The Legacy of Juneteenth 

On June 19, 1865, Union troops arrived in Galveston Bay, Texas, marking the day that all enslaved African Americans in the United States of America would gain their freedom. Though the Emancipation Proclamation was made effective in 1863, the implementation and enforcement of the executive decree wasn’t fully carried out until later.¹ This moment in history, remembered as Juneteenth, highlights the importance of never giving up hope through adversity, which is a message that can be applied to all people fighting through struggle. 

Arab Americans and Shared Identity with African Muslims

Historical Significance

African Muslims were a foundational part of the creation and development of America. Though the exact numbers are unknown, many documents, legal principles, and traditions reflect their presence and impact. African Muslims were integral to mapping borders, fighting against British rule and the Confederacy, labor, and businesses within White society.² While it wasn’t their choice, the lasting effects of their contributions have transformed the America we know today.

Intersectionality

Out of approximately 3.7 million Arab Americans in the U.S, around 25 percent of them are Muslim.³ Though this number may be underwhelming to some, Muslims still make up a large part of Arab Americans and heavily influence their identity. Many people exist at the intersection of these identities, which act as a platform to connect both shared histories and current events between them.

Universal Reflection

Countless individuals with African American identity have been celebrating Juneteenth since the time of Emancipation. However, this historic moment and the struggle that it represents shouldn’t be limited to just one group of people. The Islamic Circle of North America encourages non-Black people to treat the holiday as a day of “remembrance and reflection,” pushing all communities to “respectfully commemorate the day.”⁴

Arab American Solidarity

As recognition of Juneteenth has grown, allies have formed across racial and ethnic differences. The Arab American community in particular has played a massive role in the overall awareness of the event. Additionally, several Arab communities have adopted celebratory practices that highlight the common ground between their identities and those of Black Americans.

ADC

The American-Arab Anti-Discrimination Committee (ADC) educates Americans about upcoming legislative changes, Arab history and culture, and the defense of rights, all related to Arab American identity. While they primarily focus on Arab Americans, they extend their work to serve many groups, even if they aren’t related to Arab identity. The ADC has long been an ally of the Black community, commemorating Juneteenth and standing in solidarity with them to advance equity and social justice efforts.⁵

The Arab American National Museum

The Arab American National Museum is located in Dearborn, Michigan, in the middle of the largest concentration of Arab Americans in the U.S. It is the first and only museum focused specifically on “sharing Arab American contributions that shaped the economic, political, and cultural landscapes of American life.”⁶

Like the ADC, the museum is committed to going beyond Arab Americans and to sharing the experiences of immigrants and ethnic groups of all backgrounds. They also aim to cover the pasts of those outside their focus and recognize that histories are often places of shared experience between groups. On June 19, 2021, the museum posted on Instagram to memorialize Juneteenth: “As a museum rooted in community, we recognize and honor the call for active solidarity that Juneteenth reminds us of, as well as the importance of commemorating this day.”⁷

The University of Utah’s International and Area Studies Program

In partnership with the University of Utah’s International and Area Studies Program, the university’s Middle East Center within the College of Humanities establishes its dedication to Black American allyship. Their statement expresses their ongoing commitment to remembering Juneteenth, not simply as a holiday, but as a day to remember the importance of improvement. They are “reminded of the ongoing need to actively confront racism and oppression and to work toward racial justice on all fronts,” affirming their stance as universal supporters for equal rights and opportunities.⁸

Looking Ahead

Since Juneteenth was established as a federal holiday by the Biden Administration in 2021, there has been significant controversy over its validity and whether it should be embraced by groups outside the Black community. Even so, most Arab American organizations have recognized the historical and political relevance of the overlap between both identity groups. As a result, they have strengthened their allyship with Black communities across the U.S. and promoted the day of remembrance to people of all backgrounds and identities.

As Juneteenth continues to evolve into a mainstream holiday, it will grow in both popularity and acceptance among the American people. Underneath the festive parades and barbecues lies a universal truth about societal shifts, applicable to everyone, regardless of background, life experience, or identity. It is best put by Barack Obama, “Juneteenth has never been a celebration of victory or an acceptance of the way things are.  It’s a celebration of progress.  It’s an affirmation that despite the most painful parts of our history, change is possible—and there is still much work to do.”⁹

South African jazz pianist and composer Abdullah Ibrahim passed away on 15 June 2026. Jan Persson/Getty Images

Adolph Johannes Brand was born on 9 October 1934 in Cape Town. He would become better known as Dollar Brand and then Abdullah Ibrahim, an artist of mixed ethnic descent who personified the city’s multiculturalism and represented it on the world’s stages.

He went to school in District Six, a municipal inner city area with residents of diverse backgrounds. Due to the enforcement of apartheid it was declared a “white area” in 1966 and the community was removed by force in 1982. It was the creative ambience in which he started to play piano aged seven.

A bebop-inspired jazz musician performing as Dollar Brand, he had his first musical successes in the mid-1950s. He became Abdullah Ibrahim when converting to Islam in 1968, and his deep religious spirituality was an essential ingredient to his music.

Ibrahim’s more than 70 records received numerous prestigious awards. His deep spirituality, solemn dignity and soul has also been captured in the documentary films A Brother with Perfect Timing in 1987 and A Struggle for Love in 2005.

As a political scientist of southern Africa, I have written about Ibrahim as a defiant public intellectual, placing his work within his unique worldviews.

He personified the special brand of multiple identities and belief systems, consolidated and transmitted over generations among a variety of descendants in the urban settings at the Cape. His spirituality was not only a source of resilience but also defiance, his humanity political without any need for ideology.

In search of genuine expressions through music, he became an icon of a counter-world to the apartheid regime, taking sides by being and living up to what he was.

The early years

In 1959 he began to play in the Sophiatown-based band Jazz Epistles with other South African legends Kippie Moeketsi, Hugh Masekela, Jonas Gwangwa, Johnny Gertze and Makaya Ntshoko. They recorded Jazz Epistle Verse One as the first black South African jazz LP record.

In 1962 Ibrahim left for Europe, touring (with Gertze and Ntshoko) as The Dollar Brand Trio. In Switzerland the South African jazz vocalist Sathima Bea Benjamin put them in contact with Duke Ellington. Together Ellington and the Trio made two recordings (including Benjamin on the second one).

The Trio entered the circuit of international jazz festivals and toured Europe. In 1965 Ibrahim and Benjamin married and moved to New York, where he played at the Newport Jazz Festival. He continued close collaboration with Duke Ellington and interacted with some most renowned jazz musicians of the time.

Despite his international fame, he never forgot where he came from. Mandla Langa, a writer who was the African National Congress-in-exile’s cultural attaché in Europe, has observed:

A personal experience illustrates the point: when performing in West Berlin in the mid-1970s, a few exiled Namibians living there visited him backstage before the concert. When on stage to play before a packed auditorium, he stopped after intonating a few notes on the piano. Turning around, he looked at the group and declared, “Ek speel net vir julle.” (I only play for you).

Mannenberg and Cape jazz

A turning point in Ibrahim’s career (then still mainly known as Dollar Brand) – and a watershed for South African musical history – was his short return to South Africa during the mid-1970s.

Mannenberg, a 14-minute track capturing the atmosphere of the Cape Flats, was recorded in June 1974 in one take as an act of collective improvisation. It was released on the album Mannenberg – Is Where It’s Happening.

As historian John Edwin Mason observed, its unique combination of musical vocabularies and idioms, rooted in South Africa, yet aware of international trends, helped to make it “the most iconic” composition in South African jazz history.

Within a year it sold more copies than any other South African jazz album. Being subsequently performed by some of the band’s members at political protest gatherings, it became a song of resistance and resilience. A fellow jazz musician from District Six declared it “the most powerful anthem of the struggle in the 1980s … which had no words, it simply referred to a series of styles of music that was influenced by black culture”.

These were automatically associated with being free, to have an identity. Ibrahim’s fusion of melodies in his improvisations resembled a mixture of American jazz with local genres such as marabi and mbaqanga, but also langarm, vastrap and ticky draai. This blend is known as Cape jazz. More recordings followed with African Herbs (1975), Banyana – Children of Africa and Black Lightning (both 1976).

