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The Oldest Progressive Muslim Organization in America |
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5th Year in Africa!
January ended up being unexpectedly pleasant with a full scale planning of our activities in Burundi and Kenya.
I just returned from a 10 day trip to Burundi and Kenya. In Burundi we launched the children’s curriculum for ages 5 to 12 titled “An Inclusive Islamic Curriculum.” This curriculum is being developed in partnership with our long-time partner organization Alliance des Imams du Corridor Nord pour le Développement Humanitaire (AICNDH) and the Mufti of Burundi. The curriculum will be accompanied with comics. In this example, the story-line is about freedom of religion. In this case, the Muslim woman is asking her maid, a Christian, to do laundry. The maid comments that it is Sunday and she would like to go to church. The husband later steps in to defend the maid’s claim and desire to attend church services and that is her right.
 At the launch, we had the pleasure of having keynote speakers Mr. Yahya Hamim (Director of Communications and Public Relations in the MInistry of Communications and Media), the Deputy Ambassador of The Netherlands Ms. Esther Loeffen, the Deputy Mufti of Burundi Sheikh Saluum Gilbert, Imam Khalfan (AINCDH) and myself. In attendance were women and men, including imams keen on rolling out the curriculum. We plan to have the curriculum, the training toolkit and the comics completed by September. What will be challenging is finding the most economic and viral way to distribute the product to madrassas.
In Kenya, along with Ms. Ulfat Masibo, founder of our partner organization African Muslim Women Action Network (AMWAN) and Chair of Alliance of Inclusive Muslims (AIM), we met with local stakeholders in Mombasa on the issue of reforming the Kadhi Courts, making them more CEDAW compliant, a responsibility  accepted by the government of Kenya. We also met with the Chief Kadhi of Kenya Ahmad Mudhar, which I am happy to report have agreed to giving the opening speech at the conference we are organizing International Conference on Charting a Course for Muslim Advocates for Freedom of Religion or Belief and Gender Rights to be held in Mombasa, Kenya.
For some good corporate news! We are happy to welcome Ms. Zara Bari, a corporate lawyer with Munger, Tolles & Olson in Los Angeles to our Board of Trustees.
Onward and upward…
Ani Zonneveld
President
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- President's Letter
- U.N. Updates
- Chapter Updates
- MPV in the News
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U.N. Updates
In March MPV will be at the Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). Ani Zonneveld will be moderating a panel “Equality in Family Law: Making the Case for Reform,” an event in partnership with UN Women, WLP, Equality Now, ACT Alliance, and Musawa.
Date: March 16, 2020
Time: 9:30 a.m. - 1:30 p.m.
Place: Millenium Hilton Hotel
More details to follow.
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Chapter Updates
MPV-New York
MPV-NY has been working hard this January on organizing a packed event schedule for 2020. Some events to look forward to are:
- Continued Monthly Friday Prayers
- NYC Pride and Reclaim Pride March
- Scriptural reasoning sessions
- Interfaith dinners with friends and partners
For our February 28 prayer, we are planning to host a discussion regarding anti-Black racism within Muslim communities. To participate and get more information, please stay tuned and sign up either through the MPV-NY event page or MPV-NY Meetup.
MPV-L.A.
Feb 20, 7:00 p.m.: Ani Zonneveld will speak on a panel titled “Women and Leadership: An Interfaith Perspective” at Loyola Marymount University’s Business School about ways that women can claim their unique perspectives and roles as they lead and work in organizations. The discussion will be in response to issues identified in the documentary “Miss Representation,” which examines how male perspectives have framed the way female perspectives are received and generally compromised the impact women have been able to make. While the problem of the representation of women in U.S. and Western culture is well-recognized, there has been less discussion of the potential cultural and faith-based framing of human value, leadership, and engagement.
