Creating a Culture Rooted in Human Rights in Muslim Societies.

An organization that is dedicated to restoring the progressive values of Islam to societies around the world.

OUR MISSION

Muslims for Progressive Values envisions a world that reflects Islam as a
source of dignity, justice, compassion, and love for all.

“I follow the Way of Love, and where Love’s caravan takes its path, there is my religion, my faith.”

— Ibn Arabia

WHAT WE DO

MPV establishes and nurtures vibrant progressive Muslim communities. We do this by creating opportunities for religious discourse, volunteer and community activities, and cultural events bringing together the arts, spirituality and social activism.

Since our inception, we have secured DPI and ECOSOC Special Consultative Status at the U.N., and a founding member of Alliance of Inclusive Muslims, or AIM, an umbrella organization spanning 13 countries and 17 cities.

MPV is a progressive Muslim voice on contemporary issues. We voice our perspectives with policy briefs, by participating in civil discourse, engaging with the media and government entities, and by partnering with both Muslim and non-Muslim progressive organizations.

MPV promotes theologically-sound frameworks for Islamic liberalism. We seek to reinvigorate the Islamic tradition of ijtihad (critical engagement and interpretation of sacred texts) and intellectual discourse. We do this by collaborating with religious scholars and developing position papers on theological issues that are accessible to a wide audience.

CLICK HERE FOR ACCESS TO MORE INFORMATION ON THEIR WEBSITE

CAIR Condemns Attack on U.S. Capitol as ‘Violent Insurrection,’ Calls on President Trump to Resign or Face Impeachment

WASHINGTON, Jan. 6, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — The Council on American-Islamic Relations, the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights organization, today condemned the ongoing attack on the U.S. Capitol as an act of “violent insurrection” and called on the government to do more to protect those in harm’s way. 

CAIR also encouraged both Republican and Democratic leaders to demand President Trump’s immediate resignation from office for inciting the violence and impeach him if he refuses to step down. 

SEE: Violent clashes break out as Trump supporters storm the U.S. Capitol  
https://www.cnbc.com/2021/01/06/trump-supporters-rally-in-washington-to-protest-election-results.html 

Police clearing pro-Trump mob from US Capitol after rioters stormed halls of Congress 
https://www.cnn.com/2021/01/06/politics/us-capitol-lockdown/index.html 

In a statement, CAIR National Executive Director Nihad Awad said: 

“Today’s attack on the U.S. Capitol represents the culmination of the far-right extremism that Donald Trump first unleashed on the campaign trail five years ago. Make no mistake: the armed Trump supporters who stormed the U.S. Capitol are violent insurrectionists. 

“We pray for the safety of everyone under siege on Capitol Hill, including lawmakers and their staff. We call on our government to protect those in harm’s way, and we urge Congress to demand that President Trump, who is responsible for every act of seditious violence committed today, resign or face impeachment.”  

CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance understanding of Islam, protect civil rights, promote justice, and empower American Muslims.  

FULL STATEMENT AND ARTICLE FROM PRNEWSWIRE.COM

Commentary: Trump wanted to keep Muslims out. Now Muslims are helping the country fight COVID-19.

Helene Cooper, a New York Times correspondent who is participating in the Moderna vaccine trial, during an exam at George Washington University Hospital in Washington, Sept. 9, 2020. Cooper was invited to participate in the vaccine trial because of her multiple risk factors: she is a Black woman, a Type 1 diabetic and asthmatic. (Erin Schaff/The New York Times)

Jan. 27, 2017, was an unforgettable day for American Muslims. President Donald Trump signed the first version of what would become known as the Muslim ban. It was the first discriminatory policy that the Trump administration implemented impacting thousands of people around the world, separating American families and harming vulnerable populations. There were many cases of green-card holders being detained despite the fact that they had been living in the United States for years and obtained their greens cards through legal immigration processes. The intention of this ban was clear in that it sought to exclude American Muslim communities from the fabric of this nation.

Despite intense opposition and criticism, the Trump administration further pushed for countless other policies that had the same discriminatory goal as the Muslim bans and targeted Muslim communities. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court allowed the third iteration of the Muslim ban to go into full effect on June 26, 2018.