Triggered by the Soweto uprising of 16 June 16 1976, Ibrahim declared his support for the African National Congress and returned to New York. In 1978 he released Anthem for the New Nation. Another milestone became African Marketplace, recorded in 1979 with a 12-piece-band – ranked as number 70 in a list of The 100 Jazz Albums that Shook the World.

Returning home

A legend in his own lifetime, Ibrahim returned to South Africa after he met the newly-released Nelson Mandela 1990 in Germany, who told him to come home. In 1994 he performed with a symphony orchestra on occasion of Mandela’s inauguration as president. Mandela reportedly referred to him as “our Mozart”.

In 1999 Ibrahim founded an academy for South African musicians in Cape Town, where he also initiated the Cape Town Jazz Orchestra, launched in 2006. In 2016 he performed with Hugh Masekela for the first time since 1960, reuniting the legendary Jazz Epistles to commemorate the 40th anniversary of the Soweto uprising.

A solo piano recording was released in 2008 as Senzo (meaning ancestor in Chinese and Japanese, and a nod to his father’s name, Senzo, which also means creation in South Africa’s Nguni languages). As a review in All About Jazz ended:

Upon release of The Balance in 2019, his first album after five years, The Wall Street Journal titled: A Jazz Master Continues to Grow.

In 2024 he released his final recording, an expansive and critically acclaimed double album called 3.

A legacy beyond music

Ibrahim has been a midwife to musical expressions under apartheid, which were a form of resistance based on one’s own human dignity, self-respect and confidence as protest against oppression and discrimination. He did this without noise, rather – like his personal habitus – calm, steadfast and determined, resting in himself.

He contributed to a new culture under – and after – apartheid. Abdullah Ibrahim played a significant role in the creation of something new. There will be no other like him.

Photos by Yaseen Najeeb

Hundreds celebrated the return of Islamic Society of Milwaukee president Salah Sarsour Thursday from an Indiana jail, where U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement held him for 80 days.

“I am back, Alhamdulillah (all praise be to God),” Islamic Society of Milwaukee president Salah Sarsour told hundreds of supporters yesterday evening in an emotional homecoming at the Islamic Society of Milwaukee. Gaunt after 80 days in detention, Sarsour smiled as tears filled his eyes. “I’m so happy I can’t say in words how I feel.”

Sarsour, 53, of Franklin arrived at the ISM a few minutes before 8 p.m. United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement freed him 12 hours earlier from the Clay County Jail in Brazil, Indiana, when U.S. District Judge James P. Hanlon ordered his immediate release. In his 29-page order, the judge noted Sarsour’s First Amendment claims “are substantial, which could render his detention unlawful.”

ICE agents arrested the legal U.S. resident of more than three decades on March 30 in Milwaukee, although he has no criminal record.

The New York Times reported in April, “It appears to be the latest case in which the administration has sought to deport someone who was active in pro-Palestinian causes.” In 2025, U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio deemed Sarsour to be “a threat to the U.S. foreign policy interest of combating antisemitism.”

To a crowd that included mostly Muslims from across Greater Milwaukee, but also activists and concerned citizens who have rallied against Sarsour’s detention, he continued, “With God’s support, and because of great people like you, people of freedom who stood with justice, that’s why I’m back. I owe this to my community, to JVP (Jewish Voice for Peace), and to other organizations that did great work demanding justice.

“This is what’s unique about Milwaukee,” the president of Wisconsin’s largest mosque declared. “We chose our path of justice and stand together as one body. I’m so proud of you.

“I am back to serve our community. We have a lot of projects to do for the future, for our children.”

Videographer Yaseen Najeeb captured the first moments of Salah Sarsour’s release from ICE detention, where Sarsour is greeted by two of his sons, his son-in-law, and close friends Othman Atta and Munjed Ahmad.

A community celebrates 

“Salah is free!” 

The message began circulating in chat groups before 8 a.m. yesterday. Many “Alhamdulillahs!” (all praise be to God) followed. 

ISM director Othman Atta and attorney Munjed Ahmad, both close friends of Sarsour, joined two of his sons and his son-in-law on the 600-mile round trip to bring the community leader back to Milwaukee. As they got closer, the home crowd started planning.

“Should we meet them in Racine and drive in a caravan?” one suggested. 

“Are we all meeting at ISM?” asked another.

“What time?”

“7:30 p.m.,” someone replied.

“Let’s get there at 7 so we are waiting for him.”

Around 7:30 p.m., cars poured into the ISM parking lot. Sweets filled a table set up in the adjacent grass and volunteers stood by to serve Arabic coffee in small paper cups. Friends smiled and hugged, many thanking God for this blessing.

When a large SUV with a Palestinian flag hoisted through the sunroof crossed the lot, drums pounded an Arabic beat. Journalists with tripods and cameras moved from one side to another, anticipating the direction from which they would come.

When the SUV stopped, Sarsour eagerly hopped out, smiling broadly. His brother and other family members moved in for hugs. 

“Make room for the baby,” someone shouted, and the crowd parted. Sarsour’s daughter stepped forward, her infant in her arms. The father of six took his first look at his new grandchild, his 10th, and hugged his daughter. Tears streamed down both their faces.

As the crowd tightened around him, Sarsour said, “I need to see my mother.” Someone pointed to where she waited in a car. He opened the car door, leaned over and held her. 

“They haven’t seen each other for three months, when he used to see her every day,” someone said. Sarsour is her caregiver.

The beloved community leader moved from the arms of one relative or friend to another, occasionally leaning over to kiss one of his grandchildren or stretching out an arm to shake hands, as he did with Jodi Melamed of JVP, the lead organizer of last Sunday’s “Jews for Salah” vigil that brought 150 people (Jews and non-Jews) from across the political spectrum to the Indiana detention center. State Rep. Ryan Clancy and U.S. Congresswoman Gwen Moore had joined them. 

“Thank you for what you did for me,” he told her.

Salah Sarsour held his new grandson for the first time Thursday. The baby was born while Sarsour was held by ICE in an Indiana jail.

“All of these Jews coming together from such diverse places speaks to the power of Salah’s story and to our commitment not to let him be taken from us in the name of Jewish safety,” Melamed told the Wisconsin Muslim Journal days before the vigil. “We oppose the state terror done in the name of Jewish Americans against Salah and other Palestinians.”

Someone shouted, “Takbir!”

Others answered, “Allahu Akbar!”  The call and response is a reminder for Muslims that, no matter the situation, God is greater.

“Obviously, we are extremely happy with the judge’s decision,” Atta told WMJ. We feel the judge made a decision based on the law. He indicated that everyone here who’s a resident or a citizen has a First Amendment right to free speech. He recognized Salah’s advocacy for Palestine and Palestinians, and the people of Gaza, as his absolute right. 

“The judge also talked about the extraordinary circumstances,” Atta said. “He mentioned that Salah has been here for 30-some years, that he has an exemplary record here, that the government knew about the accusations, which we know are false accusations, by the Israelis. The U.S. government knew about them and didn’t do anything for decades, so this was seen by the judge as a political decision by this administration. He felt that their legal arguments were not valid. 

“We’re very happy about that and we’re happy Salah is able to join his immediate family and his extended family, which is all of us.

“When he was in jail, he was actually helping people,” Atta added with pride, “helping them with their English, translating things for them, doing whatever he could for them. That’s the kind of person he is.

“We’re ecstatic. We’re really overjoyed. It’s good to have him back!”

Sarsour’s supportive community

While Sarsour was locked away in the Clay County Jail, a big community rallied to support him. Wisconsin’s Muslim community, peace and human rights activists, Jews, Christians, and other concerned citizens came together as soon as they got the news. A huge, diverse crowd gathered at the ISM Community Center to show their support at a press conference convened to draw attention to his case. 

Many who know him wrote statements about his character for his legal team. Friends and others moved by his situation wrote letters to encourage him while he was in jail. Sarsour’s physician Waleed Najeeb wrote multiple letters to the Department of Homeland Security and elected officials, expressing concern about Sarsour’s declining health. 

