The Women's Mosque of America

"The Power of Perspective" Khutbah by Gail Kennard (3/29/19)

Returning Khateebah Gail Kennard delivers a timely khutbah on "The Power of Perspective" for The Women's Mosque of America on March 29, 2019. In her khutbah, Gail reflects on the story of Prophet Moses and Khidr in the Qur'an, the words of faith Prophet Jacob said when his son Joseph first went missing, the patience Nelson Mandela practiced in prison before reaching his prime, and how we can learn from these examples to shift our perspective and look for greater purpose in all of life's events, including tragedies like the recent massacre in New Zealand. You can sign up to read Qur'an for the victims here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1rNao-Fo2d35HLPEKON8cDi9082Wc-5kqpGZqA_hwmB8/edit?usp=sharing

Bio:
Gail Kennard was raised in Los Angeles and learned about Islam as a high school student when she read the autobiography of Malcolm X. She accepted Islam while in graduate school at UC Berkeley, and she has been active in the Muslim communities of San Francisco, San Diego, Atlanta, and Los Angeles.

For the past 20 years, Gail has been president of the architectural business founded by her late father, Robert Kennard, in Los Angeles. The firm designs public buildings, transit and utility infrastructure projects. The company, Kennard Design Group, is the oldest African-American-owned architectural practice in the western United States.

Gail earned her undergraduate degree in Communications from Stanford University, a master’s degree in Journalism from UC Berkeley — and for the past 60+ years, she has been struggling to earn her post-graduate degree in this life under the guidance of Allah, subhanna wa ta’allah.

Q&A with Gail Kennard (3/29/19)

Q&A Discussion Circle w/the Imam -- In one of our mosque unique post-jumma'a discussions, several congregants share their stories in-depth about their journeys to Islam through The Nation of Islam. When a congregant asks Imam Gail Kennard to share a time she resisted submitting to patience, she shares her amazing journey starting out at the UU Church as a teenager who was interested in social justice but who had no interest in religion, then joining the Nation of Islam for the same interests in empowerment, and finally finding her way to Islam as a faith and spiritual/religious practice - an ending she never could have seen herself embracing as a staunchly secular teenager.

Adthan by Jessika Kenney (2/22/19)

Returning mu'adthinah Jessika Kenney calls the adthan in her beautiful Javanese recitation style for the 50th jumma'a at The Women's Mosque of America on February 22, 2019.

 

"The Transformative Power of Gratitude" Khutbah by Dr. Altaf Saadi (2/22/19)

Khateebah Dr. Altaf Saadi delivers a beautiful khutbah on "The Transformative Power of Gratitude" for The Women's Mosque of America's 50th jumma'a on February 22nd, 2019. In her khutbah, Dr. Saadi explores the deeper meanings of the famous repeated verse in Surah Rahman, "So which of your Lord's favors will you deny?" as well as two poems by the famous Persian poet Hafiz. Through her perspective as a neurologist, Dr. Saadi also shares how the practice of gratitude can benefit us by transforming our thought process over time, and how the emotion of gratitude can compel us into more generous behavior with one another. She ends with a helpful explanation on the differences between Shi'a and Sunni prayer.

Bio:
Dr. Altaf Saadi is a neurologist, Clinical Instructor of Medicine, and fellow at the National Clinician Scholars Program at the University of California, Los Angeles, a fellowship program focused on training physician-leaders to address health inequities through scholarship and action. She completed her neurology training at the Harvard Partners Neurology Program at Massachusetts General and Brigham and Women’s Hospitals in Boston, where she also served as chief resident.

During her residency, Dr. Saadi's interest in health equity led her to work in resource-limited settings in Zambia, Tanzania, the Navajo Nation, with Boston Healthcare for the Homeless, and the Doctors Without Borders telemedicine program. She is an expert volunteer and asylum evaluator for the Physicians for Humans Asylum network, having conducted medical and psychological evaluations for individuals seeking asylum, both in the community and in immigration detention centers. She has also assessed the medical conditions of confinement in immigration detention at facilities in Texas and California, including with Human Rights First and Disability Rights California. Her research and advocacy focus on health inequities among racial/ethnic minority and immigrant communities, identifying policy and community-based solutions to address these inequities, and enhancing diversity within the medical workforce.

Most recently, Dr. Saadi’s work has focused on understanding how health care facilities can ensure that all patients feel safe when accessing health care regardless of their immigration status, and exploring the concept of “sanctuary” and “safe spaces” in the clinical setting. Her academic work and commentary has been published in the Journal of the American Medical Association, The British Medical Journal, the American Medical Association Journal of Ethics, Neurology, among others. She is a graduate of Yale College and Harvard Medical School, where she graduated Cum Laude and received the Dean's Community Service Award. She also received her MS in Health Policy and Management from UCLA.

