WISE Up: Knowledge Ends Extremism. A full-day Summit on Thursday, October 26, 2017 9:00am-10:15am at the Carnegie Institution for Science, 1530 P Street NW., Washington DC

Supporting National Security, Interfaith alliances, Bi-Partisan efforts, and countering bigotry you are key to its ongoing success. WISE Up is a multi-faceted campaign aimed at promoting the authentic Muslim narrative of peace, compassion, diversity and civic engagement in America. At its core, WISE Up uses knowledge as the most powerful tool against all forms of extremism & hate and centers around a 400-page research and evidence-based report authored by 60 noted scholars, faith leaders, and public servants. In this resource, both Muslim and non-Muslim experts have provided their expertise on practical ways to counter extremism, hate, bigotry, and terrorism committed in the name of Islam by groups like ISIS.

The Summit will begin with a Press Conference. Our purpose is to call special attention to this non-partisan, community-led collaboration between scholars, community leaders and activists from diverse ideologies and national origins, who have come together to transform American Muslim life, strengthen our national unity, and amplify our voice.

The Summit sessions will include round table discussions among the contributors of the WISE Up Report which will be moderated by a media personality and structured around three modules of WISE Up report as listed below. The sessions will be live streamed via web.

1. Voices of American Muslims – provides a snapshot of American Muslim life by highlighting American Muslims’ engagement in public life, which aligns with the foundational American ethos; the challenges they confront as American citizens; and creative ways that they deal with these challenges. It also highlights 30 notable Muslims who enrich America.

2. Islamic Theology vs. Extremist Ideology – showcases the history of Islam, its core values, practices and beliefs, and provides a clear comparison between true Islamic teachings with ISIS’s false dogma. It debunks eight core Islamic concepts which ISIS and distort and utilize as propaganda to mislead vulnerable individuals.

3. Preventing Extremist Recruitment – details extremists’ 16 steps of recruitment on social media. It identifies push and pull factors that motivate men and women to join; provides preventative tools that focus on strengthening individuals and families, a parents’ and counselors’ guide, bystander intervention, bullying and countering hate speech; It highlights inspiring stories of 40 Muslim heroes and lists Muslim/interfaith initiatives promoting interfaith and cross-cultural understanding.

“The Role of Faith in Social Justice” held on Monday, July 4th at Masjid Muhammad, 1519 Islamic Way NW, Washington, DC 20006.

Moderated by Hamid Saahir of Masjid Muhammad, the topics discussed inlcuded:
1) The Importance of a Strong Mental Health System and Educational Foundation for Future Generations–Inshirah Aleem
2) The Social Justice Movement Led by The Nation of Islam During the Civil Rights Era and in Contemporary Times–Student Minister Carlos Muhammad
3) A Quranic Interpretation of Social Justice and Call to Action–Mahdi Bray

By Muhammad Fraser-Rahim

The traditional Muslim call to prayer echoed across USIP’s atrium on June 21 as the institute ushered in its third annual Iftar to mark the breaking of the daily fast during the month of Ramadan. But it wasn’t just one imam’s voice. Instead, five Imams from six traditions—Senegalese, Syrian, Pakistani, Iranian, Turkish and Moroccan—represented the theme of the event: Celebrating Diversity in the Muslim World.

The evening of discussion about diverse Islamic traditions featured Quranic recitations by Imam Ali Tos from the Diyanat Center of America (Maryland) in the Turkish tradition and Moroccan style Islamic devotional music from Nabil Faqir, interspersed with Quranic verses read in English by the MC of the evening our very own, Muhammad Fraser-Rahim, an expert on violent extremism and Ph.D. candidate at Howard University under the tutelage of Dr. Sulayman Nyang.

Photos taken from the night of the United States Institute of Peace iftar. Photos are property of USIP.-

“Ramadan is the month of peace, of celebration, and it’s a time when believers around the world, including many of

the places where USIP works, engage in prayer, fasting and compassionate action,” USIP President Nancy Lindborg said. “These are the values that mark Ramadan and they are the same values that mark peacebuilding – charity, sacrifice and compassion. We know that these values are cherished by people of many faiths, many religious traditions.”

