The survey, which polled 950 Indian American Muslims in order to take a “comprehensive look” at how Hindu nationalist ideology, particularly following the rise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), is “shaping social, professional, and digital interactions”, said that over 80% of respondents experienced “Islamophobic harassment, discrimination, or prejudice from Hindu friends or social contacts over the past decade since Modi’s rise to power.”

It said, 70% of respondents experienced biased treatment from Hindu colleagues, including being passed over from promotions and anti-Muslim remarks at work; 48% of respondents reported facing harassment and discrimination on Facebook, WhatsApp, and LinkedIn, describing these experiences as emotionally exhausting, and contributing to feelings of isolation and hostility; 90% of respondents agreed (73% of them strongly) that Hindu nationalism “is a threat to Muslims in the United States”; and 86% agreed (69% strongly) that Hindu nationalism “is a threat to democracy in the United States.”

According to the survey report, the rise of Hindu nationalism in India is directly driving the rise of Islamophobia within the Indian American diaspora, adding, “Hindu nationalism is fostering an environment of intolerance that actively undermines democratic values both in India and within the diaspora community in the U.S.

Indian American Muslims are experiencing the dissolution of longstanding social, workplace, and community bonds” with “their Hindu peers who have absorbed the bigoted ideology of the Modi regime.”

The report further say, social media platforms have been weaponized against the Indian American Muslim community, “which overwhelmingly reported experiences of anxiety, fear, and isolation from Islamophobic posts and groups on international tech platforms.”

It adds, the conflation of the political ideology of Hindu nationalism with the religion of Hinduism has “dangerously allowed the supremacist movement to penetrate U.S. cultural and progressive spaces, further isolating Indian Americans.”

The survey respondents are located throughout the United States but are concentrated in the larger Indian American population centers in New Jersey, New York, Illinois, Texas, and California.
The report emphasizes on the need for enhanced community dialogue, education, and policy interventions to address the growing divide and ensure the inclusion and safety of Indian American Muslims.

Source: Counterview

Coming together on Saturday at Frontier Park, Naperville, attendees had the opportunity to indulge in a rich array of experiences, including food, traditional attire, arts, culture, and more.

“This organization needs to support and help and connect between the Muslim businesses so that they can grow,” said ILMCC President Shafeek Abubaker.

“Food vendors, over here, we have around 20 food vendors to give them an opportunity so that they can present their products, their food to the larger community,” he added.

Opening doors to people of all faiths and backgrounds, the festival aimed to foster community unity and promote interfaith dialogue.

With thousands of attendees participating in the event, organizers of the Naperville Halal Fest plan to hold the event annually.

Naperville City Councilman Benny White was among attendants to support the inaugural event.

Similar events usually bring people together, sharing food and conversation.

Earlier this year, the North Carolina Muslim Festival brought hundreds of people together to build bridges with community members.

Last December, the Islamic center of Cambridge, Ontario, invited neighbors for a fun night of games, gifts, prizes and more in the annual Family Fun Night.

Also in Greater Lansing, the Islamic center hosted Salaam Peace Festival to bring different cultures together through exhibits and food.

Source: AboutIslam.net

Interfaith America (previously known as Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC)) was founded in 2002 based on the idea that religious difference should serve as a bridge of cooperation rather than a barrier of division. Since that time, Interfaith America has evolved from a small Chicago-based nonprofit to the nation’s premier interfaith organization.

Led by Founder and President Eboo Patel, Interfaith America inspires, equips, and connects leaders and institutions to unlock the potential of America’s religious diversity. Utilizing a research-backed approach, IA works across higher education, racial equity, health, workplace, bridgebuilding, democracy, and technology.

Interfaith America provides expert consultation, training, curricula, and resources to positively engage religious diversity. It values collaboration, developing robust institutional partnerships to leverage interfaith cooperation as a proven approach in solving challenges.

