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Nashville Muslim Community Hosts ISNA Workshops
The Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) organized a two-day capacity building program in Nashville during the weekend of February 19-20, in cooperation with all Mosques and Islamic centers in Nashville and was held at Salahudeen Center. The program featured workshops on education, youth, and leadership development and attracted participants from Nashville’s four main Islamic centers.
Among the topics the ISNA program covered are educating Muslims in America in the classroom and beyond; awakening the compassionate leader in you; communicating effectively in diverse social settings; connecting with our youth; and the GPS we lost and how to find it for youth.
The education workshop was given by ISNA Secretary General Safaa Zarzour. He addressed the five important institutions the community must focus on building: religion, family, education, economics, and politics. He stressed that among these education stands out because it alone ensures the development of human capacity to build the other four on solid foundation. He also stressed the need to provide a balanced education for the development of balanced personality and communities, cautioning that a community weak in any of these areas will face challenges.
Brother Zarzour encouraged Muslims to learn from the experiences of the Catholic and Jewish communities, and to ensure proper growth and integration. He also highlighted the importance of compassion in education, and called on Muslims to pay close attention to education beyond the classroom.
Louay Safi, ISNA director of communications and leadership development, gave two workshops on leadership and communications. The workshops were part of the Leading with Compassion training developed by the Islamic Society of North America to foster a culture of compassion.
Dr. Safi focused on the role of community leaders in setting the tone for an open atmosphere that invites cooperation and involvement among community members. He also underscored the need to develop a compassionate culture in the Islamic center. In addition, Dr. Safi stressed the need for engaging other faith communities in dialogue and working with them to advance the common good of the people of Nashville. He suggested that Islamic centers develop interfaith orientation to their members and initiate regular interfaith dialogue programs.
The youth program consisted of two sessions geared towards youth ages 14 and up. The first session was titled: The GPS We Lost. The session was a discussion that aimed to help participants identify the purpose of their own lives and to help them realize their potential and live up to it. The aim of the second session was to get participants motivated to get involved in their own Masajid, highlighting the role that they could play in preserving the legacy of Islam in this country and in strengthening their country by strengthening its founding values.
These sessions were attended by about 50 youth from the Somali, Kurdish, African and Arab American communities.
The third session was titled: "The Shield'. The session was geared toward parents. The main objective of the session is to share with parents some of the internal and external factors that influence their youth‘s development and how to better communicate and understand them.
The program was also attended by dignitaries representing local government and the interfaith community.