Local and national organizations put out statements condemning his detention. The City of Milwaukee and Milwaukee County passed resolutions calling for his release. Congresswoman Gwen Moore made two well-check visits and raised concerns about his treatment. After her visit last Sunday, Rep. Moore issued a statement that said: “Over the course of two visits, I observed troubling signs of declining health and raised serious concerns about the conditions of his confinement. No person in ICE custody should be denied adequate nutrition, medical attention, or humane treatment.”

Rep. Moore and U.S. Sen. Tammy Baldwin issued statements condemning his detention. 

And last weekend, a Jewish-led vigil outside the Clay County Jail brightened his spirits, his attorney Munjed Ahmad told the crowd celebrating his release.

State Representatives Francesca Hong and Ryan Clancy marked the release with posts on X. 

“Overjoyed to learn that Salah Sarsour will finally be going home to his family,” Hong wrote. “But let’s be clear: This was an injustice from day one. We must abolish ICE!”

Clancy agreed. “I recommend reading Judge Hanlon’s ruling. It shows that Sarsour’s detention is an act of political persecution, another abuse of federal enforcement resources & part of a program to punish solidarity with the Palestinian people.”

In a press release yesterday, Congresswoman Moore said, “The court’s ruling affirms what many of us have been saying for months: Mr. Sarsour’s continued detention was unjustifiable,” Moore continued. “Thank you to the legal advocates, community leaders, and family members who fought tirelessly for Mr. Sarsour’s release.”

“The Milwaukee community led the efforts to bring Salah’s release, but we were joined by people and groups from across the country,” said Muslim Women’s Coalition executive director Janan Najeeb. “It involved people of many faiths and ideologies. There was incredible support from numerous anti-Zionist Jewish groups like Jewish Voice for Peace, along with the Muslim community. Elected officials like Congresswoman Moore and State Rep. Ryan Clancy were tireless.

“Everyone realized the immense danger Salah’s abduction by ICE posed,” she said. “When a 32-year legal resident with a clean record is being locked away for speaking out for Palestinian human rights, and the administration acknowledged that, it means we are watching the dismantling of our democracy. I am so thankful the judge who ordered him released saw right through that.”

Photos by Andy Chen

Milwaukee’s Jodi Melamed convenes the Jews for Salah vigil outside of the Clay County jail in Indiana.

A coalition of Midwestern Jews from across political and denominational spectrums, joined by Muslims, Christians, elected officials, immigrant rights advocates and others, traveled hundreds of miles Sunday to gather outside the Clay County Jail in Brazil, Indiana, to oppose the detention of Salah Sarsour, the president of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee.

More than 150 people rallied in front of the detention center where Mr. Sarsour has been held since March 30 to demand, as their T-shirts proclaimed: “Free Salah Sarsour” and “No ICE terror.”

“We have participants from across political and geographical divisions, a huge spectrum of the Jewish community,” said lead organizer Jodi Melamed, Ph.D. “We all want freedom and justice for Salah. All of these Jews coming together from such diverse places speaks to the power of Salah’s story and to our commitment not to let him be taken from us in the name of Jewish safety. 

“We oppose the state terror done in the name of Jewish Americans against Salah and other Palestinians,” Melamed said. (Melamed advocated for Sarsour’s release in an opinion article in the April 25 Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.)

Brazil’s a very small town in the middle of vast farmlands, “but people came from Indianapolis, Bloomington and Champaign Urbana, from Chicago and Milwaukee, on a bus, in cars, Jews and non-Jews, immigrant rights folks,” she continued. “We are really grateful they want to stand with us to protest the conditions Salah’s experiencing in detention, which everyone in detention is experiencing. We want to say, ‘Free Salah and free them all.’”

A rabbi from Indianapolis blows the shofar, a call to prayer and a Jewish symbol of return from exile.

Jailing Salah Sarsour

Federal immigration agents arrested Sarsour, 53, a permanent legal resident in the United States for 33 years, on March 30. After a few hours’ stop in Chicago, they took him to the Indiana jail, about 300 miles away from his Milwaukee home and family. He has not seen them since.

An April 2 post on the Department of Homeland Security’s website announced his apprehension, accusing him of excluding information in his green card application about an arrest in the Israeli-occupied West Bank when he was a teenager. His attorneys and supporters say that is not true and that he is being targeted because he is a high-profile activist for Palestinians. His attorneys have said publicly they intend to fight the charges.

The Clay County Jail is “a common landing spot for people arrested in the Upper Midwest,” the Chicago Tribune reported.  “Detainees there typically have their cases in either the Indianapolis or Chicago immigration court, where Sarsour was originally told to appear.”

However, in Sarsour’s case, federal authorities “made the unusual move” to transfer his case to Kansas City, the Chicago Tribune reported. Federal authorities also assigned it to a deputy chief immigration judge two levels more senior than the standard immigration judge that usually handles the vast majority of removal proceedings, the article said.

Congresswoman Gwen Moore (D-Wis.) made her second wellness-check visit to Sarsour during the vigil. She released a statement yesterday, saying, “Salah is being targeted for his advocacy for Palestinians, but his mistreatment is part of the Trump administration’s larger campaign of hate against immigrants. Behind closed doors in ICE facilities around the country, people, including women and young children, face neglect and abuse.”

“Salah is in jail for speaking up for Palestine,” agreed Rachel Ida Buff, Ph.D. Buff is the Wisconsin spokesperson for Jews for Salah. The historian of migration and immigrant rights movements is an expert in international political mobilization and repression since the Cold War. “He is in jail because the United States and Israel collaborate on everything, including who should be detained,” she said.

“We recognize the midnight raid, the deportation, the concentration camps—we recognize this,” Buff told the Wisconsin Muslim Journal. “Our people went through it. 

“And one of the things the (Department of Homeland Security) says is, ‘He advocated for Palestine; he’s pro-Hamas.’ It is the oldest immigration story in the book. You get here, and you worry about your people back home. And you advocate for them. That is what Salah and many people do.  That is what Jews did in this country in the 1940s. It is a very American experience.”

Rachel Ida Buff, in a bright orange vest, told WMJ, “We know Salah Sarsour and much of the Palestinian community to be good friends of Jews. To arrest him and say it is about protecting us from antisemitism is complete hogwash.”

Making the trip

A number of the vigil organizers traveled to Clay County Saturday. “We wanted to be there early Saturday to do everything,” said Buff, who drove down with her husband. 

Melamed, her husband and “our tactical leader drove down late Saturday morning to scout out the site for safety issues and plan the next day’s vigil on the ground,” she said. “We walked between the parking lot and the jail, and walked around the courthouse.” 

Janan Najeeb, executive director of the Muslim Women’s Coalition and a prominent activist, woke up Sunday before sunrise, as did others, to catch the 5 a.m. bus taking participants from Milwaukee to Brazil, Indiana. “It would have been easy to find many reasons not to make the trip,” she thought. Rain fell, her knee ached and they would be on the road for 10 hours in one day. “But this is an important cause and involves someone from the Milwaukee community,” she told the WMJ as the big bus carried about 40 passengers to the vigil. “The fact that an American resident of more than 32 years can be snatched from Milwaukee and transported across state lines is unconscionable. It’s shameful this is happening in America!

Najeeb recognized a number of her fellow passengers. “Many of these people are individuals who are working for justice at all levels,” she said. “It’s an honor to be in the same space with them.

“I recognize many Jewish individuals, particularly Jewish Voice for Peace members. There are Christians, Muslims and others, younger people and retirees. State Rep. Ryan Clancy is on the bus, as well as the tireless activist Jim Carpenter and his wife, Eldeen. I saw a few people from Madison and Nat Godley with the Turners.”

State Rep. Ryan Clancy told WMJ, “Salah Sarsour is a beloved member of our community who has been ripped from us and locked away to face inhumane conditions merely because of what he stands for and who he is.”

Salah Sarsour’s oldest son Kareem Sarsour sat on the bus next to his youngest son, Rukn, 3. His wife, Seema, and sons Salah, 8, and Izz, 5, were across the aisle. “Jodi from Jewish Voice for Peace told us about his vigil a few weeks ago,” he told WMJ. “We’re very grateful for the opportunity. We hope it’s a step toward my father’s release and reuniting him with his family. 

“Being on a bus filled with brave and beautiful people gives us tremendous support and love to keep moving forward,” he said.

