Visibility on the Forefront: Pioneering our Roles as Muslim Women in America

Amal Kassir

Amal was born and raised in Denver, Colorado to a German-Iowan Mother and Syrian Father. Two seemingly opposing worlds combined to grant Amal her lived experience. She spent years on her grandmother’s farm in Syria and enjoyed the sweetness of fresh parsley and ripe lemons. Her grandmother taught them the secret recipes that stay highlighted on their restaurant’s dinner menu.

This was long before any war or conflict. Amal enjoyed the company of her cousins, aunts, and uncles through each visit. Thirty-one of whom are no longer with us due to airstrikes, chemical attacks, explosions, and sheer chaos.

The landscape which she knew all too well, flattened by the heaping rubble of broken buildings. Trapped underneath were cousins that Amal spent the summers with. She watched from a distance, on screens, and video messages – as the number of casualties and murders grew bigger.

At home, in Denver, Amal designed her own undergraduate degree called ‘Community Programming in Social Psychology’. She argues that nothing can change without the solidarity of community; A notion that led her into the undefined territory of social justice activism. A realm where public opinion has the power to change public policy. Nationwide, Amal organizes vigils, demonstrations, and fundraisers for victims, refugees, and under-served populations. She uses her voice to speak up for those who had been silenced due to language barriers or lack of representation.

Her fiery spoken word poetry and story-telling activism is the result of her lived experience. The sadness, frustration seeps through every single word. The urgency to act now boldly resounds in her voice. But she never walks away without giving you a sense of her name. Her name, Amal, which means “Hope” in Arabic. The hope that we will live to see a better world : one that doesn’t hate people seeking asylum, discriminate over race, religion or gender – or look the other way when seeing police brutality in the streets.  As citizens of the globally connected world, we need to be armed with information more than ever. It’s at our fingertips.

Amal is a major proponent in education and building individual agency in particularly under-served and vulnerable populations. She hopes to take part in the global effort for literacy in war-struck areas and refugee camps through writing. She is an international spoken word poet, having performed in 10 countries and over 100 cities. She has conducted workshops, given lectures, and recited her poetry in venues ranging from youth prisons, to orphanages to refugee camps to universities to churches to community spaces for the public.

Ilham Collective

Ilham Collective is a new organization aimed at nurturing, growing, and showcasing women's creative talents in safe spaces. Ilham Collective has launched nasheed gatherings, theater (we will have an end-of-year all-women play), improv workshops, art workshops, spoken word, photography workshops, and much more! Join our email list to join our amazing events and follow the happenings: ilhamcollective.org/subscribe/follow

Website www.ilhamcollective.org
Instagram @ilham_collective

Donna Neil-Demir

Raised in a Baptist Christian family, having a deep understanding and curious mind she accepted Islam at the age of 23. She is a graduate of University of Southern California (USC) with a degree in music and performing arts. Shortly after Donna would move to Basel, Switzerland where she would marry and began raising a family. 

Later back in the USA at thirty-three she would earn a second bachelor's degree in nursing specializing in labor and delivery, neonatal care and ambulatory care. 

In 2001, two months before 9/11 Donna and her husband founded Zakat Foundation of America, a renowned charity organization that operates in over 43 countries. There she serves as a medical consultant and health advisor. 

Being an avid traveler at heart, she has since worked and taught in the clinics of Southeast Asia, South America, and the Caribbean. She has helped war victims in the Middle East, provided aid in East and West Africa.  She has also provided medical care to refugees in North Africa during times of great conflict. In her spare time Donna sings, composes poetry, and writes about issues affecting African American Muslim women while confronting issues of racism within the Muslim community. Donna is the mother of four daughters, lives with her Turkish husband, two rescued parrots and three cats in the southwest suburbs of Chicago.