Lindborg and others cited the juxtaposition of diversity and the violent extremism wrenching so much of the world today.

“It is precisely this diversity within the Muslim world that violent extremists cannot tolerate,” said Lindborg, who speaks often of the need to build peaceful and inclusive societies. “So we celebrate that diversity tonight as a source of strength in Muslim communities and a means by which those of many tribes can come to know and appreciate one another, as we know from the holy Quran.”

Islamic Relief USA, a non-profit humanitarian and development organization, was a key co-sponsor of the event, along with the Afghanistan Holding group, United Muslim Relief and a number of individuals: Rafat and Shaista Mahmood, former Ambassador Laurie Fulton, Rafic A. Bizri, Maqsood Chaudhry and Asad Chaudhry.

In addition, a number of Ambassadors from foreign nations and senior officials government and private sector officials were in attendance along with long standing community members in our association, Including: Imam Talib Shareef (Masjid Muhammad, Washington, DC); Imam Earl El-Amin (Muslim Community Cultural Center of Baltimore); Benjamin Abdul Haqq (Islamic Consultants of America); Amir and Habeebah Muhammad (America’s Islamic Heritage Museum, DC); Yaya and Dr. Fatima Fanusie (Foundation for the Defense of Democracies and Independent Historian); Qadir Madyun (Masjid Muhammad); Muhammad Fraser-Rahim (U.S. Institute of Peace & Ph.D. Candidate, Howard University)

We join our President and those in our nation and around the world who are offering condolences and prayers for the family on the passing of such an iconic world champion and great humanitarian, Muhammad Ali.

As the champ once said, “You have but one life; it soon will be past, what you do for G-d is all that will last”.

The incredible impact that his life and legacy are having on the world stage serve as a testament to the fact that “one person can change the world.” Muhammad Ali was a living example of that statement and he was Muslim and American, yet a citizen of the world and a true human being. Through his standing for something meaningful, his strong sense of identity and commitment to faith, he revealed the CHAMPION that we all have in common, and that is the dynamic soul of a people oppressed and struggling to see their humanity free. He demonstrated that one person’s conviction and conscious actions can effectively change the lives of many, and ultimately transform the world. Muhammad Ali once said, “I’ve always wanted to be more than just a boxer. More than just the three-time heavyweight champion. I wanted to use my fame and this face that everyone knows so well, to help uplift and inspire people around the world.”

Contributing selflessly to humanity, he devoted himself to helping promote world peace, civil rights, religious freedom, hunger relief and humanitarianism, which is legendary in itself. It is in this spirit that we celebrate the life and legacy of such a wonderful and dynamic human soul, a servant of the Almighty and a servant of the people, the People’s Champ. He was the proponent of his six core principles of Confidence, Conviction, Dedication, Giving, Respect, and Spirituality.

He went the distance in the fight for justice and in advancing his vision to enhance the critical circumstances affecting the future of the African American community and America at large. As one of our resourceful leaders, he left a strong legacy of having helped to lift up the people, reflect the best of American and human life, and became not only a healthy powerful resource to his people and humanity, but also to the nation where he claimed citizenship.

We hope that he, through his legacy, his center in Louisville, continue to inspire old and young people to be great, do great things, and look past themselves and add value to the lives of others. We salute him. May the Almighty forgive his shortcomings, give him comfort, expand his place of rest, honor his arrival and let not his passing cause a burden or hardship on those he leaves behind. Ameen.

By Shahid Abdul-Karim

Washington D.C. – The Prosperity Foundation (TPF) founder Howard K. Hill will lead a discussion on the role of black philanthropy during the NASIM Conference next month in Capital Heights, Maryland.

The conference will take place April 8 -10, at the Hampton Conference Center, 207 West Hampton Place, Capital Heights, Maryland. Register for the conference at www.nationsmosque.org.