As the bus rolled down the highway in the rain, Rep. Clancy told WMJ, “Salah Sarsour has been a beloved member of our community for over three decades. He came to us from Palestine, where he was subjected to violence, abuse and detention as a child under Israeli occupation, and has become a leader, an employer, an advocate and an example. He is the best of us. It’s our responsibility to stand up when our community is attacked.

“And to be clear, he is an advocate for our community, a Muslim and a Palestinian who has been outspoken against Israel’s genocide in Gaza and for the rights of Palestinians and for us all. And it is those inseparable parts of him that made him a target for the Trump regime.

“I’m proud to join so many people from different faiths and backgrounds in gathering around him and his family today.”

Congresswoman Gwen Moore and Kareem Sarsour, Salah’s oldest son, greet each other at the Jews for Salah vigil.

Dr. Maqbool and Naheed Arshad of Mequon went from Chicago by car Sunday morning. “It rained nearly all the way there, blinding at times, but as soon as we got there, it stopped,” Naheed Arshad said.  They saw “a huge crowd at a little nearby shopping plaza” and walked with them across from the detention center. 

“People from Indiana and Illinois were asking us about Salah, to tell them more about what kind of individual he is,” she said. “I told them that whenever I messaged him about any concern, he would always respond in five minutes. And it wasn’t just any response. He would always say this is how I’m going to address it, this is what I’m going to do. 

“This individual was always there to help somebody fix a problem and do whatever he could, any time of the day. He was always available. I’ve never met anyone else like him, who responds so immediately, with genuine concern.”

As the crowd chanted and speakers spoke, Rep. Moore used her authority as a congresswoman to check on her constituent in the detention center. Later, when the protestors gathered in a park for lunch, she rejoined the group, reported on Sarsour’s condition and told them Sarsour had heard them in his cell and felt encouraged.

“That news energized us,” Arshad said. But afterwards, she felt conflicting emotions, she said. To see this diverse group come together to support him “was heart-warming,” she said. At the same time, she’s sad. “It’s so unfair that we’re sitting in the comfort of our home, eating and doing whatever we want, and he’s been taken away from his beautiful family, his grandkids there Sunday, right outside.”

From left to right, Maysoun Ahmad, Naheed Arshad, Janan Najeeb and Amal Amro all traveled hundreds of miles to call for the release of ISM president Salah Sarsour.

Defending the rights of immigrants

“I want to emphasize that this is a high-profile case, and we don’t want to ignore anyone who’s getting picked up,” Buff said. “But, historically, advocating for the high-profile case raises consciousness that allows you to organize for everybody’s rights.

“The deportation of Salah Sarsour is part of a cruel campaign of deportations against our immigrant neighbors, and is reminiscent of the state terror faced by our ancestors. We refuse to be bystanders and we say never again, for anyone.

“We organized this event because we felt so upset about his kidnapping,” she added. “We’ve built a very unique coalition of Midwestern Jews who are all appalled by Mr. Sarsour’s situation. We all share a deep conviction that as Jews we need to advocate for Salah’s release.”

In an interview with Wisconsin Muslim Journal on Monday, Shahanna McKinney-Baldon, a Jewish community leader based in Madison and member of a new organization named Wisconsin Jews for Justice, said she “felt overwhelmed” after the vigil. “On one hand, it’s so horrible what’s happened and, on the other hand, there is this feeling of encouragement because of all the people who came together from different parts of our community, folks and organizations who haven’t collaborated before. It really felt like the beginning of a new way of coming together.” 

Wisconsinites Shahanna McKinney Baldon and her mother, Harriet McKinney Mandelman, speaking together to the assembled crowd.

Artist Abdulrahman Hamdi said that his goal is to broaden international understanding of contemporary Saudi culture. (Supplied)

JEDDAH: Saudi art has found a new audience with “Refusal,” an audiovisual installation by Saudi artist Abdulrahman Hamdi which is being displayed on the facade of the iconic The Mart in Chicago.

ART on THE MART is an exhibition engaging the building’s monumental architecture as a fixed, enduring surface, with unstable visual imagery and rhythmic sound patterns moving across it.

Hamdi, a Saudi multidisciplinary artist currently pursuing a master’s in fine arts in painting and drawing at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, said he seeks to represent Saudi art and culture on the global stage to challenge stereotypes.

He told Arab News: “I cannot imagine the trajectory my life would be on without them (the art institute) and the ministry. In a way, they’ve been my partner on this path, and I take my role seriously.

“From day one I’ve sought to represent Saudi art and culture, to introduce our creative spirit to the larger world, and shatter stereotypes.”

His participation in Chicago, he added, reflected a wider shift in global artistic perception.

He said: “My place in Chicago, then, signals that the larger art world is eager to hear Saudi artistic voices and, more importantly, understand them.

“This is a remarkable institutional shift that I hope will be replicated across the West.”

Hamdi noted that his experience of Saudi Arabia and the US had shaped his understanding of identity and visibility.

He said: “I observe a lot of similarities between Saudi Arabia and Chicago. Both are places frequently misunderstood.

“In both places, then, it’s important to be visible, to let the world know the creative spark is alive.”

His practice often explores emotional memory, introspection, and inherited silence.

He added: “Vulnerability means solitude. I dove into my mind’s eye, alone. I was curious enough to explore my thoughts, but unsure how to outwardly show that thinking.

“So, I did repress that thinking, a common reflex in what for centuries has been a tradition and honor-bound society.”

He added that painting served as both a form of confrontation and healing, saying: “It’s first an act of confrontation, of being alone with my thoughts, my history, my choices. Then, through the creative process, painting becomes healing.”

Hamdi also emphasized the importance of complexity and concealment in his visual language, and added: “Art isn’t easy. I want my audience to linger at work … to gaze once, return, gaze again and see something entirely different. For me, to be overt would be admitting defeat.”

Poetry, he said, played a central role in shaping his visual atmosphere.

“I use the emotions I gain from poetry to select colors and direct stroke,” he said, adding that painting and poetry both functioned as emotional translation.

He also reflected on silence as a conceptual force in his work.

He said: “My work is silent because it is not overt. Silence … is powerful and it commands the audience to listen to their heart and mind. Silence can speak quite loudly.”

Hamdi described paradox as a recurring theme in his practice, including in his use of imagery such as dogs.

“Dogs are another paradox,” he said, noting how they shifted between cultural reverence and rejection, and how this tension informed interpretation.

On audience reception, he said that the variability of interpretation was the focus of his work.

He added: “The greatest revelation is how people see the same work, yet minutes later they recall it differently, and their interpretations can be so divergent.”

He positioned his practice within the evolving Saudi art landscape, saying: “I am still Saudi. And what I produce is representative of my culture. I hope my practice will encourage artists across Saudi to think differently and expansively.”

Hamdi added that his goal was to broaden international understanding of contemporary Saudi culture.

He said: “My goal is for Chicago audiences, and all Western people, to know that Saudi interior life, creative capital, art and culture are thriving.”

Tahani Al-Baiz, Saudi cultural attache to the US and Canada, congratulated Hamdi on his achievement, and noted that the participation of Saudi creatives on prominent international platforms reflected the artistic and intellectual capabilities of Saudi men and women and strengthened the Kingdom’s cultural presence globally.

Protesting students condemned Project Nimbus, a $1.2 billion cloud-computing and AI contract signed in 2021 between the Israeli government and Amazon Web Services and Google Cloud. The deal prohibits Google or Amazon from refusing service to the Israeli government, military, or intelligence agencies.

The Project Nimbus contract sparked the #NoTechForApartheid campaign, in which disaffected tech workers and dozens of advocacy groups rose up against Big Tech’s complicity in Israeli human rights crimes in Palestine and Google’s violation of its own AI principles.

“Shout out to all the graduates who walked out today. To all the graduates who chose conscience rather than comfort, we thank you,” Stanford Students for Justice in Palestine (SJP)—which organized the protest with No Tech for Apartheid—said in an Instagram post.

“Today, Sundar Pichai was met with the sight of hundreds of students who showed they could not be allured anymore with the talk of a dollar or rapidly expanding AI,” SJP continued. “We know about the crimes of Google in collaborating with Israel, [US Immigration and Customs Enforcement], and companies like Palantir.”

