As’salaam alaikum (peace be upon you):
The brutal murder of George Floyd – and countless other Black brothers and sisters killed at the hands of police or vigilantes – has caused outrage across our country. We have all been shocked and shaken, and it has cracked open a long-overdue discussion on the history of systemic racism and violence towards Black Americans in our country, and its continued presence and prevalence today.
On May 29, I sent out a message condemning the killing of George Floyd and others, the ongoing police brutality against Black Americans, and racism in our nation. We have since received many emails from community members, particularly our youth, about the inadequacy of my response. Specifically, my message failed to acknowledge the existence of anti-Black racism and implicit bias within our own community, the deep pain it has caused our Black brothers and sisters, or concrete actions to address this.
The MAPS Board has had multiple discussions over the past week and has come to understand and absorb the gravity of this problem at MAPS. The Board and I consider this a wake-up call and recognize the need to acknowledge such anti-Black racism in our own Muslim community and the legitimate concerns of our Black Muslim siblings, especially our youth.
In hindsight, we should have taken this opportunity to create awareness of this problem within our own community, provided space for the emotional healing of our Black brothers and sisters, and set forth specific actions to combat racist attitudes or behaviors at MAPS or beyond. In addition, we should have highlighted ways the MAPS community can contribute to the broader work on addressing systemic racism, police brutality and white supremacy in society – through the work of MAPS-AMEN and beyond (see statement here with action calls issued by MAPS-AMEN last week).
MAPS was founded with the vision of a welcoming and inclusive mosque with representation and participation by everyone regardless of race, gender, national origin, linguistic or ethnic background, or Islamic schools of Jurisprudence, as set forth in our MAPS bylaws. Racial justice is also core to our faith. Indeed, our Prophet (peace be upon him) in his farewell sermon, left us these powerful parting words: “All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over a black nor a black has any superiority over a white – except by piety and good action.”
It is our responsibility to live up to this message and the teachings of our faith, along with the vision set forth in our bylaws. While we have moved forward with many great initiatives at MAPS and have made significant progress on many fronts, thanks to the support of the community, the Board has not prioritized addressing some of the racial issues highlighted by the youth and community members in their letter.
We must make addressing anti-Black racism a priority for the MAPS Board and the MAPS community. We have an obligation to ensure our youth feel heard and welcome in our masjid by all, because without our youth, our institution is empty and will not leave much of a legacy. They say “every dark cloud has a silver lining.” Let’s hope that’s what this is. While acknowledging the issue is the first step, we realize that it must go beyond acknowledgement to concrete actions and accountability. So below are some specific action steps that we as the Board have discussed doing.
Educate: We recognize that we need to further learn how anti-Black racism manifests not just in society but also at MAPS and within our own Muslim community, in order to put proper measures (policies, protocols, trainings, etc.) in place to counter it. With over 5,000 members from 50+ countries that make up the MAPS Community, we also need to raise awareness and better educate our collective MAPS community. We further recognize that MAPS is the largest Islamic center in our state, and as such, we must set an example for other mosques.
On Friday (Jun 5, 2020), we were blessed to hear from Shaykha Ieasha Prime as part of MAPS’ participation in the National Day of Outrage. Shaykha Ieasha is a dynamic and respected Black Muslim scholar, who powerfully and passionately reminded us of the teachings of Islam and Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) against racism. If you missed her talk, please take the time to watch it here. We look forward to having MAPS find ways to further educate ourselves and the wider community through events that raise awareness about how we can overcome anti-Black racism.
Engage: In Fall 2019, the MAPS Board created a Committee for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion (CDEI), which we formally introduced earlier last week here. We have a Board member leading this committee, which has nine diverse members from the community, along with full support from the MAPS Board. The CDEI has been working on recommendations for steps MAPS can take internally to create positive change, including training, community educational forums, and policy/process change. This committee will also engage the wider community and the youth in formulating specific recommendations for changes, and we look forward to those recommendations.
Enact: The Board will work on implementing recommendations from the CDEI in the best way possible. We further will look at our broader MAPS programs to ensure that they also adequately and appropriately address anti-Black racism. We will work with leaders of the different MAPS Programs and explore training for them along with the MAPS Board members. The Board will provide an update to the wider MAPS community on all of these efforts in the next 90 days.
Please consider this the start of a process of healing and a renewed commitment to building trust and working together to address racism within our community and beyond. I would love to hear your thoughts on this action plan and how we can together create a welcoming and inclusive place free of racism that truly lives up to the ideals of our beautiful faith. You can also address your feedback to the CDEI at divesity@mapsredmond.org.
May Allah SWT (God Almighty) guide us in this process, and grant us the wisdom, humility, courage, strength, and power to educate ourselves, engage our community, and enact real change. Ameen.
Thank you and jazakum Allahu khayran (may God reward you).
Hyder Ali
MAPS President