More than two years later, nearing the end of Trump’s presidency, the COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in over 80 million confirmed cases and 1.7 million deaths globally, with over 19 million cases and 333,000 deaths in the U.S. alone. Jobs were lost, entrepreneurs and small businesses struggled to stay afloat, economic inequality deepened, education switched to online learning, people isolated themselves, travel was restricted and more. Now, the light at the end of the tunnel, which has proved to be the vaccine, is finally here. The credit for developing it goes to a Muslim couple, scientists Ugur Sahin, a Turkish immigrant to Germany, and Ozlem Tureci, the daughter of a Turkish physician, who also migrated to Germany from Istanbul. The two scientists founded the BioNTech company, which teamed up with Pfizer to develop a COVID-19 vaccine that was found to be more than 90 percent effective and is now being distributed in the U.S. and elsewhere along with another from Moderna.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE SAN DIEGO UNION TRIBUNE

Latino Muslim group works to bridge communities in Chicago. ‘We need as a city to remember what it is to be human.’

Their mission brings them to Chicago streets most people try to avoid.

“They say, ‘Here come the Muslims’ every time we show up on Friday night to pass out food to the homeless,” said Raul Gonzalez, director of outreach for the Ojala Foundation, an organization of Latino Muslims. “We let them know God has not forgotten about them.”

The foundation describes itself as a bridge between the Latino and Muslim communities, and its community work as a way of helping the needy while spreading the faith of Islam.

Every Friday night, people from the foundation pass out meals in the Heart of Chicago neighborhood on the Southwest Side. The group also sponsors cleanups, provides classes on Islam and holds potlucks to promote fellowship.

“Many Hispanics that convert to Islam are lost because there are few places to teach them and guide them on how they should act as Muslims,” Gonzalez said. “At Ojala, we offer classes to Muslims and we have fellowship, plus we do our part in helping others, restoring them to a better place.”

FULL ARTICLE FROM BLUEMOUNTAINEAGLE.COM

Step Back and See: Quran, Hadith, and Rumi

Recently I’ve been thinking about how dependent virtue is on vision. I mean the kind of vision that Rumi hints at above – a sight that includes insight. It’s the ability, for instance, to see the repercussions of our actions for ourselves and others, both now and in the future, as well as the ability to re-vision similar experiences in the past to help guide us in the present. When we are tempted by some returning desire, fear, vanity, or anger, what often saves us is the ability to step out of the heat of the moment and expand into this greater frame of reference, taking in a wider, deeper perspective. Isn’t virtue just a great view?

It’s true that sometimes we are not able to act from this elevated perspective; sometimes our short-sighted egos just won’t let us. But when the pull of that wider vision is powerful enough, we might be able to restrain ourselves from some ultimately unsatisfying indulgence, or direct ourselves to act upon something the eye of the heart has glimpsed. So much depends on stepping out of ourselves, detached, and taking it all in: witnessing.

FULL ARTICLE FROM PATHEOS

‘You cannot stop our vote.’ Minnesota faith leaders say efforts to discourage Muslim voters will fail.

Minnesota’s Muslims plan to vote during this contentious election season, no matter who tries to stop them and what tactics they use. 

That was the message at a news conference led by faith groups in Minneapolis’ Cedar Riverside neighborhood Friday.

“We will not allow our voices to be silenced,” said Mohamed Ibrahim, deputy director of CAIR-Minnesota. “Not only that, we will also not allow for our votes to be suppressed.”

The event outside the Cedar Riverside Apartments capped a tumultuous week in which President Donald J. Trump and right-wing activists attempted to cast doubts on the integrity of voting in the Somali community.

Faith leaders from Islamic Association of North America, Muslim American Society – MN, Faith in Minnesota, and CAIR-Minnesota were joined by Christian and Jewish leaders as well as elected officials, including Attorney General Keith Ellison and state Reps. Melissa Hortman, Aisha Gomez, and Mohamud Noor. 

“Every election year there is a playbook used by some politicians,” said Imam Hassan Jama, the executive director of the Islamic Association of North America. “The playbook is to use Muslims, Somalis, refugees, and immigrants as scapegoats in order to divide people by what they look like or where they came from instead of offering solutions that could help all of our families.”