“Today, we denied the speech of a genocidal company’s CEO,” the group added. “We walked towards our People’s Commencement. We started imagining a better future for our education.”

Sunday’s walkout followed similar demonstrations at Stanford’s previous three commencements over the university’s crackdown on pro-Palestine protests as Israeli forces killed and wounded hundreds of thousands of Palestinians and forcibly displaced, starved, or sickened around 2 million Gazans, with full US government support.

Earlier this year, a judge declared a mistrial in a case involving five current and former Stanford students who in 2024 occupied the university president’s office to protest the Gaza genocide and demanded the school divest from companies supporting Israel’s military.

Sunday’s protesters also decried Google’s contracts with ICE and other Department of Homeland Security agencies.

For the second year in a row, Stanford grads held a “People’s Commencement.” This year’s featured Mahmoud Khalil, a former Columbia University Palestine defender imprisoned for more than 100 days last year by the Trump administration’s ICE.

“What good is education if it teaches us how to succeed and not how to care?” Khalil said during his speech. “What good is knowledge if we lack the courage to act from it?”

Photos by Yaseen Najeeb

A team of event coordinators, committees, art and writing judges, sponsors, vendors, volunteers and MWC staff made Celebrating Palestine possible and memorable.

In its second year, Celebrating Palestine 2026 expanded to accommodate almost 1500 attendees at the Marcus Performing Arts Center in Milwaukee. Festival goers had multiple floors to explore cultural exhibits, a sizable vendor souq, a nonstop entertainment stage, food concessions and a children’s craft area. 

Janan Najeeb, MWC founder and executive director, envisioned a cultural festival to express, honor and preserve Palestinian identity. In a press release, she wrote, “Celebrating Palestine is an opportunity to honor a vibrant and rich culture, share powerful stories, and build bridges of understanding within our diverse community. 

“At a time when many people are seeking connection and greater understanding, this event offers a welcoming space to learn, celebrate, and stand together in our shared humanity.”

Opening the event, the Palestine Youth Movement Ensemble set the tone for the festival performing “Mawtini” (my homeland) written by Palestinian poet Ibrahim Tuqan. When the singer, keyboard, violin, oud and cello played the unofficial anthem of collective longing for freedom and the shared experiences of Arab peoples, the room stood up in honor of the moment.

Palestinian Youth Movement Ensemble

Local women’s dabke group Banat Al Huryia invited everyone to join in the dance including special guest Willow Newell, Miss Wisconsin 2025.

Other dabke included Chicago’s Al Horiyah and Mohammed Darawshah’s folkloric dance.

Two events showcased handmade embroidered thobes representing 26 Palestinian cities and towns worn by volunteer models. 

Banat Al Huriya Women’s Dabke from Milwaukee

Spoken word poets Basma Sarsour, Ali Hamadeh and Sawsan Rizeq shared their powerful messages in verse.

Youth art and writing contest winners walked the runway holding their art pieces and framed essays as each age category was announced. 

Appearing several times in the schedule, Palestinian singer Mahmoud Samhan & Band closed the festival with a grand finale performance.

Celebrating Palestine reflected the commitment and collaboration of more than 70 volunteers, subcommittee members, generous sponsors and MWC staff. 

Basema Sarsour, spoken word poetry

Willow Newell, Miss Wisconsin 2025 poses with a family at Celebrating Palestine.

Mohammed Darawshah dabke and folkloric dance artist

Palestinian thobe presentation with background music by Palestinian Youth Movement Ensemble

As their names were announced, youth art and writing contest winners proudly crossed the stage holding their artwork and framed essays. 

Al Horiyah Dabke and Drum men’s group from Chicago

Mahmoud Samhan Band performed several times, closing the event with a grand finale.

Celebrating Palestine had 27 unique vendors

From the moment that the first ayah of the Qur’an was revealed – “Iqra!” – reading has been a foundational part of the Islamic tradition. The Qur’an was the first book established by the Muslim community, heralding the beginning of a long, rich literary tradition. The early Abbasid era marked a true love affair between Muslims and books, which in turn led to the establishment of public and private libraries across the Muslim world (pg 8-9, on the love of books in the Islamic tradition). The Great Library of Baghdad, housed in Bayt al-Hikmah, was one of the world’s largest public libraries and its destruction by the Mongols remains the source of much grief. That was then – but what about now?

Libraries continue to play a deeply important role in society. Reading remains a signifier of emotional intelligence as well as intellectual knowledge. Unfortunately, we find that many Muslims discount the value of reading, especially fiction, without understanding that even fiction exists in our historic tradition. Not all fiction is “haram”! At the same time, Muslim parents, especially in the West, often bemoan that their children are always on screens, or consuming unIslamic content. Admittedly, the cost of books has gone up (along with groceries, gas, and everything else!)… So where are we supposed to get halal Muslim books from without bankrupting ourselves? 

Cue the concept of a local Muslim library. Imagine a resource where books by Muslims, for Muslims, can be found in one place, free of cost for patrons! While this sounds amazing, someone has to actually put one together. AlHamdulillah, more and more Muslim communities are taking on the responsibility of establishing libraries in our communal spaces. As one of those who took on this project in my own community, I’ll be sharing an outline of what you need to know before you go about creating a Muslim library of your very own.

Intention/ Purpose

What kind of library do you want to establish? This might sound like a silly question, but the truth is that there’s a world of difference between an Islamic library and what I call a “Muslamic” library.

Islamic libraries are focused on Islamic content; that is, Islamic knowledge across various genres, maintaining a strict adherence to solely what is Islamically correct. This has incredible value of its own, and is a fantastic resource for parents wanting to share knowledge with their children, with laypeople seeking to increase their own knowledge of Islam, and for students of knowledge or scholars who need access to Islamic texts that may be difficult or unaffordable to purchase on their own.

A “Muslamic” library, on the other hand, will contain fiction, including novels that involve Muslim characters, but – as fiction often does – include stories, events, and characters which reference or engage in things that aren’t strictly “halal.” That doesn’t mean those novels are encouraging haram things, but that they present actions or situations in the context of a character’s development, or simply referencing things that do happen in real life. This can also include genres such as fantasy, which aren’t teaching about Islamic beliefs around the ghayb, but are flights of imagination and whimsy. And yes, we’ve already talked about whether Harry Potter is haram!

Muslamic libraries have the benefit of presenting diverse characters and situations that readers can experience through storytelling, providing emotional depth and insight. As for determining what’s “halal enough” to include in a Muslamic library, this will be covered in the section on how to select books for your library.

As you consider what kind of library you want to build, think about who your target audience is. Is it children or adults? Students at a serious madrasah, or just kids who yearn for stories where they can see themselves reflected? Parents who need stories to tell their kids at bedtime, or Muslim homeschoolers and educators? Students of knowledge and scholars, or the average Muslim? The answers to these questions will help you refine the process of building your library and determine what your priorities should be in terms of choosing the right kinds of books to include. 

Location and Pitching the Project

Do you have a location for your library? Where will you start this project? Will it be a religious space, like a masjid or Islamic center, or be part of a Muslim school, or will it exist in an entirely separate third space? Do you have authority within the space, or do you need to seek the approval of a masjid/ organization board? Who has final say over the books chosen?

All of these factors will impact how your library is set up, and the extent of flexibility you will have in curating the library, as well as accessibility to the library itself. Often, you will have to pitch the idea of the library to multiple organizations/ masaajid, as not everyone is interested in the idea of a public library (or the potential liabilities involved). Ensure that you have a thoughtful, detailed pitch to present! Demonstrate that you’ve thought this through, have done your research, and have an action plan for implementation and maintenance. 

Selecting Books

Great, you have a place to set up shop! Now, how are you going to choose the books to include in your library?

The first point to remember is who your target audience is – that will immediately narrow down the types of books that you’ll be acquiring to start the library. For an Islamic library, are you a subject matter expert? If not, ensure that you have at least one or two people who are, as this will require filtering out work that is passed off as “Islamic” but may in fact be deeply problematic.

