The MuslimARC Story
December 2017
Creating, Connecting, and Cultivating for a better world.
Our mission is to provide racial justice education and resources to advance racial justice.
Cultivate solutions to advance racial equity
Connect people to foster a multi-racial network
Create spaces for learning and developing racial equity
MuslimARC strives to work with consideration of the following values:
And of His signs is the creation of the heavens and the earth and the diversity of your languages and your colors. Indeed in that are signs for those of knowledge. [30:22]
O mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made you peoples and tribes that you may know one another. […] [49:13]
[Allah] said, “O Iblees, what prevented you from prostrating to that which I created with My hands? Were you arrogant [then], or were you [already] among the haughty?” He said, “I am better than him. You created me from fire and created him from clay.” [Allah] said, “Then get out of Paradise, for indeed, you are expelled. […].” [38:75-77]
All mankind is from Adam and Eve, an Arab has no superiority over a non-Arab nor a non-Arab has any superiority over an Arab; also a white has no superiority over black nor a black has any superiority over white except by piety and good action. Learn that every Muslim is a brother to every Muslim and that the Muslims constitute one brotherhood. Nothing shall be legitimate to a Muslim which belongs to a fellow Muslim unless it was given freely and willingly. Do not, therefore, do injustice to yourselves. Remember, one day you will appear before Allah and answer your deeds. So beware, do not stray from the path of righteousness after I am gone.
America needs to understand Islam, because this is the one religion that erases from its society the race problem. [...] During the past eleven days here in the Muslim world, I have eaten from the same plate, drunk from the same glass, and slept on the same rug – while praying to the same God – with fellow Muslims, whose eyes were the bluest of blue, whose hair was the blondest of blond, and whose skin was the whitest of white. And in the words and in the deeds of the white Muslims, I felt the same sincerity that I felt among the black African Muslims of Nigeria, Sudan and Ghana.
MuslimARC is an human rights education organization. Our work consists of raising awareness and training Muslim communities on issues of racial justice. In order to uproot racism, we focus on developing and delivering education on internalized, interpersonal, and institutional racism. While the majority of our members are currently in the United States, we stand in solidarity with oppressed people and incorporate global voices because our community is cosmopolitan, reflecting transnational identities with local particularities. In our trainings and workshops, MuslimARC addresses both personal and systemic racism.
Major issues of racially discriminatory practices in Muslim communities, including:
In addition, MuslimARC is interested in addressing social disparities and increasing access for communities that are underserved:
Lastly, MuslimARC aims to amplify four groups who are marginalized in the discourse on Islam in North America:
Over the past four years, the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative (MuslimARC) has provided training and resources to address racism, xenophobia, indigenous peoples’ rights, and Islamophobia. 2017 has been a groundbreaking year for us as a human rights education organization. We literally broke new ground by acquiring an old duplex, which will become MuslimARC’s headquarters in Detroit. With the support of funders, we figuratively broke new ground and transitioned from an all-volunteer organization to hiring our first two staff members. Lastly, we refined our mission statement to reflect the core of our services and strategies. The 2017 Year End report touches upon all that we were able to achieve together at MuslimARC. Some highlights we are celebrating including hosting 150 attendees at the Detroit Anti-Racism Training (DART) Conference, organizing the Black Atlantic Transnational Islamophobia Forum and Black Muslim Rights At Risk Convening, developing the Break the Room screenwriters room, hosting the House Gala with keynote speaker Dr. Rami Nashashibi and jazz legend Wendell Harrison, and our work with youth in Southern California and Michigan.
Read the report now: