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Miles4Migrants has flown more than 43,000 refugees to safety through donated airline miles. Now its future is at risk.

Aysha Khan

September 27, 2023 |

Analyst News |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

The United States-based nonprofit Miles4Migrants has flown over 43,000 migrants around the world to safety by pooling donated frequent flyer miles, credit card points, and cash.

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Ismaili, Ahmadi Muslims push national voter registration efforts

Aysha Khan

October 26, 2020 |

Religion News Service |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States

Muslim civic advocacy groups Emgage and Ismailis Rise Up have partnered to engage a more diverse Muslim population in the 2020 election. They added thousands of contacts among new Muslim voters in six states, trained volunteers in electoral organizing and countering voter suppression, use personal connections to encourage people to vote, and will staff the Election Protection Hotline, where voters can get help in their native language. They also published videos about voter registration and mail-in voting in languages commonly spoken by Ismaili families and held virtual events aimed at mobilizing seniors.

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In San Diego, Black Muslims are working to expand voting access in jails

Aysha Khan

October 14, 2020 |

The GroundTruth Project |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, California

Pillars of the Community hires people incarcerated in local California jails to register new incarcerated voters and conduct civic engagement education behind bars. Pillars, a faith-based criminal justice advocacy group led by Black Muslims, registers hundreds every year, many of whom did not know they were eligible to vote and did not know how to register on their own. Those voting in 2020 will be able to vote on state referenda concerning expanding voting rights for people with felony convictions and on ending cash bail.

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How a quarantine matchmaking project for Muslims found itself navigating anti-Blackness

Aysha Khan

August 10, 2020 |

Religion News Service |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

Covid-19 has closed the places young Muslims go to meet potential spouses so two Muslim women created Eye Meets Soul, a virtual matchmaking service for US Muslim millennials where pairs first chat online without seeing each other. Initially, 10 potential couples led to 3 matches, with one continuing to thrive. However racial biases quickly surfaced, with many participants unwilling to date outside of their ethnic background. Muslims of African heritage report this as a common occurrence with Muslim dating services. Moving forward the co-founders will prescreen people for openness to all racial backgrounds.

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From farm labor to food trucks, Sikhs adapt langar to serve the masses during a pandemic

Aysha Khan

June 26, 2020 |

Religion News Service |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

The Sikh community’s long tradition of feeding those in need through volunteer-run community kitchens called langar was primed to provide COVID-19 food aid, which many gurdwaras (Sikh places of worship) did through active outreach rather than simply opening their doors. One group, Khalsa Aid, expanded into a multistate project to improve access to food in rural and other underserved areas, including a project in New Jersey to supply the Ramapough Lenape Tribe with food and help it start a farm to grow its own food. Many of America’s 246 gurdwaras already were equipped with large-scale cooking operations.

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Need a Quran teacher? There's an AI for that

Aysha Khan

May 20, 2020 |

Religion News Service |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States

An AI app is potentially eliminating the need for Quran teachers by offering precise feedback to those who are learning to recite or memorize the holy book of Islam. Tarteel uses machine learning technology to enable speech recognition, allowing it to test users' knowledge of the Quran and to receive feedback on recitation without a teacher. The tool can identify mistakes and has a memorization mode, only revealing words as they are recited. Building such an accurate tool "requires a vast data set to train a deep neural network" so users who opt in are crowdsourcing the data set needed to power Tarteel.

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New York City Muslims work to build food security during Ramadan

Aysha Khan

April 28, 2020 |

Religion News Service |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United States, New York, New York

The coronavirus pandemic has caused mass shutdowns of businesses and organizations around the world, and in New York City that includes mosques which typically offer nightly "communal iftar meals" during Ramadan. Knowing that many in the city rely on those free meals, New York City Muslims have begun collaborating and creating mutual aid programs. One such effort includes distributing gift cards from Arab, South Asian and Muslim-owned businesses, which helps both the individual and community.

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During Ramadan in isolation, Muslims get creative to preserve community

Aysha Khan

April 23, 2020 |

Religion News Service |

Text |

1500-3000 Words

Response Location: United States, Minneapolis, Minnesota

As the Ramadan season begins, Muslim communities around the world are making adjustments to how they observe it in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic. In Minneapolis, the Cedar-Riverside neighborhood is broadcasting the call to prayer by speaker and in the U.K., the National Huffadh Association has created an online toolkit on how to pray at home. With connection and community a key part of Ramadan, a Reddit thread has started, connecting people for a Secret Santa-style Eid gift exchange, and a Minneapolis programmer has started an online service matching people in time zones to break fast together.

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A Muslim women's netball team brings competition — and a sense of inclusion

Aysha Khan

January 30, 2020 |

Religion News Service |

Text |

800-1500 Words

Response Location: United Kingdom, London

Grassroots initiatives are empowering Muslim women to bring their faith onto the court. Across several universities in London, new clubs are offering a safe and inclusive space for Muslim women to participate in sports like netball. The ISOC club team, started by students at the London School of Economics, accepts Muslim women from other universities and participates in matches against other university clubs. Several other initiatives provide Muslim women with access to sports clubs, from kickboxing to fencing.

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In Toronto, Muslims offer ‘shelter bus' for the homeless

Aysha Khan

December 24, 2019 |

Religion News Service |

Text |

Under 800 Words

Response Location: Canada, Toronto, Ontario

Ahmadiyya Muslim Youth Association Canada and Humanity First Canada teamed up to transform a bus into a mobile shelter for the homeless, complete with 20 beds, a kitchenette, a bathroom, internet, and more. The program is called Shelter Bus and, since launching in December 2019, has served over 1,000 people and reaches up to 50 people a day. The bus has been described as "heaven" by some guests, and they are now planning to have 3 buses by the next year.

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