Along these lines, what are the affiliations of the location your library will be located in? If it’s a masjid, do they have strict rules around the types of content that they will host? For example, if it’s a Salafi masjid, will they allow works by non-Salafi scholars? Books on tasawwuf? Books on fiqh based on specific madhaahib? On the flip side, is it a masjid that is completely anti-Salafi, or stringently adhering to one madh’hab?

Your book selection will be thus constrained by the organization that you’re dependent on for location.

If you’ve got more flexibility around choosing books, especially if you’re able to have a “Muslamic” library instead, you still need to think about how you’ll be selecting books and determining what’s acceptable and what’s not. Not every book written by someone with a “Muslim” name is okay! There are many books (including kids’ books!) out there that explicitly promote haram relationships, belittle the Shari’ah, have internalized Islamophobia, or other problematic elements. On the other hand, there are many books that will mention these things without promoting them, but as part of the context/ setting/ plot/ character development, with characters who will then change for the better. There are also books which may not exactly promote the haraam, but simply incorporate them as part of the story without passing a value judgement on them.

You will need to consider different genres, age groups (e.g. toddler books, picture books, early reader, middle grade, young adult etc.), your own community’s culture and approach to literature, and what to do if a library patron complains! However, you don’t need to start from scratch – one very valuable resource to turn to are Muslim book reviewers, who do the hard work of going through lots of different books and sharing their reviews of craft and halal-ness. Specific accounts (and websites) that are dedicated to this purpose include The Islamic School Librarian, MuslimKidsBookNook, and my own book reviewing account, as well as Goodreads.com, where you can see reviews from readers around the world. There are also many others involved in the “Muslim bookstagram” space online, so it’s worth doing your research to ensure that you’re getting a full picture of each book selected. And yes… you will need a lot of time for this part!

Funding/ Getting books

You’ve gotten approval, you’ve even decided your criteria for selecting books… Now how are you going to actually get the books you want? Most libraries have a combination of streams: donations (in the form of people donating books – which you’ll need to check for appropriateness and physical state – or money given specifically for the library); an allowance provided by the masjid/ Islamic organization to purchase books and other associated library expenses (bookshelves, software etc.); paying out of pocket by yourself (this gets VERY expensive, very fast!); and the final option – applying for grants! Depending on the country/ city/ locale you live in, there may be government or non-profit grants offered towards “arts and culture” programming. It’s absolutely worth applying for these! AlHamdulillah, my own Islamic center’s library received a local arts and culture grant that paid for our library software as well as a fair bit set aside for books. Regular funding is extremely important in order to continue buying new books, as well as replacing lost or damaged books (which happens a lot). 

As you think about how you’ll pay for books, you’ll also need to create a budget based on the funding that you have available. How many books do you want to start with in order to launch the library? Do you have a monthly allowance that you can use to purchase a certain number of books each month? Or can you splurge and buy a hundred books right off the bat? A budget will be important in order to keep track of ongoing expenses as well, and being able to determine how much you’ll need on a monthly or annual basis to maintain the library.

When purchasing books, be creative and look for various options. You don’t have to buy everything new, or from Amazon! Websites such as BookOutlet, BookDepot, ThriftBooks, and AbeBooks are all valuable resources for purchasing heavily discounted books. Don’t disregard your local thrift store, library sales, or used bookstores either – you’ll be surprised at what kinds of Muslamic books you can find there. You may also find it valuable to create a relationship with a local Muslim bookstore and get discounts. 

Systems and Maintenance

You’re almost there! What else do you need to know for setting up your local Muslim library? This is where things get boring but important: the nitty gritty details. How is your library going to operate? When will the library be accessible to the public? What days/ times will the library be open? Who is going to physically be present to oversee the library’s operations? How will you keep track of the books? There’s a lot of questions, and only you will be able to answer most of them.

One of the most commonly asked questions that I can help answer is about library systems. You will need a way of keeping track of the books, and the most efficient way to do that is through a library software of some type. 

The Handy Library app is suitable for personal libraries or fairly small ones, and allows you to scan the barcodes on physical books to add them to your account’s database. For a one-time fee, you can add an unlimited number of books to your account, and keep track of people borrowing the book (which is information that you’ll have to input yourself). 

ResourceMate is a more expensive, but much more expansive library software program that connects to multiple other library databases around the world. You also have the option of purchasing custom barcodes and library cards for your library, which means that you can then operate like any other public library! There are many other options that you can research online as well and determine which is most suitable for your particular library, budget, and other constraints. 

Whatever software or system you choose, however, somebody will need to be responsible for maintaining the library itself. This means that there will need to be at least one designated person willing to show up in person, input each book into inventory, ensure that patrons are registered, keep track of books being borrowed, follow up on late returns (and contend with damaged and lost books!), and of course… dealing with library patron complaints (which are inevitable). 

All of this means that you’ll need to develop a library policy as well. What information is required for someone to register as a patron of the library? How will you be able to communicate with them for book returns? How will you hold them accountable for late fees or replacing lost and damaged items? Do parents need to sign an agreement that they, and only they, are responsible for the types of books their kids borrow? 

Building Upwards

Libraries aren’t just physical locations filled with books… they’re also a place of community and growth. Libraries often serve multiple purposes, especially in terms of providing community programming around literacy, life skills, and more. Don’t let your library remain stagnant – once you’re able to establish the library itself, consider how else you can utilize this space and community to benefit your community. Host Muslim authors for meet-and-greets, set up a book fair, organize monthly storytimes, and encourage kids to write their very own stories and share them with the community in the form of spoken word or open mic events. The potential is endless! And if you still have questions, consider booking a library consult with the MBR team!

A Final Word

The one piece of advice I want to leave you with is the importance of sincerity and of commitment. Always ensure that your intention is truly for the Sake of Allah, no matter what drama you have to deal with or challenges come your way. Don’t let people sour you off from work done for Allah’s Sake! Commitment goes hand-in-hand with sincerity. Don’t start a project just to lose interest and walk away from it; this creates a lack of trust in the community around being able to have long-lasting, meaningful projects. Of course, if life circumstances are such that you have no choice but to abandon the library, then so be it – but make sure you take the necessary steps to find a replacement who will take this project very seriously. Great projects don’t last without effort and commitment, and a library should ideally play a very special role in every Muslim community.

And… that’s it! 

Congratulations, you’ve done it! You’ve established a Muslim library of your very own! May Allah grant you barakah and tawfeeq in your efforts, and count it as a sadaqah jaariyah for all involved.

What questions do you still have about setting up a community library? What did I miss? What experiences do you have to share about your own library? What success stories can we learn from?

SUMMARY: Muslim families looking for a summer camp can strengthen their children’s Islamic character along with camp recreation. Muslim parents must ascertain their aims for the camp and take practical considerations, the camp’s program and schedule, its reputation for sincerity and integrity, its alignment with their values, and its potential moral impact into account so that their children can both enjoy summer and grow as healthy, righteous servants of Allah.

As the school year comes to an end, many parents begin searching for meaningful ways to keep their children engaged during the summer months. Summer camps can provide valuable opportunities for learning, friendship, personal growth, and recreation. However, choosing the right camp requires more than simply comparing activities and costs. For Muslim families, it is equally important to consider how a camp will support a child’s Islamic identity, values, and spiritual development. A well-chosen summer camp can strengthen a child’s confidence, character, and connection to Allah Most High, while a poor fit may expose children to influences that conflict with values and beliefs.

Before exploring camp options, parents should identify what they hope their child will gain from the experience. Some families may prioritize Islamic education and spiritual growth, while others may seek outdoor adventure, leadership development, academic enrichment, social skills, or a balance of faith and recreation. Clarifying these goals helps narrow the search and ensures that decisions are guided by meaningful priorities rather than impressive facilities or flashy marketing. Once these objectives are established, parents can more effectively evaluate whether a camp aligns with their child’s needs and family’s values.

Parents should consider the practical structure of the camp experience. One important decision is whether a day camp or a sleepaway camp is the better fit for their child. Day camps may be more suitable for younger children, those attending camp for the first time, or families who prefer that children return home each evening. Overnight camps can provide opportunities for independence, personal growth, leadership development, and immersion in camp activities, but they require children to be comfortable spending extended time away from home.

