insights of all MMW’s readers. I also recognize, before I go on further, the amazing feelings and inspiration from gatherings such as this and the wealth of knowledge shared by the intellectuals that come from all over the world to speak. With that said, it’s been, again, a disappointing year for female involvement as speakers, in a conference where women make up at least half the audience and half the volunteers (but usually more).

In previous years, suggestions and initiatives have been taken to get ideas of women speakers who would be a great fit for this conference and to see more females of equal intellectual ranking (or close to it) at this event which boasts audiences in the tens of thousands. It did not seem to change much, so here is one more attempt to compile a list. To be proactive rather than reactive to an all-too-often-seen scenario, I propose that the following speakers should at the very least be considered future conferences, and that female speakers should make up a much larger percentage of the panels. This is not to take away from many of the scholars that attend, and more realistically pull in the numbers for this event, but this conference began as a movement by the youth to educate and inspire the Muslim community while giving an outlet to scholars of different opinions and ways of thinking. It should continue in that trend, rather than giving in to this culture of rockstar scholars we seem to have adopted towards the end of the decade.

Now, before we hear anything about the questioning of the credibility of the following ladies, please address them with respect, and remember that among the male speakers who DO speak at the conferences, well, let’s just say their opinions have definitely offended some, and yet they still continue to speak. In Islam, there is a system of intellectual agreement to disagree, and that allows for various opinions and schools of thought to exist, and hopefully coexist. If a speaker who voices his opinion that Muslim sisters should not work* still gets invited year after year, I see no reason why the following have no place to voice theirs. Without further ado, here’s a list of suggestions to start things off (in no particular order), and more suggestions are more than welcome:

Dr. Amina Wadud

Dr. Ingrid Mattson

Dr. Zainab Alwani

Ambassador Shabazz

Yasmin Mogahed

Dr. Sachiko Murata

Dr. Jamillah Karim

Dr. Aminah McCloud

Ustadha Shamira Chothia Ahmed

Leila Aboulela

Dr. Leila Ahmed

Muna AbuSulaiman

Dr. Merve Kavakci

Aisha Al-Adawiya

Tayyibah Taylor

Rabia Khedr

Aishah Schwartz

Dr. Kecia Ali

Dr. Azizah Al-Hibri

Dr. Asma Barlas

Laleh Bakhtiar

Fatima Mernissi

Dr. Gaye D. Walton-Price

Ustadha Zaynab Ansari Abdul-Razacq

Ustadha Rukayat Yakub

Maryam Eskandari

Dr. Sarah Sayeed

As you can see, for a conference that averages about 20 speakers a year, there are a plethora of female speakers to choose from (enough to have a conference of female speakers only!), and the increase in their participation can only inspire more of them to speak across the country in schools and community,  and to gain exposure and audiences much like other speakers have been granted in that long-held tenure and experience. Let us be the change we want to see. Let us pave the way for future dialogue and possibilities. Let us continue to inspire and revive our faith in our communities. We would like to tell ourselves there are hardly any female intellectuals, scholars, speakers out there, but why lie to ourselves?

*An opinion expressed by Shaykh Sulaiman Moola at the 2008 RIS convention.

Source: Muslim Media Watch

“To not change is a problem. Change is like a flowing river that we must embrace,” noted Fatma Sahin, Turkish Minister of Family and Social Policies. She gave the opening remarks at a major convening of parliamentarians, academic scholars and NGOs from Muslim societies. Women In Islam, Inc. is invited as a non-profit Muslim women’s organization focused on human rights. Held in Istanbul, Turkey and hosted by the Turkish government, the Parliamentary Union of Islamic Countries and the Organization of Islamic Cooperation, the conference (www.changeandwomen.org) aims to highlight the accomplishments and remaining challenges of involving women in democratic governance across Muslim-majority countries. By bringing together leaders and thinkers and doers from these nations, the conference creates a forum for a sharing of lessons and goal setting for countries as a whole. It also allows Turkey to highlight its own accomplishments, and in the words of Sahin, “to share the trend of democratic developments within Turkey with other countries.” She also stressed the need for political will to actualize change and called for Muslim women to stand together as sisters in advocating for fairness and justice.

