Wishing our friends a Blessed Good Friday, Joyous Easter,
and Chag Sameach (Joyous Festival).

Sharing the Exodus Story:
Combined Seder and Halaqa

A group of Muslims and Jews gathered in Palo Alto on Sunday, March 29th, 2015, for a one-of-a-kind Seder and Halaqa that looked at scenes from the Exodus story from the perspective of each faith. Following each scene, members of each faith discussed the different narratives at their tables. The discussions were so engrossing that people had a hard time ending their conversations, which continued through the halal/kosher dinner. The event concluded with an open mic session where participants voiced their appreciation for the event and their desire to learn more about each other’s tradition. The event was covered in Palo Alto Online. You can view a slideshow of pictures from the event here, courtesy of Shafath Syed.

ING Receives Commendation by City of
San Jose at ISPU-ING Event

The event was also co-hosted by David Cortese, Santa Clara CoSpeaking before South Bay community civil rights, political and interfaith leaders, ING CEO Maha Elgenaidi joined Farhan Latif, Director of Policy Impact for the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), and professor Saeed Khan, ISPU Research Fellow – WSU Center for the Study of Citizenship for an event last week that described ISPU research on the intersectionality of Islamophobia and state-level anti-rights legislative efforts targeting other communities. Information about the study can be found here. The event was co-hosted by Sam Liccardo, San Jose City Mayor and Johnny Khamis, San Jose City Council member who both recognized ING for their educational work. unty Supervisor.

Presentation on “Key Women in Islamic History”

On Monday, March 16, ING Content Director Ameena Jandali spoke on the topic of “Key Women in Islamic History” as part of a class in “Women, Gender, Sexuality in Judaism and Islam” offered jointly by the Center for Islamic Studies and the Center for Jewish Studies at the Graduate Theological Union. The presentation began with an overview of the role of women and their rights in Islam. To request a presentation on Muslim women, see here.

Affiliate News: Cincinnati

ING board member and president of the Islamic Center of Greater Cincinnati Shakila Ahmad spoke about hate crimes against Muslims during this NPR Cincinnati interview where she joined creator and filmmaker Rachel Lyon, whose film Hate Crimes in the Heartland was screened later in the evening. A panel discussion also featuring Shakila Ahmad and Rachel along with other respected panelists followed the film screening.

Affiliate News: Arizona

After receiving requests to conduct presentations in Spanish, Islamic Speakers Bureau of Arizona sent bureau speaker Cynthia Maher to present in Spanish to 900 people at a Catholic church in Phoenix. Her presentations led to a request for a second speaker to present in English to middle school students. The thank-you note said, “Uzma did a terrific job talking with all of the students in three grades. I want to thank you for arranging speakers to come and be part of our community here at school and also a couple weeks ago at Sunday Masses with Cynthia.”

Affiliate News: Atlanta

Speakers from ING affiliate Atlanta Speakers Bureau took part in a get-together this past Sunday for learning and socialization. The Atlanta Speakers Bureau will hold a training for new speakers on Saturday, April 25, 2015, from 9:00 AM – 1:30 PM at the Georgia Institute of Technology. For more information or to register for the event, click here.

Upcoming Events

Saturday, April 4 – 8:30 am
Forging Islamic Authority: Text and Context in the Modern World
Zaytuna College, Berkeley

ING CEO Maha Elgenaidi and ING Programs Manager Henry Millstein will deliver a paper entitled “Speaking for Islam: Who Defines ‘Islam’ in Public Presentations?” addressing questions of authority in defining Islam and efforts by ING to answer them for their educational work. This will be the first paper of the conference, scheduled for 8:30 AM.

Thursday, April 16-17 – 9 am
International Conference on Religion and Spirituality in Society
University of California – Berkeley

ING CEO Maha Elgenaidi will deliver a paper entitled “Breaking Down Islamophobia: How Classroom Presentations by Muslim Speakers Alter Attitudes toward Islam” at the International Conference on Religion and Spirituality organized by the Religion in Society Knowledge Community, an organization of scholars in sociology, religious studies, and related fields that meets yearly to discuss issues relating to the social impact of religion and spirituality. This year’s conference takes place at the University of California at Berkeley.

Saturday, April 25 – 9 am
Atlanta Islamic Speakers Bureau Training
Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA

Want to be part of a dynamic organization? Want to counter prejudice and discrimination against American Muslims? Want to build relations between American Muslims and other groups? Then this training session is for you! Let’s build bridges among Americans of all backgrounds together! Space for this exciting workshop is limited.