Q&A with Dr. Altaf Saadi (2/22/19)

Q&A Discussion Circle w/the Imam -- Dr. Altaf Saadi goes into more depth about how gratitude can be practiced in our daily lives. Congregants share what they are grateful for, and an enlightening discussion ensues on the topic of making sure our gratitude leads to action rather than complacency.

Adthan by Ani Zonneveld (1/25/19)

Returning mu'adhinah Ani Zonneveld calls the adthan for the 49th jumma'a at The Women's Mosque of America on January 25, 2019.

"Breaking Our Hearts: Exploring the Lives & Legacies of Women of Color in American Islam" Khutbah by Dr. Sylvia Chan-Malik (1/25/19)

Khateebah Sylvia Chan-Malik delivers a rousing khutbah for The Women's Mosque of America's 4th Year Anniversary on January 25th, 2019. In her khutbah, Dr. Chan-Malik highlights the lives of Black Muslim women who forged the way for Islam to take root in America, she asks the congregation to reflect on how the American Muslim community can pay homage to those who came before us. and she shares her journey to Islam as a Chinese-American woman growing up in Oakland, CA, where Islam was a rich part of the cultural landscape. She ends with her hopes and dreams for her own daughters and for Muslim women everywhere.

Bio:
Dr. Sylvia Chan-Malik is an Associate Professor in the Departments of American and Women’s and Gender Studies at Rutgers University, New Brunswick. At Rutgers, she directs the Social Justice Program and serves as Chair of of the Faculty Advisory Board for the Center of Islamic Life at Rutgers University (CILRU), and she teaches courses on race and ethnicity in the United States, Islam in/and America, social justice movements, feminist methodologies, and multiethnic literature and culture in the U.S. Dr. Chan-Malik is the author of Being Muslim: A Cultural History of Women of Color in American Islam (NYU Press, 2018), which offers an alternative narrative of American Islam in the 20th-21st century that centers the lives, subjectivities, voice, and representations of women of color. Her writings are also featured in numerous anthologies and scholarly journals. She speaks frequently on issues of U.S. Muslim politics and culture, Islam and gender, and racial and gender politics in the U.S., and her commentary has appeared in venues such as The Intercept, Daily Beast, Slate News, Huffington Post, Patheos, Religion News Service, and others. She holds a Ph.D. in Comparative Ethnic Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, and an M.F.A. in Creative Writing from Mills College.

Q&A with Dr. Sylvia Chan-Malik (1/25/19)

Q&A Discussion Circle w/the Imam -- Dr. Sylvia Chan-Malik leads the discussion on how we can best preserve the stories and legacies of Black Muslim women and their historical impact on our community. Congregants share their concerns about how their local communities will deal with change in leadership in their respective mosques, and how best to make sure that current histories aren't erased in the process.

Adthan by Jessika Kenney (12/28/18)

Returning mu'adthinah Jessika Kenney calls the adthan in her beautiful Javanese recitation style for the 48th jumma'a at The Women's Mosque of America on December 28, 2018.

"How to Nurture Our Souls - Part 2" Khutbah by Sr. Nayawiyyah Muhammad (12/28/18)

Returning khateebah Nayawiyyah Muhammad delivers a phenomenal khutbah for The Women's Mosque of America on December 28th, 2018. In her khutbah, she continues from where her last khutbah left off and explores the nature of our souls from a gender neutral perspective as well as how to nurture our souls so that we are living out our God-given purpose in full joy and happiness. In so doing so, she reveals the secret to true empowerment, advancement, and lasting success in this world and the next.

Bio:
Sister Nayawiyyah Muhammad, mother of six, has spent her lifetime immersed in various aspects of Islamic knowledge and traditions. Having been raised in the Nation of Islam in the Los Angeles area, she was educated and is a graduate of its school system, the University of Islam, from its inception until its transformation into Sister Clara Muhammad School. As an educator, she was a constant participant in the Clara Muhammad School system as a teacher, administrator and director.

Sister Nayawiyyah holds a B.A. and M.A. in Religious Studies, with an emphasis on Ancient and Medieval Judaism, Christianity and Islam. She regularly speaks on college and university campuses on topics concerning Women in Islam, Muslims in America, her experience of growing up in the Nation of Islam (1960-1974), and her subsequent growth as a woman in traditional Islam. Currently, Sister.Nayawiyyah is a professor in the department of Religious Studies at California State University, Long Beach and a Ph. D. student in the Women’s Studies in Religion program at Claremont Graduate University. Her primary fields of research engages the intersection of core Islamic rituals and sacred space with gender and sexuality, focused upon her research topics in Islam and the Body; Feminism and Islam; Muslims in America; and Eco-feminist Theology. Sis. Nayawiyyah is part of an on-going team of scholars involved in a Digital Humanities project whose goal is the establishment of a virtual archive of hadith transmissions of the wives of Prophet Muhammad (S). This endeavor seeks to offer commentary, historical timelines, insight into kinship networks and Islamic rituals, thus providing significant applicability for anyone researching women in Islam in general, and the ‘Mothers of the Believers’ in particular.