TPF is the Connecticut’s first black organized philanthropic foundation which focuses on critical areas such as health, economic development and education.  

“We are excited to have The Prosperity Foundation join us. The conference is focused on our business interest and one of the things that concern us is economic development,” said Nation’s Mosque leader Imam Talib Shareef. 

Shareef said he learned about the foundation through its grant-giving initiative earlier this month.

“We see them as being the leading black foundation in terms of its efforts,” Shareef said. 

The foundation’s presentation, according to Shareef, “will be informational and a motivating piece for our community,” he said.

In 2010, a partnership was established by Hill and an advisory committee with the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven to create the Urban Prosperity Fund, to promote philanthropy, prosperity and self-empowerment in the black community. TPF became an outgrowth from that fund and was established last year, according to the organization’s website www.tpfct.org.

“This is an exciting opportunity to be able to link up with the Nation’s Mosque and the Muslim business community, particularly around economic development,” said Hill, 47, of Howard K. Hill Funeral Services who has locations throughout the state of Connecticut.  

“Our philanthropy has a mission – to promote economic development in communities that are typically over looked,” he said.  “Our foundation is about making permanent change and we feel we’ll be successful where we’re with people who have an interest in making change such as the community like The Nation’s Mosque.”

Shareef said the foundation’s mission fits right in line with the do for self-concept.  He said it’s rare to see a black organization helping other African-Americans.   

Earlier this month TPF fulfilled part of its philanthropic commitment, contributing over $20,000 in grants to 11 various organizations in the state during an educational event on the role of philanthropy at the Marriott Downtown in Hartford, Connecticut.

“The idea of an endowment or source of income in perpetuity sounded very appealing to me, said Hill, who is in his second term as president of the Connecticut Funeral Directors Association.  

“As I sat on the board of the Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, I saw how the impact of philanthropy would be able to help the black community sustain itself,” he said.

Hill sat of the board for seven years.

The event marked the foundation’s inaugural Small Grant Initiative’s effort to help create long-term sustainability for organizations and educate blacks on the role of philanthropy.

Other scheduled presenters for the conference include, a representative from the World Trade Center, WeBuyBlack.com owner Shareef Abdul-Malik, Wallace Mohammad II among others.

In addition to building the foundation’s coffers, Hill said TPF will target resources in a manner that will create wealth and generate more opportunities to benefit black people.

To start an endowment with the foundation one may gift $5,000 or build up to the $5,000 over a period of time. If individuals choose not to start an endowment, the foundation accepts contributions at all levels.

Other TPF board members include, Yves Joseph, Larry Conaway, Nancy Hill, Carolyn Vermont, Rolan Joni Young Smith and the Rev. Dr. Eric B. Smith.  

For more information, visit www.tpfct.org or email info@tpfct.org.

Muhammad Abdur Rahim

This year’s announcement by the Director of National Intelligence, James Clapper highlighting that homegrown extremists will likely pose the most significant Sunni threat to the U.S. homeland in 2016 along with an uptick of arrests and indictment in Philadelphia and Baltimore by African American Muslim converts are of major concern. Earlier this year, a Philadelphia man, Edward Archer attacked a police officer invoking ISIS and a Maryland man, Malik Alim Jones was arrested for his involvement with al-Qa’ida affiliate al-Shabaab.  

These latest attacks and events further builds on the recent 51 minute al-Shabaab recruitment video targeting and recruiting African American youth to jihad which is part of a decades’ long effort by violent extremists to specifically recruit from troubled, dissociated and vulnerable segments of the community. Since 2008, Al-Qaida’s then second in command Ayman al Zawahiri sought to interlace domestic African American racial grievances with the global jihad movement. In a video message after President Barack Obama election. Zawahiri’s message presented video motifs of Malcolm X, attempting to exploit historical African American Muslim activism as a potential means for future radicalization. However at the time, the message largely fell upon the deaf ears of mainstream and African American media.

