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November Newsletter

 
President's Note

First off, Mahsa Amini’s death should not be in vain and the protests by Iranian women, men, and especially the school girls
is nothing short of inspiring. Dictators should recognize, the use of religion with an outfit such as the moral police to
oppress the population will eventually backfire.

For those of you who have been following MPV from our inception 15 years ago to today, we have reached a milestone. We are
seeing more and more traditional religious leaders and institutions pivoting toward a more gender equal prism in how they are
positioning themselves. For some of these leaders, especially those who are sitting in the U.N. circles, it is simply a
politically strategic positioning, but for others, especially in our #ImamsForShe networks, and there are now 541 of them,
their daily engagement and promotion of women and girls’ rights are genuine and sometimes risky “business”.

To highlight the work of our #ImamsForShe, I am happy to share with you about our contribution to Islam in Practise, a
project led by Al-Azhar University, Muhammadiyah (a large Indonesian organization) and Faith to Action Network to produce a
new publication, a compilation of writings on Women’s Rights in Islam. The aim is to enable access to knowledge on how Muslim
faith actors promote women’s rights in practice. Its purpose is to support faith actors to ensure consistency between Muslim
theology and practice by facilitating dialogues and scripture clarification. I invite you to watch me present my paper, and
that of three others here ( [link removed] ).

This month of November is filled with international travels starting with the International Partnership on Religion and
Sustainable Development (PaRD) annual conference in Bali, a multilateral umbrella organization we’ve been a member of for
five years, the 9th Global Conference of the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations in Fez, Morocco and the 2nd Women Ulama
Conference in Indonesia. What I will say about attending these in-person conferences is that nothing can replace that
face-to-face connection.

Onward and upward…

Ani Zonneveld

Founder, President

 
National Updates

Check out our new store ( [link removed] ) featuring our new Queer Muslim and Progressive Muslim stickers. For
national and chapter events, check our calendar here ( [link removed] ).

Read our statement on CAIR-Michigan’s ( [link removed] )anti-LGBTQ pamphlet distributed at a school board meeting in Michigan early last month.

 

Resources

We are pleased to announce the release of our latest toolkit, Freedom of Religion and Belief in Islam, inspired by our
September event in Washington DC, Addressing Apostasy and Blasphemy Laws in Muslim Societies. The toolkit seeks to educate
individuals on the compatibility of religious freedom and Islamic teachings and jurisprudence, and empower individuals to
advocate for religious freedom within their community and the larger world.

We invite you to download the full toolkit from our website ( [link removed] ).

We invite you to check out the latest addition to our website, Recommended Watching ( [link removed] ), which features lectures, panels, and recordings from some of MPV’s favorite
activists and scholars.

 
MPV Boston Updates

November 21: MPV-Boston is co-presenting a screening of the documentary "The Radical" withWicked Queer: The Boston LGBTQ+
Film Festival ( [link removed] )!

Join us at 7pm on Monday 11/21 at theBrattle Theater ( [link removed] ) in Harvard Square to hear the story of Muhsin Hendricks, the world’s first openly gay imam.

 
Progressive Islam In Practice

At MPV we recognize that the Progressive Muslim movement will never sustain significant growth without making information
about Progressive Islam more accessible to the Muslim community. The Progressive Islam in Practice Series is a manifestation
of this campaign and as a result, we’ve helped to educate the community on topics from feminist readings of the Qur’an,
abortion rights in Islam, issues of child and forced marriages, to the acceptance of sexual diversity in Islam.

In addition to sharing the series on social media, we have built up an entire page on the website dedicated to the
Progressive Islam in Practice Series entitled Quick Learns.

In honor of an exciting upcoming announcement, we want to reintroduce you to the #ImamsForShe program, an MPV initiative
inspired by the United Nations #HeForShe initiative. If you are interested in learning more about the #ImamsForShe
initiative, which takes place in Burundi, Rwanda, and the DRC, we encourage you to visit our website today ( [link removed] ).

 

Support MPV

If you appreciate the work that we do, please consider making a donation ( [link removed] ) to ensure that
Muslims for Progressive Values can continue to promote progressive Islamic values today and everyday!

 

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