Leaders from American Muslim organizations talk about the campaigns underway to identify, register, and get Muslim American voters to the polls on Super Tuesday and why building momentum for the uncommitted has become a priority after the Michigan primary. Then, we hear a special installment from The Spiritual Edge about the efforts of Sister Aisha al-Adawiya to make space for women in America’s mosques.
Muslim Voters Take to Polls to Protest Biden Administration Policy in Gaza
The issue advocacy campaign to urge voters in Michigan to cast an uncommitted ballot as a protest vote exceeded organizers’ expectations and has sparked a movement that is spreading to other primary states where the ballot option exists. Emgage Action Michigan interim executive director Hira Khan joins to explain why her organization and volunteer network worked with partners to encourage voters to use the ballot to send a message instead of disengaging. The goal is to persuade the Biden Administration to change course in its policies toward Israel, which has launched a military campaign that has killed more than 30.000 Gazans and sparked a humanitarian crisis that has generated global condemnation and calls for action. Groups including Listen to Michigan, Emgage Action, the Council of American-Islamic Relations, and Abandon Biden are part of a national effort that is demonstrating the potential power and impact of American Muslim and Arab American voters in the 2024 elections.
Making space for women In mosques: Aisha al-Adawiya wants men to share space and power
Women don’t always feel welcome in American mosques. They’re sometimes turned away, sent to basements to pray, or discouraged from serving on the boards of directors. Aisha al-Adawiya has devoted her life to changing that. She’s inspired a national campaign — and a fatwa — that’s persuading the men who control mosques to share space and power.
This is the story of how Malcolm X inspired an outspoken Christian girl from Alabama and how she went on to inspire a fatwa, a religious legal opinion aimed at persuading the men who control America’s mosques to share space and power. Aisha Al-Adawiya says her work is about getting men and women to follow their religion. She urges Muslim women to hold their ground, even when men try to turn them away.
The final segment is Making Space for Women Continued