Interfaith America have made college and university campuses the center of their strategy; working where the minds and values of emerging leaders are shaped and conversations take place that steer broad cultural change. Campus is where students and educators engage the complex ideas that will shape our country’s future. It’s where young people learn to be citizens and leaders. It’s where issues of diversity and difference are explored intellectually and experienced personally and up-close. It’s an environment that can model the highest ideals of civil society alongside some of the most divisive conflicts that we’re grappling with as a nation.

Over the years they have expanded the programs to engage leaders across the campus environment – students, faculty, administrators – building a network of over 100,000 aspiring interfaith leaders on more than 600 U.S. college and university campuses. These partners come from wildly different faiths, worldviews, and institutions, but share Interfaith America’s vision.

Today, Interfaith America and its partners continue writing the story of American interfaith cooperation, finding new ways to help people build bridges above dangerous currents of incivility and polarization.

The big idea for Interfaith America came to the founder, Eboo Patel, as the last millennium drew to a close. At a 1998 conference on interreligious engagement hosted by Stanford University, he and a small group of his peers looked around and suddenly realized that they were the only young people in the room.

They built an interfaith youth movement using service to bring together people who might disagree on ultimate truths, but share a commitment to improve their world.

Between 2003 and 2011 Interfaith America tripled its staff and launched programs ranging from interfaith service around Chicago to dialogue initiatives in the Middle East, South Africa, and India. Interfaith America partnered with the Clinton Global Initiative and Queen Rania of Jordan to create an international exchange program. They collaborated with the Tony Blair Faith Foundation to develop a fellows program that brought together young leaders to serve as interfaith ambassadors to the United Nations, focusing on malaria. Eboo was asked to speak at the 16th Nobel Peace Prize Forum and he and Interfaith America were profiled by major media outlets like the New York Times. During this time, Interfaith America also began to see unique breakthroughs on college and university campuses. This led to a breakthrough: campuses are laboratories for diverse civil society, and the perfect place for rising leaders to tackle the hardest questions of diversity and difference in the 21st century.

Contacts

• Address: 141 W. Jackson Blvd, Suite 3200, Chicago, IL 60604, US
• Phone: +1 (312) 573-8825
• Email: info@interfaithamerica.org
• Website: http://legacy.interfaithamerica.org/

MASOM (Midwest Association of Shia Organized Muslims) located in Chicago, IL., seeks to organize and promote religious and educational activities pursuant to Shia faith of Islam as preached by Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) and his progeny (PBUT) and enhances mutual understanding, cooperation and unity among the Shia Muslims in Chicago and throughout the world. They also provide religious services and education, social ceremonies, such as religious meetings (Majalis), religious celebrations, marriages and funerals to promote Shia Islamic fundamentals and codes.

MASOM Islamic School (MIS)

MASOM Islamic school, as a weekend school, strives in becoming a true Shi’a Muslim, the way Almighty Allah and the Divine Imams (Peace be upon Them) want believers to be, by gaining knowledge of the pure Islam and implementing that knowledge in their daily life.

The following areas of Islamic Education are taught in the Islamic school:

a) Aa’qaid (Islamic beliefs)
b) Fiqh (Islamic laws)
c) Islamic ethics & morals
d) Islamic history

Contacts

• Address: 4353 West Lawrence Avenue, Chicago, IL 60630
• Phone: +1 (773) 283-9718
• Email: secretary@masom.com
• Website: masom.com

Zaynab Mohamed became the winner in the race to represent State Senate District 63, making history as the youngest woman and one of the first Black women elected to the Minnesota Senate.

In Illinois, Democrats Abdelnasser Rashid won the race to represent State House Districts 21, receiving more than 65% of the votes.

Nabeela Syed also won the race to represent State House Districts 51. They both became the first Muslims elected to the Illinois State Legislature.

Nabilah Islam who prevailed in the race to represent Georgia State Senate District 7, joined incumbent State Senator Sheikh Rahman, the lone Muslim in the State Legislature, who didn’t have a challenger for the District 5 seat.

Nabilah Islam is the first Muslim woman elected to the State Senate while Romman is the first Muslim woman elected to the State House of Representatives and became the winner to represent District 97.

