Staff Insights
How can we improve our Islamic schools?
By Maha Elgenaidi, Executive Director. This speech was originally presented at the 19th Annual ISNA Education Forum’s Celebration Banquet on March 31st, 2018 in Rosemont, Illinois. A modified version appeared in the July/August 2018 edition of ISNA’s Islamic Horizons magazine. The United States has a network of… Read More
Finding home in America is difficult these days
By Maha Elgenaidi, Executive Director. This opinion appeared at the ING blog. On this fourth of July, finding home for immigrants and minorities in the current political environment is a difficult conversation. While immigrants like me know we are home in the United States, some of our neighbors are questioning whether we really… Read More
Supreme Court decision on travel ban promotes bigotry
By Maha Elgenaidi, Executive Director. This opinion appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle. As the executive director of an organization whose mission is to counter Islamophobia and all forms of bigotry, I am deeply disappointed in the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to preserve the Trump administration’s Muslim… Read More
Christian acceptance of Muslim Americans guarantees religious freedom – for all
By Maha Elgenaidi, Executive Director. This opinion will appear in the May/June 2018 issue of “Report from the Capital,” the magazine of the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty. It is also available to read on ISSUU and as a PDF here. Civil… Read More
ING’s 25 Heroes
I was so inspired by CNN’s recent 25 Influential American Muslims project that I thought I would highlight my own list of influential Muslim leaders. With the exception of Ameena Jandali, who is our content manager and founding member at our home office, they’re all directors of affiliated… Read More
Today’s “White Person’s Burden”: To Counter Racism
By Maha Elgenaidi, Executive Director. This opinion appeared at the ING blog. After decades of leading a national nonprofit that counters bigotry through education, I am now firmly convinced that we need new partners to overcome racism, Islamophobia, and exclusivist thinking in our nation. So far, we have been treating… Read More
Holy Week, Passover, and Rajab: On our responsibilities toward the stranger
By Maha Elgenaidi, Executive Director. This speech was delivered at a Maundy Thursday foot-washing ceremony in Morgan Hill on Thursday, March 29th, 2018. Salam alaykum/peace be unto you. We are standing here together during a sacred time in many faiths. For Muslims, we are in the month of Rajab, the… Read More
Muslim women don’t need saving from their religion
By Maha Elgenaidi, Executive Director. This opinion originally appeared at Religion News Service. In an average week, I deliver presentations to hundreds of people on various topics related to Islam and Muslims. Oftentimes, such presentations yield real changes in public perception of Muslims, but almost as often,… Read More
Martin Luther King, Jr. and Being A Good Neighbor
By Maha Elgenaidi, Executive Director. This speech was delivered at the Shia Association of the Bay Area (SABA)’s Martin Luther King, Jr. Day Interfaith Event on January 14, 2018. Salam alaykum, Martin Luther King, Jr., said about neighbors: “The ultimate measure of a person is not where he or she… Read More
Interfaith effort in Menlo Park seeks to unite what political rhetoric divides
By Maha Elgenaidi, Executive Director. This opinion originally appeared in the San Francisco Chronicle. Our country is living through a time of intense polarization and suspicion — especially in regard to Muslims. Efforts to restrict Muslims’ travel and immigration, and proposals to register Muslims and surveil mosques,… Read More
