January ended up . . .

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 ( [link removed] )
(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

In This Issue:
* President's Letter
* U.N. Updates
* Chapter Updates
* MPV in the News

Quick links:
MPV Website ( [link removed] )
About MPV ( [link removed] )
Our Communities ( [link removed] )
#ImamsForShe ( [link removed] )
Donate to MPV ( [link removed] )

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.

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

* Recreational outings

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 ( [link removed] ) or
MPV-NY Meetup ( [link removed] ).

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 ( [link removed] ).

MPV-Boston
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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 ( [link removed] ). 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
( [link removed] ), 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 ( [link removed] ).

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!

Contact Zach Bernath at [email protected] or Katherine Price
Crosby at [email protected] with questions.

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 ( [link removed] ).

MPV in the News

Religion News | Why Roe v. Wade is a First Amendment fight ( [link removed] )| January 22, 2020

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