Democrat Munira Abdullahi, who didn’t have a challenger in the general election for Ohio State House District 9, became the first Muslim elected to the Ohio State Legislature.

Abdullahi, a 26-year-old youth director, is also the first Muslim woman to win a seat in the Ohio Legislature.

Ismail Mohamed, one of the city’s first Somali-born attorneys licensed to practice in the state, defeated his opponent Republican J. Josiah Lanning, winning 80% to 20% of the vote.

Democrat 26-year-old Mana Abdi made history in Maine when she was elected to represent State House District 95.

Abdi was unopposed in the general election after her Republican challenger withdrew from the race after posting on Facebook that Muslims “should not be allowed to hold public office.”

South Portland Mayor Deqa Dhalac joined her in the State House of Representatives after getting elected to represent the Maine House of Representatives District 120.

Source: AboutIslam.net

Mission

To be the unifying federation of Islamic organizations of greater Chicagoland, the leading advocate of Muslim community interests and a catalyst for enriching American society.

Accomplishments

Over the course of its relatively short history, the Council has achieved several significant milestones. The first accomplishment was the Council’s work to cultivate an open, collegial forum for Chicago area Muslim leaders to share ideas and concerns and collectively resolve problems. From time to time, based on emerging needs in the community, the Council has also actively facilitated the formation of new organizations, such as the Muslim Civil Rights Center and, most recently, the Organization of Islamic Speakers.

Through its outreach efforts on behalf of its members, the Council has formed invaluable relationships with several faith-based groups, including: the Archdiocese of Chicago; Protestants for the Common Good; the Chicago Board of Rabbis; the Catholic Theological Union; other religious constituencies, including Methodists, Presbyterians, and Unitarians; and faith-based civic groups, such as the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ), and the Council for a Parliament of the World’s Religions (CPWR).

Consequently, a significant portion of the interfaith dialogue in the Chicago area between Muslims and people of other faiths takes place under the auspices of the Council. Additionally, the Council has successfully collaborated on major cooperative projects with leading Chicago institutions. Among these projects are the historic “Chicagoans & Islam” gathering in November 2002 with United Power for Action & Justice (where, for the first time in the history of the US, about 2,500 Muslim Americans interacted on a one-on-one basis with fellow Americans from other faiths), various prominent interfaith events across the region – held independently and with partners like NCCJ, CPWR and the Office of Cardinal George; and prominent press conferences addressing a variety of topics including hate crimes, post 9-11 backlash, racial profiling, violation of civil rights of Americans and immigrants, with partners like the Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights (ICIRR), NCCJ, the Offices of City of Chicago Mayor, Richard Daley, Illinois Governor George Ryan and Superintendent of the Chicago Police Department, Terry Hillard.

The Council has also been instrumental in successfully uniting Muslims from across the United States and Canada for the annual conventions of the Islamic Society of North America (ISNA), a world-renowned federation of North American Muslim organizations. The Council has been an indispensable partner with ISNA in organizing and managing the conventions, particularly the many conventions held in Chicago during the 1990s. In recent years, the ISNA annual convention has become one of the world’s largest gatherings of Muslims, attended by approximately 50,000 people. During the Chicago conventions, the Council has also assumed full responsibility for organizing and hosting all interfaith events held during the convention.

What We Do

The Council provides professional help, guidance, and resources to local Masjids (mosques) and Muslim community organizations so they can empower their leadership and communities. Our resources are available to those who are interested in enhancing their organizational capacity so that they can serve their members and communities most effectively.

Some services and areas of expertise that the Council can offer include:

• Legal Advice & Lobbying Practices
• Accounting
• Fundraising Strategies
• Leadership Development
• Training on Grassroots Involvement
• Public Relations and Media Relations
• Islamic School Curriculum Development
• Communications & Media Relations Training
• Promotions and Advertising
• Technical Assistance
• Goal Setting and Strategic Planning

Contacts

• Address: 231 South State St., Suite 300, Chicago, IL 60604, USA
• Phone: +1 312 506 0070
• Email: info@ciogc.org
• Website: http://www.ciogc.org/