This year for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan, the HRC Foundation is launching an online campaign to tell the stories of LGBTQ Muslims and their allies. Ramadan is the holiest month in the Islamic calendar when God revealed the Qur’an to Prophet Muhammad. During this time, Muslims, including LGBTQ Muslims, fast from dawn until dusk and are encouraged to pray, read the Qur’an and give to charity.

We hope the reflections offered every week starting May 27 until Ramadan culminates in Eid al-Fitr on June 25, will bless souls, revive spirits, renew minds and strengthen bodies. These stories will be hosted on the HRC website and on Twitter and Facebook.

This post comes from Mahdia Lynn, the Director of Masjid al-Rabia—a women centered, LGBTQ affirming Muslim community and advocacy organization in Chicago. She is a writer, educator and community organizer. Mahdia’s efforts center disability power, economic & racial justice, and LGBTQ Muslim advocacy.

We Must Seek Justice, Wherever We Are

This summer, we launched a program for incarcerated LGBTQ Muslims at Masjid al-Rabia. A collection of shared resources, advocacy work, and a pen pal program for our siblings behind bars with over 300 participants--and growing every day.

This holy month of Ramadan, we are supporting and engaging with our siblings on the inside like never before. It has been one of the most rewarding parts of running a mosque, not only for being able to provide such a service but also from the contributions and critical support we've received from our incarcerated family. Our mission is captured perfectly by something a pen pal of mine shared early in our ministry: “We are called upon to seek justice, wherever we are.”

We are called upon to seek justice, wherever we are.

There is so much wrong in the world. So much cruelty and ignorance. There is so much injustice, it is easy to feel overwhelmed. How can any one person face down these institutions of oppression—white supremacy, patriarchy, imperialism—and survive, let alone change anything?

We must seek justice, wherever we are.

I am only one person. My efforts to change the world for the better are nothing but a drop in the well. But a monsoon is nothing more than a hundred million tiny drops together in unison, shifting the tides and moving mountains as one unstoppable force.

I pray every action of mine be a drop in the well. I want every step I take to be a step towards justice. I want to help foster a Muslim community that combats anti-blackness, homophobia, biphobia and transphobia -- a community that is accessible for all. An Ummah that uplifts the most marginalized and prioritizes compassion and equity over power and profit.

If all of us seek justice from wherever we are, if we make a commitment to that daily incremental shift towards equality—at the dining room table, behind bars, in the street, on your social media account—together we can move mountains.

Imam Ali calls upon us to “Be an enemy to the oppressor and a helper to the oppressed”—he also said “to delay is to lose.”

We are called upon to seek justice, wherever we are.

This Ramadan, will you join me?