Cost is another significant factor. Summer camps vary widely in price, and families should establish a realistic budget before beginning their search. Beyond tuition, parents should ask about additional expenses such as transportation, equipment, uniforms, activity fees, or spending money. Some camps offer scholarships, financial assistance, or payment plans that can make participation more accessible. Considering both the type of camp and the overall cost early in the process can help families focus on options that are practical as well as beneficial for their children.

A key consideration in the decision-making process is the camp’s overall environment and culture. Whether the camp is Islamic or not, parents should understand the values and behaviors that will shape their child’s daily experience. Children often absorb lessons from their surroundings more deeply than from formal instruction, making camp culture especially influential. Parents should inquire about how staff members are trained, the camp’s approach to discipline, how conflicts are resolved, and the measures in place to address issues such as bullying. A positive environment can reinforce qualities such as respect, responsibility, kindness, cooperation, and empathy, all of which contribute to a child’s character development.

For families considering an Islamic camp, it is important to look beyond the label itself. Not all camps that identify as Islamic offer the same level of faith-based programming or spiritual support. Parents should ask whether salah is organized and encouraged, whether opportunities exist for Qur’an recitation and reflection, how Islamic values are integrated into daily activities, and what qualifications the religious instructors possess. It is also beneficial to understand how the camp actively fosters good character among its participants. The Prophet Muhammad, may Allah send peace and blessings upon him, said, “The best among you are those who have the best manners and character.” Summer should be viewed as an opportunity to increase knowledge and  cultivate the character traits that Islam emphasizes.

Safety should also remain a top priority. Parents should feel comfortable asking detailed questions about staff-to-camper ratios, background checks for employees and volunteers, the availability of medical personnel, emergency response procedures, swimming and water safety protocols, and transportation arrangements. A reputable camp will be transparent about these matters and willing to address concerns openly. Ensuring a safe environment allows children to explore experiences with confidence while giving parents peace of mind.

Many families place importance on appropriate gender accommodations, particularly for older children and teenagers. Factors such as sleeping arrangements, sports participation, swimming activities, dress expectations, and privacy policies play a significant role in the decision. Taking time to understand how a camp addresses these helps ensure that the environment aligns with the values practiced at home.

Another factor is the quality of the individuals who will serve as role models for campers. Children often remember their counselors long after they have forgotten specific activities. A caring, responsible, and inspiring counselor can leave a lasting impact on a young person’s life. Parents should therefore ask about the recruitment and training process for staff and whether counselors are selected for their maturity, leadership abilities, and commitment to mentoring children. In Islamic camps, it is especially valuable when staff members exemplify sincerity, strong Islamic manners, and a genuine commitment to their faith.

While fun is undoubtedly an important part of any summer camp experience, the most successful camps offer more than entertainment alone. Effective programs challenge children to build confidence, develop resilience, learn teamwork, solve problems independently, and discover new interests. The most memorable camp experiences are often those that combine enjoyment with meaningful personal growth, helping children develop skills and qualities that will benefit them long after the summer has ended.

Seeking recommendations from trusted individuals can also be invaluable. Word-of-mouth referrals often provide insights that brochures and websites cannot. Speaking with other parents, community leaders, teachers, local imams, or families whose children have previously attended a camp can offer a clearer picture of the camp’s strengths and potential weaknesses. These firsthand experiences frequently reveal important details about the camp’s atmosphere, leadership, and overall effectiveness.

After careful research and making a thoughtful decision, parents should place their trust in Allah Almighty. Every parent desires the best for their child, but guidance, protection, and success ultimately come from Him alone. Making dua for a beneficial summer experience can bring comfort and perspective, asking Allah to strengthen a child’s faith, bless them with righteous friendships, and help them grow into a confident Muslim who contributes positively to society.

Summer camps offer far more than a way to fill long vacation days. They can become powerful environments for spiritual growth, character development, meaningful friendships, and lifelong memories. By carefully evaluating a camp’s values, safety standards, leadership, and Islamic environment, parents can select experiences that nurture both their children’s happiness and their journey toward becoming faithful, responsible believers. The right summer camp does not simply keep children occupied; it helps them grow closer to their full potential and, most importantly, closer to Allah Almighty.

Today the Twitter algorithm served me up a bunch of Zionist tweets from accounts I’ve never followed, right at the top of my “For You” feed. Elon and company decided on my behalf that this is the kind of information I need to be consuming, so they’ve taken it upon themselves to shove it down my throat without my permission.

As Silicon Valley algorithm manipulation gets more and more aggressive in force-feeding us the official narrative of the day, we have to get a bit clever in making sure we see the information our rulers don’t want us to see. I like to use Twitter Lists for this, because for all its flaws Twitter is still where the journalists hang out and remains a great place for staying on top of the news if you can figure out how to cut through all the bullshit.

Lists are great if you have a limited number of go-to accounts you want to make sure you see, rather than relying on the worthless algorithm in the “For You” tab or seeing every single tweet by every single person you follow in the “Following” tab. You can create your own list and fill it up with all the reporters, analysts and commentators you enjoy, and it will show you their posts in chronological order.

Here’s how you make one:

1. Go to the menu, select Lists and hit the New List option.

2. Name your list. Check “Make private” if the list is for your own personal use and/or if you don’t want people to be notified when you add them, then click “Next”.

In case anyone finds it useful, here’s a link to a public Twitter list I made that’s full of accounts I’ve found helpful for staying on top of current events. Feel free to subscribe to it, or pick out the accounts you like and add them to your own list.

Just figured I’d put this out there in case anyone finds it helpful.

AI expert Zubia Mughal, Ed.D., will talk about how entrepreneurs, small businesses and nonprofits can use AI while keeping their private information and business secrets safe at the June 26 Muslim Women’s Coalition’s Networking Brunch.

“AI is everywhere right now, but most small business owners, entrepreneurs and nonprofits are overwhelmed by it and unsure how to keep their information from being leaked,” says Zubia Mughal, Ed.D., artificial intelligence expert and speaker at the Muslim Women’s Coalition’s June Networking Brunch.

Dr. Mughal, a Pewaukee resident, is the founder of Dr. Data Decision Intelligence, LLC, where she builds AI systems for clients and teaches business owners and organization leaders how to use AI without sacrificing privacy and control. Throughout her career, Dr. Mughal has worked at the intersection of data science, workforce development and enterprise systems architecture.

At MWC’s June Networking Brunch, she will share a simple framework for using AI confidently, providing real examples of how entrepreneurs and small businesses use AI to save time and grow revenue. Attendees need no technical background to benefit from this talk, she said.

The June MWC Networking Brunch will be held June 26, 10 a.m. – 12 p.m., at the Islamic Resource Center, 5233 S. 27th St., Greenfield. A Middle Eastern buffet from Taqwa Bakery & Restaurant will be served. Register here. A $15 payment will be taken at the door. 

Bringing a discussion on AI to MWC’s Networking Brunch

MWC Networking Brunches are open to the public. The monthly event features expert speakers on a wide range of topics, attracting a diverse audience from all backgrounds. 

When Dr. Mughal attended a brunch a few months ago, she asked MWC’s special projects manager and WMJ managing editor Cherrie Hanson if MWC would be interested in a presentation on AI. Hanson sent her a questionnaire that is sent to all potential speakers to evaluate their presentation for the Networking Brunch audience and found it to be a great fit, Hanson said. 

“For a program manager, it’s a gift when the expert shows up to offer an exciting topic and has the potential to attract new people to the event,” she added.  

“I’m a Muslim woman, a business founder and someone who builds AI systems for a living,” Dr. Mughal said. “I genuinely believe our community shouldn’t be on the sidelines of this shift. 

“Speaking at an MWC event is meaningful to me personally, and I want to make sure the men, women and entrepreneurs in the room walk out feeling capable, not intimidated.”

Photos by Cherrie Hanson

The Islamic Resource Center’s event space frequently hosts speaker presentations and educational programs.

Talking AI with expert Zubia Mughal, Ed.D.

WMJ interviewed Dr. Mughal last week to preview her MWC Networking Brunch talk and learn more about her. Here are the highlights (paraphrased):

How will attendees at your talk benefit?