Among the highlights of the conference was a keynote address by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan. He commended Egyptian women for “lighting the fire of change,” and acknowledged that the recent revolutions are not without the pain that accompanies transformation; referring to a recent story about a woman being dragged, he acknowledged that women are on the front lines bearing this pain. “The most important aspects of change have been led by women- the more women have changed the more societies have changed; societies where women have been discriminated against, those societies have lagged behind, societies that don’t value their mothers, girls, they have no way of reaching peace and happiness; when rights that are kept from women, or men abuse women, the nation cannot find way to become modern and civilized,” he stated. Not surprisingly, a bulk of Erdogan’s speech also addressed French President Sarcozy’s recent introduction by Turkey, and he decried the underlying anti-Muslim xenophobia of Sarcozy and his party.

In two in-depth sessions, one a round-table and another a plenary, delegates of the parliaments of Islamic countries spoke in detail about the representation of women in parliaments, which totals an average of 18% of parliamentary seats around the world, the highest in Nordic countries (41%) and the lowest in Arab states (9.4%) and the Pacific (13.4%). Interestingly, Africa and Asia are at about 17% while Europe is at 19% and the Americas are at about 22%. Many country representatives spoke about the establishment of quotas to improve representation at national and local levels of governance; the representative of Mali said women candidates are offered financial incentives to run for office as a way to encourage them, and that women are taking advantage of these offers. All representatives trod the line of representing their country in the best light, but also, making an effort to critique their own progress. (For additional statistics by country, please visit the conference website.)

The last plenary of the day focused upon the rapidly changing context of the Middle East and North Africa. Two main take-away points emerged from this sessions: that while women have played critical roles in the revolutionary movements, there must be diligent monitoring of women’s rights because in some contexts women risk losing previous gains; and that media have a responsibility to be more proactive in showing the centrality of women and women’s rights in the change movements. Speakers continued to highlight the need for Muslim women to stand united in this vigilance and struggle. Tomorrow will bring discussions of Islam and Democracy and establishment of a Gender Equality Institute within the OIC.

“Let there arise out of you

A band of people inviting to all that is good.

Enjoining what is right,

And forbidding what is wrong:

These are those who are successful.”

Al-Qur’an III:104

On Human Rights Day, December 10, 2011, Women In Islam, Inc. joins human rights

defenders in recognition of the founding of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, a document signed 63 years ago by the United Nations General Assembly.  This Universal Declaration of Human Rights is a milestone document, setting forth a common standard of fundamental human rights to be protected by all people and all nations.

As a Muslim women’s human rights organization, we affirm that human dignity and human rights are God-given to each person, and that we as Muslims are responsible to uphold and defend this trust that God has granted humanity.

Centuries ago, Islam elevated the position of women in society and treated them on equal and equitable standing with men, and in some cases, gave them even higher status. Islam prohibits the oppression of all of humanity. The hungry must be fed, the naked clothed, the homeless sheltered, and the wounded or diseased given medical care, regardless of their views. Our vision and mandate is to reclaim this important legacy.

Women In Islam, Inc. is proud to announce the revival of our Human Rights & Social Justice Lecture Series. Beginning in 2012, we will host a series of lectures on the following topics:

Sustainable Humanitarian Relief and Development in East Africa

Women and the Prison Industrial Complex in the United States

 New Perspectives: The Arts and Social Justice

Please join us.

womeninislam.org

Time to Address Violence Against Muslim Women

Late last year, a Staten Island woman and her toddler were attacked by a pedestrian who punched her in the face, pulled on her scarf, asked her why she was in America, and called all Muslims and Arabs terrorists. One week later in Seattle, Wash., two American citizens of Somali descent were physically attacked at a gas station. The female assailant called them suicide bombers, terrorists and told them to go back to their country. She then slammed the door on the leg of one of the women, kicked her and pulled off her headscarf. After the attack, one victim was afraid to leave her house because her Muslim headscarf could invite further violence… Continue reading

In the wake of the recent misguided anti-Shari’ah laws that have been passed in several states, Women In Islam Inc will host a town hall meeting on Islam, Shari’ah, and Religious Freedom in the U.S. at the Schomburg Center at 6pm.

