Friday 13 January 2012

ISNA and Deaf Muslim Family Conference

The Islamic Society of America recently co-sponsored the Deaf Muslim Family conference:

"As a part of ISNA's ongoing efforts to provide quality education to the community about Islam and create environments in our mosques and Islamic centers that are inclusive and empowering to all, ISNA co-sponsored the Deaf Muslim Family conference last weekend in Virginia. Current and past ISNA Presidents Imam Mohamed Magid and Dr. Ingrid Mattson both spoke at the event, organized by Global Deaf Muslim, and have been very active in their own communities to make them more inclusive.

Imam Magid stressed the importance for our leaders and communities to make it a highest priority to develop programs and accommodations, such as a sign language interpreter during Friday prayers, to better include our deaf community members. Many of them currently attend prayers without the ability to hear and learn from the knowledge that is passed along each Friday.

Dr. Mattson spoke about the Islamic perspective on deafness and the role that our community should play with respect to deaf Muslims. In particular, she notes our responsibility as people of faith to protect the diverse needs of our communities by reflecting that diversity in our leadership. Our ability to see the needs of others is limited by our own perspective, she says, therefore, if our leadership is not reflective of our diverse community, many people's needs will continue to go unnoticed and unfilled."

Learn more here.



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Some 2011 Round-Ups

A few people have posted summaries of some of the Muslim good news stories from 2011:

Muslimah Next Door has posted "The Best ‘Good News’ Muslim Stories of 2011" (also posted at AltMuslim here)

Islamophobia Today has "My favorite 2011 Good News Stories About Muslims"

I hope 2012 brings plenty more good news for Muslim insh'Allah.

White House Honours Linda Sarsour

Illume magazine highlights the acheivements of Linda Sarsour, executive director of the Arab American Association of New York (AANY) after she received the Champion for Change Award:

"Last Thursday, the White House honored Brooklyn activist, Linda Sarsour, and nine others with the Champion for Change Award for their advocacy work in their communities.

Linda Sarsour, 31, who was not drawn to activism as a student, is now the executive director of the Arab American Association of New York (AANY). She joined AANY in 2002 to provide guidance to a worried Muslim-American community in the aftermath of the September 11 attacks. Since then, her work has expanded to areas such as community development, youth empowerment, community organizing, civic engagement and immigrants’ rights advocacy.

Sarsour’s advocacy is far reaching, and has also led her to local Democratic politics. In the months leading up the 2008 presidential elections, she organized a large voter turnout initiative directed towards the Arab American community in Brooklyn community.

Most recently, Sarsour organized and protested at the forefront of two rallies held by the Muslim community in New York: the first was an Islamic prayer and protest held in Zuccoti Park to show solidarity with the Occupy Wall Street movement and the second was a rally and prayer to protest the NYPD surveillance of Muslims in New York.

The Champion of Change Award, which is part of President Obama’s Winning the Future initiative, is one of number of awards that Sarsour has received which includes the Brooklyn Do-Gooder Award from the Brooklyn Community Foundation."

You can see the original article here.


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