Staff Insights

Seventeen Years After 9/11, I’m Still Fighting for American Ideals of Pluralism and Inclusion

By Maha Elgenaidi, Executive Director. This opinion appeared at the ING blog. The terror attacks of September 11th, 2001 were a watershed event in American history. After more than a decade free of the machinations of the Cold War, the United States appeared to be advancing in… Read More

Jewish and Muslim Communities Share 20 Year Interfaith Relationship

This interview featuring ING Executive Director Maha Elgenaidi appeared in the August 2018 issue of JValley Magazine, the official Jewish magazine of Silicon Valley. At a time when we seem to be bombarded by one negative message after another, it’s reassuring to know that there… Read More

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… 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… 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… Read More

Bay Area Muslims Took on Hunger this Ramadan

By Ameena Jandali, Content Manager Inspired by a call by the local PICO chapter, People Acting in Community Together (PACT), for each religious community to take up a social justice issue this year, ING volunteered to address the persistent problem of hunger this Ramadan, since… 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 liberties… 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… 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… Read More

Islam is not a country: the hidden assumption that all Muslims are the same

By Ameena Jandali, Content Manager This opinion appeared at the ING blog. As President Trump’s travel ban directed against mainly Muslim-majority countries was challenged once again before the United States Supreme Court this week, a slip of the tongue has brought some humorous relief to a tense… Read More