The event will feature: Rev. Dr. James Forbes, The first African-American to serve as Senior Minister of The Riverside Church in New York City. Founder and President of the Healing of the Nations Foundation. Currently the Harry Emerson Fosdick Distinguished Professor of Homiletics; Dr. Azizah al-Hibri, Founder and Chair of KARAMAH: Muslim Women Lawyers for Human Rights, Commissioner on the US Commission on International Religious Freedom, and professor at the T.C. Williams School of Law at the University of Richmond; Prof. Theodore Shaw, Professor of law at Columbia University, Prof. Shaw worked with the NAACP Legal Defense and Education Fund from 1982 through 2008, serving as the President and Director-Council from 2004-2008 and was a trial attorney in the Civil Rights division of the Department of Justice from 1979 to 1982; and Prof. Anisa Mehdi (Moderator) Emmy award-winning journalist and filmmaker specializing in religion and the arts. Founder and President of Whetstone Productions. Adjunct professor of Communications at Seton Hall University, and Fulbright Scholar in Amman, Jordan from 2009 to 2010.

During this event, scholars and experts will explain what Shari’ah is, how it is practiced in the U.S., constitutional issues surrounding a potential ban, and the effects a ban would have on religious freedom in America. After a brief introduction from experts, a town hall meeting will be held for attendees to converse with the experts and each other.

This event is free and open to the public, please join us! The Schomburg Center is located at 515 Malcolm X Boulevard, New York, NY 10037

Aisha Al-Adawiya, Founder, Women In Islam, Inc.  on the passing of Wangari Maathai:

Can you imagine the transformative power of the simple act of planting a tree! Wangari Maathai did.  And in the process, she created not only a different way of thinking about Africa and African women, but spawned a global movement. Now just imagine what we women could accomplish if we joined hands in true global sisterhood with mutual love and respect. We could change the world, really, we could. It only takes one spark to illuminate the dark. Be that spark!

“Growing up in this country where the Bill of Rights guarantees freedom of religion, I felt let down,” the college student told reporters of Washington Post. “This case is about principles, the right to be able to express your religion freely and be able to work in this country.”

Women In Islam, Inc. encourages Muslim women to read Engy Abdel Kader’s publication A Muslim Woman’s Guide to Her Civil Rights: When Faith Practice Triggers Discrimination in America.

In 2006, we hosted Engy Abdelkader as part of our annual Women’s History Month program, Charting our Own Course: Muslim Women in the Public Square.  Speakers included Engy Abdelkader, Esq., author of A Muslim Women’s Guide to Her Civil Rights: When Faith Practices Trigger Discrimination in America, Asma Sayeed, PhD, Muslim Women and Hadith Transmission, and Sarah Sayeed, PhD, Women Friendly Mosques and Community Centers: Working Together to Reclaim Our Heritage.

Women In Islam, Inc. stands strongly in support of Muslim women exercising our Constitutional, First Amendment rights to the free practice of religion when it comes to matters of dress.  In addition, we work to educate and inform Muslim communities about the historically significant role that women have played in the building of Islamic communities, by full participation in the public square.

Women In Islam Inc., New York City’s oldest Muslim women’s rights non-profit, is an organization of professional and social activist Muslim women who are dedicated to the empowerment of women through knowledge and practice of Islam.  Its mission is to advance the spiritual and intellectual development of women to empower them as dynamic participants in civil society and as advocates for human rights and social justice.   Join us as we celebrate the contributions of five amazing women in June!

10th Annual Dr. Betty Shabazz Awards Ceremony

Honoring Women Who Dedicate Their Lives to Helping Others
Dr. Betty Shabazz Award Honorees:

Congresswoman Yvette Clarke
New York City, 11th District

Tayyibah Taylor
Founder, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher, Azizah Magazine
Compass Award Recipients:

Faiza Ali
Community Activist

Kayhan Irani
Artist and Activist, Artivista

Aliya Latif
Research Associate, Islamic Center of NYU

Special Performances:

Sumayya Ali
The Raskol Khan

Sunday, June 26, 3-6 PM
Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture
515 Malcolm X Boulevard at 135th Street, Manhattan

Purchase tickets in advance ($35): http://drshabazzawards.eventsbot.com/
To pay by check, money order, or cash and for additional information, email rsvp@womeninislam.org