FULL ARTICLE FROM SAHAN JOURNAL

From mute to menacing: why TV’s portrayal of Muslims still falls short

Though representation has increased, Islam on TV is still largely centred around terrorists and oppressed women. What we need is more complexity – and fewer dangerous cliches

In 2017, Emmy-winning actor and activist Riz Ahmed gave a speech in Parliament about diversity on screen. “Representation is not an added thrill [because] what people are looking for is a message that they belong,” he said.Soon after, the Riz test – the equivalent of the Bechdel test for the representation of Muslims in the media – was established. Its criteria ask whether the characters in a TV show or film are identifiably Muslim, and then whether they are a terrorist; irrationally angry; anti-modern; a threat to western values; or a misogynist (or in the case of a female character, oppressed by male characters). If any of the answers are yes, the test has been failed.

In his speech, Ahmed went on to ask: “Where’s the counter-narrative? Where are we telling these kids that they can be heroes in our stories, that they are valued?” While more Muslims are represented on our TV screens than ever, it seems that representation isn’t the easy utopia that many imagined it would be. Nuance is lacking, and the representation that does exist leans towards a male-oriented presence. As diversity boxes are ticked, and hijabs scattered here and there, the nuance of Muslim identities is strangled further.

FULL ARTICLE FROM THE GUARDIAN (UK)

How a British market was inspired by the Islamic model of Medina

Muslims in the UK city of Norwich launch a new ‘free market’ based on the prophetic traditions of Islam to support communities and help combat economic impact of the coronavirusNashwa Gowanlock

Photo essay from Middle East Eye

Biden Said ‘Inshallah.’ Many Arab Christians Do Too.

Unnoticed by many during the contentious first presidential debate, Joe Biden introduced a new Arabic word into the American lexicon.

Inshallah.

Technically, it is three words, in both Arabic and English: “in sha’ Allah,” or “if God wills.”

However, “If you take it literally, you won’t get the intent,” said Ramez Atallah, general director of the Bible Society of Egypt.

“It can also mean, ‘It will never happen,’ and this is probably what Biden meant.”

Asked by the debate moderator about his tax returns, President Donald Trump answered, “You’ll get to see it.”

To which the former vice president interjected, “When? Inshallah?”

Trump continued, and the moment was lost to almost all but Arabic-speaking viewers. Muslim Twitter users lit up in astonishment, wondering if they heard correctly.

“Enchilada” was about as close as other ears heard.

But while one Muslim writer has humorously called inshallah the Arabic equivalent of “fuggedaboudit,” what should Christians make of the phrase?

“Everything is uncertain,” Atallah said. “We live in an unpredictable world, and no one is ever sure that what they plan will be accomplished.”

FULL ARTICLE FROM CHRISTIANITY TODAY

Young Muslims Challenge Traditional Stereotypes

Young Muslims like Humaira Akram are using social media to show the Islamic culture’s younger side.   

“Gen Z Muslims have changed or progressed Muslim culture in today’s society by being more vocal, using their social media platforms to advocate for justice and being open-minded,” said Akram, a student at Brooklyn College in New York. 

Akram and others say they think many non-Muslims see violence and sexism as stereotypes. But younger Muslims are eager to move beyond that, she said.  

Sabina Hanan answers comments and questions about Islam and the Muslim culture on social media. This photo is from her Instagram account.

“They are eager to learn and succeed, while speaking up against misconceptions and raising awareness for future generations, speaking up against injustice, and using their voice to make a change,” Akram said.  

The conservative religious regimes in Iran and Saudi Arabia compel women to wear head coverings and keep them subservient to men. In other Islamic countries such as Afghanistan, head covering is a cultural practice rather than mandated by law.

Other Muslim-majority countries such as Indonesia, Turkey and Syria, have made greater strides in women’s rights, with more women attending university and holding senior government positions. Afghanistan’s parliament, according to Human Rights Watch, “has a higher percentage of women than does the U.S. Congress.”

FULL ARTICLE FROM VOICE OF AMERICA