Historically, segments of the African American community have been exposed to multiple types of violent extremism because mainly urban marginalized communities have been impacted by perceived historic injustices making them vulnerable and easy fodder- appealing to a collective sense of injustice, feelings of deprivation and social alienation – the formula that violent extremists groups exploit to win over converts the way a gang recruits.

Since 2001, at least half of the most recent prominent attacks and plotting in the United States were carried out by U.S. born men.  Of them, at least 35 African American(non-African immigrant) converts were involved in these events and constituted one of the largest single ethnic group involved in these actions. These individuals’ stories and paths to radicalization reveal a variety of reasons for why this demographic group is joining ISIS – from social alienation to political grievances.”

The events in Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore, Maryland, along with the growing popularity of America’s Black Lives Matters movement, has brought to the forefront issues between urban communities and the police into sharp focus especially among the broader African American community. Furthermore, these current challenges in urban communities throughout America have also convened ISIL facilitators and sympathizers seeking to capitalize on recent events. A number of online ISIL supporters over the past several months have used hashtags and twitter account feeds to express their solidarity and support for African American youth negatively affected by the U.S. criminal justice system and perceived inequities as a way to appeal to them.

Recruitment efforts by extremists who identify with a fundamentalist interpretive are nothing new. Missionary activities started in the early 1990s when the reawakening of African American social identity coincided with the aggressive recruitment mission undertaken by wealthy Gulf based funders. In America, the epicenters of East Orange, New Jersey, and Philadelphia became recruiting grounds where lucrative educational scholarships, satellite exchanges with Saudi-based clerics and immediate infusions of cash into urban communities desperate for resources were provided.  Social media and the Internet have just made it more visible.  

The abovementioned incidents indicate that a small segment of African American converts have been exposed to and are readily susceptible to dangerous extremist rhetoric.  However, violent extremist messages can be mitigated. Social scientists indicate that the vast majority of African American Muslims represent an example of synergy between American and Islamic shared values. The examples of African American Muslims like hip hop artist Lupe Fiasco, Mara Brock Akil, film producer in Hollywood with shows like Girlfriends and the Jamie Foxx Show to name a few along with Muhammad Ali and Kareem Abdul Jabbar, two internationally notable African American Muslims, who despite being highly critical of past injustices within American society channeled their frustrations through the public and legal parameters. My own personal story as a third generation African American Muslim, whose professional and personal life represents the rich tradition of a multi religious and ethnic family is testimony of American pluralism. These examples and achievements should be targeted to the same African American youth that al-Shabaab’s recent video and other extremists prey upon in an effort to show a third way to channel frustration and violence.

About the Author:
Mr. Muhammad Fraser-Rahim is a specialist on countering violent extremism and counter-radicalization issues. Mr. Fraser-Rahim is a Ph.D. candidate at Howard University and worked for the United States Government for more than a decade providing strategic analytical advice on CVE at the National Counterterrorism Center supporting directly the White House and the National Security Council.

Why?

American Muslims have been forced to defend their faith and civil liberties, facing a candle burning at both ends with Islamophobes’ bias and hate speech on one side and violent extremists who claim to represent Islam on the other. They endure near daily assaults on both their religion and their bodies. According to a recent poll released by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), more than half of American Muslims have reported experiencing discrimination within the past year because of their religion. Eighteen percent report that they experience discrimination regularly – the highest of any faith group.

Positive portrayals of Islam and Muslims are needed now more than ever. We need more stories like the one in which little Jack Swanson donated his piggybank savings to a local mosque that had been vandalized, the U.S. Service Members on social media who promised 8-year old Sofia that they will protect her, and Olympic hijabi athlete Ibtihaj Muhammad who will represent Team USA in Rio this summer. Such stories are all testaments to their dignity, equality and rightful place in the American mosaic. They demonstrate and affirm that American Muslims matter, and that the anti-Muslim narrative we see today is unacceptable and un-American. Continue Reading