USCMO’s National Twin-Mosque Initiative calls Muslim institutions to transform belief, concern, and opposition to racism into practical and sustained action.
Allah, the true and only God who created us and the one and only God who will judge us, has paired faith and action fifty times in the Quran. He defines Muslims as “those who believe and do righteous deeds.”
For Muslims, faith is not simply tied to our actions. It is expressed through our actions. The Quran repeatedly specifies the good deeds expected of believers, including bearing true witness, upholding one another, enjoining what is right, and forbidding what is wrong.
This understanding of faith is the foundation of the US Council of Muslim Organizations’ National Twin-Mosque Initiative.
Moving Beyond the Status Quo
The first verse of Surat Al-Nisa’, which the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings be upon him, frequently recited at the beginning of his public addresses, reminds us that all humanity descends from a single soul created by Allah.
Because of this shared origin, every human being has a right upon every other human being. We are called to act on behalf of every person’s God-given dignity and to respond to human need. Together, this is justice. The verse places no boundary on kinship between human beings. We are all Children of Adam.
In the face of the racist persecution endured by our African American brothers and sisters, USCMO recognizes that we can no longer merely hold concern in our hearts.
No matter how sincere or compassionate that concern may be, it remains incomplete by the standards of our faith unless we actualize it. We must move from empathy to manifest action and put forward a tangible antiracist program designed to change the condition of oppression within our community and wider society.
From Being “Nonracist” to Becoming Antiracist
The distinction between being “nonracist” and becoming actively antiracist is essential to the initiative.
Drawing from Ibram X. Kendi’s How to Be an Antiracist, the original framework for the initiative explains that racism is embedded within the social fabric of the modern world. For this reason, individuals and institutions cannot simply declare themselves neutral or say that they are not racist.
Ideas and policies either produce racial inequity or help produce racial equity. Racist ideas suggest that one racial group is inferior or superior to another and use those alleged differences to explain racial inequities. Antiracist ideas recognize that racial groups are equal in all their apparent differences, while antiracist policies are measures that produce or sustain equity.
Muslims should understand this intuitively. Beliefs in the heart must be put into action in society. We cannot undo racism merely by persuading people to think differently. Correct beliefs must be translated into lived practices and policies that produce justice.
The Quran teaches:
“O humankind! Indeed, We have created all of you from a single male and female. Moreover, We have made you peoples and tribes, so that you come to know one another — not so you would hate one another. And, indeed, the noblest of you in the sight of God is the most God-fearing of you.”
Surat Al-Hujurat, 49:13
Our different colors, languages, peoples, and cultures are signs of Allah’s greatness and beauty. “Coming to know one another” requires us to develop ideas, relationships, and policies that create brotherhood and equity among people of different races and cultures.
Honoring the Foundations of Islam in America
The National Twin-Mosque Initiative also begins with an acknowledgment of Muslim American history.
The establishment of Islam in the United States stands on foundations laid by our African and African American forebears in faith, who first came to this continent as early as 1525.
Nearly half of the people abducted and enslaved in the United States came from African regions with majority-Muslim populations. Muslim Americans today stand upon their incomparable sacrifice, their prayers, and their efforts to preserve Islam under conditions of extraordinary oppression.
We must remember names such as Bilali Muhammad, Salih Bilali, Omar ibn Sayyid, Lamine Kebe, Ayuba Suleiman Diallo, and Muhammad Yaro, among the enslaved Muslims who left written accounts of their struggles as Muslims in America.
We must also honor the efforts of Malcolm X, Betty Shabazz, Imam Warith Deen Mohammed, Muhammad Ali, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Ibtihaj Muhammad, and countless other Muslim leaders, scholars, organizers, educators, and community builders who helped establish Islam in American life.
Acknowledging this history requires more than remembrance. It requires action that recognizes and supports African American Muslim communities as foundational to the story, present, and future of Islam in America.
A Practical and Sustained Initiative
USCMO created the National Twin-Mosque Initiative as a clear antiracist policy initiative with the objective of producing racial equity.
The initiative focuses particularly on our African American Muslim sisters and brothers, who have suffered both as African Americans and as American Muslims. It is intended to become a collective Muslim response to the racism, violence, brutality, and negligence that racist ideas and policies have long produced.
Protests and political activism have an important place and function. However, the National Twin-Mosque Initiative must also have material substance, measurable goals, and tangible achievements.
The initiative seeks to support local and national projects, specialized programs, and shared activities that establish lasting relationships and advance racial equity between Muslim communities. It is not intended to produce a single symbolic gathering, but sustained partnerships capable of generating meaningful change.
Bringing the Initiative to Life
USCMO is proud to carry out the National Twin-Mosque Initiative with the sponsorship and support of Islamic Relief USA. IRUSA’s partnership reflects a vision of leadership that understands the impact of racism and recognizes that becoming actively antiracist is essential to uplifting the Muslim community. Through this shared commitment, USCMO and IRUSA are working to create lasting social and community impact rooted in equity, justice, and meaningful action.
USCMO believes the Muslim American community will rally around this cause for the sake of Allah.
Bringing the National Twin-Mosque Initiative to life requires sustained fundraising, institutional commitment, representative participation, and support from Muslim organizations across the country. USCMO welcomes organizations to join the initiative and contribute their experience, leadership, resources, and funding.
The National Twin-Mosque Initiative represents a commitment to put belief into action. It asks Muslim institutions to move beyond expressions of sympathy and unity and toward measurable efforts that produce brotherhood, equity, and lasting relationships.
Through this work, the Muslim community can honor those who established Islam on this continent, fulfill its responsibility toward its African American Muslim brothers and sisters, and offer the wider world a living example of faith expressed through justice.