In my work, I create private AI solutions for small businesses. And one of the things I do is help educate people so they understand the dos and don’ts of AI. There are many quick, easy and lazy ways to do a lot of things through open AI tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini. For general uses, like finding out about a job, a company or travel destinations, these tools are fine. They give you an aggregation of things on the internet. They save time. 

Trouble begins when you begin to share your expert judgment with them. For example, if you say things like, “I have a client who needs x,y,z and I’m thinking of doing this for them. What do you think about it?” or if you put entire meeting transcripts into ChatGPT or Claude. Two things will happen. First, if you have not masked personal, identifying information or any database identification number, private information is exposed and can be found. The second is that you begin brainstorming. 

AI is a great brainstorming tool, but you lose more than you gain. You save time in exchange for all the brilliant ideas you provided that are now exposed. 

All AI tools, even free ones, come at a price. You are paying with your expert judgment and intelligence that they use for training. 

Please give us an example of how that impacts the user.

Say you work with an AI advisor or life coach or career coach, another life coach in another part of the country could benefit from your discussion. AI will summarize what you discussed. Where it took you two or three hours to come to your conclusion, when another person logs in to a life coach the next day, it’s going to go into its servers, find all the things you discussed and share what you learned. That’s how your brilliant idea becomes average, because soon everyone will find it.

How can we use AI while protecting ourselves from exposing private information?

One of the things that is possible is to have a large local language model. “Local” means you can download it on your machine and create a private AI system. That’s what I do. You can discuss your business, share your numbers – the sky’s the limit. You don’t need to hide anything. It’s like having a Word document on your own computer. That’s the safest way to share your expert judgment and do some brainstorming.

Is it expensive to have your own system?

It is definitely something a layperson can’t do on their own. But there are ways to do it. This is something I can address at the brunch.

What about the risk of AI giving bad advice?

To be honest, that issue is getting better with time. Accuracy is improving. Speed is improving. Still, we need to validate the information we are getting and verify its accuracy.

Like when you look at information on a website, we were taught how to evaluate the authenticity of the website by looking at the URL and other clues to determine whether it is even a genuine website. 

Evaluating AI is no different. You should know ways to evaluate the information you are getting before you accept it. One thing you can do is to ask the same question in multiple ways and at different times. If you receive different answers, you know you can’t trust it. The key is knowing when to stop trusting it, when to draw the line. 

In my experience, AI can be trusted for finding general information but not expert advice like healthcare or legal advice. You have to take those with a grain of salt.

How did you get interested in AI and decide to build your career around it?  

My entire professional experience is in this field. One thing led to another.

I studied information systems technology at Northern Virginia Community College, where I got an Associate of Applied Science degree and started as an application developer, software developer and programmer. And at George Mason University, I earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Information Technology Management. I used to teach programming classes at the community college level.

Then I decided I wanted to support instructors and professors, so I got into instructional design. I completed my Master’s Degree in Instructional Design & Curriculum Planning at Virginia Tech. As a post-grad, I earned an Education Specialist degree in E-Learning at Northcentral University, after which I started creating training interfaces. I built a lot of training programs for a lot of businesses, then got into career and technical education. 

I got my Doctor of Education Degree in Workforce Development Leadership at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. While I was working on my doctorate, I worked with data and statistics, and I was very intrigued. It was 2020, and I taught myself how to build databases and how to relate data to multiple databases, how they’re connected, how data can be displayed, how data is hidden. 

I love working with data. It is challenging. I taught myself machine learning algorithms and got a certificate from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology two years ago. 

I became interested in bridging the gap between human beings and the data they need, how better interfaces present data in ways anybody should be able to understand, how to make data accessible so people can make better decisions—that’s my whole business now at a glance.

You launched your own business, Dr. Data Decision Intelligence LLC earlier this spring. Please tell us more about it and how you use AI for clients.

Sometimes I feel AI found me because it became a medium through which I can organize data to help clients make decisions. AI saves their decisions and data in databases, then it helps them walk through the data and decisions, and helps people talk to them. The gap between data and people is closed by large language models that can be used locally and privately. Building those systems where anybody can talk to their own data is what my business is all about. 

I’m in my third month and on my fifth project. I’m getting lots of requests. AI is a new thing and people are still dabbling into it. But it is here to stay, that’s for sure.

What will you focus on at the MWC Networking Brunch?

I will talk about how to use publicly available free and subscription-based tools safely. We’ll look at what is safe, what is dangerous, what keeps them safe online and how to keep their expertise and business secrets safe.

Adam Hamawy hopes to bring his experience as a doctor to Congress. [Brooke Anderson/TNA]

Adam Hamawy has treated some of Gaza’s most critical patients—experience he hopes to bring to the US Congress if he wins the New Jersey primary on Tuesday.

The first-time candidate, who is leading in the polls, is running on a platform of universal healthcare and affordability, tapping into nationwide frustration over high prices, stagnant wages, exorbitant healthcare costs, and foreign wars.

“It’s important for me to run. I have a unique experience being a veteran and a doctor. I’ve seen the effects of policy on everyday people,” Hamawy tells The New Arab in an interview before the New Jersey primary, which he joined following the retirement of Bonnie Watson Coleman, who has served for six terms.

“As we enter another time of war, it’s important to think of all the communities that are impacted. All policy decisions are happening in Washington,” he said.

The full-time physician is part of a growing trend of political candidates running in high-level races coming from careers outside of politics. Other elected officials in recent years to leap include Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York, and Senators Jon Ossoff and Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who worked as a bartender, a filmmaker and a pastor, respectively.

Hamawy, whose parents emigrated from Egypt to the US when he was a baby, grew up in the district where he is now running for office. He was able to benefit from a high-quality education, an area where he has seen cutbacks for his children’s generation.

He became closely acquainted with the US healthcare system while working as a physician in New Jersey. Also, as a doctor serving abroad, including with the US military in Iraq and, more recently, on humanitarian missions in Gaza, he has had firsthand experience of the effects of US foreign policy.

In Iraq, Tammy Duckworth, who would later become a senator from Illinois, credited him with saving her life when she was a soldier, and in Gaza, he refused to leave until the non-American doctors were also evacuated. In June 2024, he testified to Congress about treating patients in Gaza.

His campaign manager, Hebah Kassem, who has a background in public health and has worked on several political campaigns, had helped Hamawy leave Gaza. When he announced his run for Congress, she was interested in joining an upstart campaign focused on healthcare.

“I was one of the first people he called [when he decided to run for Congress],” Kassem tells TNA. “He has an interesting story that is very appealing to people.”

So far, Hamawy, who is competing against around a dozen other candidates in New Jersey’s 12th congressional district, is leading in both fundraising and in the polls, boosted by hundreds of volunteers who have knocked on thousands of doors. He has been endorsed by Senator Bernie Sanders of Vermont, Representative Ro Khanna of California and by progressive groups such as Justice Democrats and Track AIPAC.

According to the Cook Partisan Voter Index, New Jersey’s District 12 is Democrat +13, based on the latest presidential election, meaning that the Democrat who wins Tuesday’s primary is expected to win the general election in November.

Days before New Jersey’s 2 June primary, Hamawy is facing questions over his connection in the early 1990s with Omar Abdel-Rahman, a Muslim leader who was later convicted for his involvement in the 1993 bombing of the World Trade Centre.

He has responded by saying that he ceased contact after Abdel-Rahman was arrested, and he has dismissed the recent questions over his past ties with the sheikh as Islamophobic. Though he continues to lead in Democratic primary polls, this could be a sign of what he would be facing in the November general election.

Despite predictable attacks and divisions before election day, Hamawy says he believes he can bridge party divisions and has managed to court some Republican voters by focusing on everyday issues, such as affordability and better access to high-quality healthcare and education.

“Their messaging is based on fear and misinformation. Our job is trying to dispel that fear,” he said. “Growing up, they said, ‘Don’t talk about politics and religion’. We have to talk about it. We have to break these boundaries and talk about the issues we care about. Most people just want to have a better life. It’s important to get out of our own silos.”

“Treating patients, I see everyone as a human being. That’s been core for my entire life. Healthcare is such a sacred thing; it’s a human right. It shouldn’t be denied to anyone. It’s just who I am,” he said.

Editor’s note: Hamawy has won the New Jersey primary. Read more, here.