Feb 22, 1:00 - 3:30 p.m.: We will be hosting the second session of the workshop “Confronting Intimate Partner Violence.” We’ll examine progressive Muslim interpretations of Qur’an verses 4:34-35 & 4:128-130. In addition, due to popular request in session 1, this session will feature focused practice in recognizing “red flag” behaviors that signal abuse in a relationship. So we’ll study a variety of scenarios that depict intimate partner interactions that will help us sharpen our ability to recognize ‘red flag’ behaviors. To attend, please RSVP here.
MPV-Boston
On January 3, MPV-Boston held a Religious Facism event to highlight the issues of religious facism in South Asia. MPV-Boston had two speakers, Padma and Pratyush, from the Boston Coalition, a group of progressive individuals from various religious backgrounds.
Padma gave a historical perspective about the unity between people of Muslim and Hindu faiths in India from the first battle of independence from British colonialism in 1857 to the Telangana movement in the 1940's and after. She spoke about the state sponsored killings of Sikhs in 1984, Muslims in 2002 and the several massacres of Dalits in independent India. She said that religion and caste based killings are used to divide and control people.
Pratyush talked about Citizens (Amendment) Act (CAA) 2019 and its relationship with National Register of Citizens (NRC) and National Population Register (NPR). CAA 2019 promises to grant citizenship to Hindus, Jains, Christians, Sikhs, Buddhists and Parsis, who may have migrated to India from Bangladesh, Pakistan and Afghanistan before December 31, 2014 without valid documents.
February 9: MPV-Boston will have an interfaith prayer service with the community church of Boston. MPV-Boston is honored to be leading a service. To RSVP for this event, check out our Facebook event page Muslim Interfaith Service. March 6: MPV-Boston will have an event to discuss a shift in Somalia from moderate peaceful Muslim nation to Alshabab. For this event, Abdi Iftin, the author of the book, Call me American, will talk about his experiences. March 15: MPV-Boston will have a collaboration conference call with another non-profit group, Desi Rainbow Parents and Allies. This conference call is to discuss and share stories of LGBTQIA+ acceptance and inclusion among families of south Asian diaspora. For more details, please click here.
MPV-D.C.
On January 5, MPV-DC hosted a new year brunch in Logan Circle. On January 26, MPV-DC hosted its monthly prayer/halaqa at the Cleveland Park Public Library.
MPV-Atlanta
MPV-Atlanta began the tradition of a monthly potluck following the success of potlucks in the Fall. Members gathered to eat and discuss the topic “Reviewing/Renewing Intentions.” Each month, a new topic will be selected. The date/time/location for February will be posted to Meetup, the private Facebook group, and the WhatsApp group.
MPV-Atlanta, in partnership with the Atlanta Jewish Film Festival, is co-hosting a young professionals movie night. This event is open to those from all faith and cultural backgrounds.
The evening will begin with a pre-party at the Woodruff Art Center’s Center Space, followed by a screening of the film STANDING UP, FALLING DOWN, starring Emmy-winner Ben Schwartz of NBC's Parks and Recreation, and the legendary Billy Crystal, in a bittersweet, warmly funny buddy comedy about an unlikely intergenerational friendship between a struggling stand-up comic and an older, disillusioned barfly.
Saturday, February 15
6:30 p.m.: Pre-party with food and cash bar
8:00 p.m.: Film
Tickets will go on sale on January 27, 2020. Use discount code YPMVP for 50% off of your ticket!
MPV-Atlanta meets weekly from 1:30-3:00 p.m. for Jum'a. The khutbah starts at 2:00 p.m. with prayer starting at 2:15 p.m. Contact [email protected] for more details and location.
MPV-San Francisco
At our last meeting on January 10, MPV-San Francisco welcomed a new member from Santa Cruz who does Muslim Solidarity work with a Sanctuary group. We are trying to plan an MPV outreach event with them pending scheduling.
February 9, 11:00 a.m.: MPV-San Francisco will try a new Sunday late morning meeting time instead of our second Friday meetings in the hope that more people will be able to attend from outlying areas. Meetup Link.
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