Dear Muslim Advocates Friends and Family — As-Salaam-Alaikum,

I hope this letter finds you safe and well. After just a few weeks with the organization, I am already so deeply inspired by Muslim Advocates’ work, the staff’s dedication to our mission, and all of you — our supporters who champion a shared vision of a country that lives up to its promise of justice for all people. You have made our work possible through so many pivotal moments over the years. Your continued commitment is what will propel us forward. I am honored to be taking the reins of Muslim Advocates at this important time. I also would like to invite you to RSVP for a town hall discussion with me!

As you may know, Muslim Advocates was founded in 2005 after the passage of the Patriot Act to make sure our communities had expert and strategic representation and support where it mattered. And over the years, Muslim Advocates achieved important victories with Muslim communities that fought back against oppressive state power. The need for our work has only grown in recent years with continued surveillance of Muslim Americans, explicit anti-Muslim federal policies like the Muslim Ban, and a cultural environment where anti-Muslim, anti-Black, and nativist hate speech is weaponized against our people.

Muslim Advocates has an obligation to meet the demands of this moment by developing social justice solutions that produce enduring change. To achieve that goal, Muslim Advocates must be purposefully welcoming and inclusive of the full diversity of the Muslim experience in this country. We must further recognize that impact litigation and policy advocacy are important tools that we deploy in service of our strategic goals, but they are not solutions unto themselves. Instead, success for Muslim Advocates will be determined by how well we use our litigation and advocacy in service of frontline Muslim communities that are working to dismantle systemic oppression. It is only when we leverage our common voices and collective action that we have a chance at building a future that is better and safer for everyone.

As we near the end of the year, we are excited to highlight the successes that our collective efforts produced in 2022 even as we start to share more about our vision for Muslim Advocate’s future. This vision includes a focus on liberation, centering movements for social change, supporting and training the next generation of movement leaders, and more.

While our vision is ambitious, we know that a movement-led approach will be necessary to advance our mission. We hope we can continue to count on your commitment and support for the work ahead. You can get involved in a number of ways:

Join us on December 12th for Common Voices, Collective Action, a virtual town hall gathering where you can hear more about our new vision and ask me and our team questions about our work and plans for the future. You can RSVP for this event here.
Stay in touch and follow us on social media. Our handle is @MuslimAdvocates on all platforms.
Give if you can. As we approach the end-of-year giving season, all of us at Muslim Advocates hope you will consider making a gift to support our work.