From the Heart to a Clenched Fist

First and foremost, I was so heart-broken to learn of the passing of Professor John Esposito, a prominent Catholic scholar of Islam. Here’s my tribute to John. 

John loved my songs in “Islamic Hymns". “You’ve found your voice”, he said — and he would have been happy to know that I’ve been invited to speak and sing at the first Sound and Music in the Muslim World conference in Boston. Part of my motivation for starting MPV was the characterization of music as ‘haram’ and the alleged impermissibility of a female’s singing voice, so getting this invitation from a Muslim male musician is one of those full circle moments in life. The conference is open to the public, so do come!

As you may know, MPV, along with other faith organizations, sued the Trump administration over the ideological makeup of its “Religious Liberty Commission”. The judge threw out the case, and as a result, the path of the United States towards a theocratic state seems inevitable. Read the conclusion in this USA Today article.

Despite this setback, MPV is committed to working with folks from all faith backgrounds for the common good. I will again be speaking and participating at the progressive Christian Wild Goose Festival in North Carolina,  partnering with my longtime friend Rev. Doug Pagitt of Vote Common Good on September 3rd and Rev. Paul McAllister of Global Leaders in Unity and Evolvement (GLUE) on the 4th. You can check out my appearances on MPV’s calendar.

I love attending this festival; it is where Southern pastors taught me the origins of the term “redneck” and the double meaning messaging hidden in the hymns of enslaved Black people — a way of communicating without their enslavers’ understanding of what's going on!

MPV has always pushed the envelope on critical thinking and on applying independent ijtihad to interpretations of the Quran. We are proud to announce two new efforts!

The first is our Quran app “Passage of the Day” which analyses the words of the Quran thematically (tasreef) through a morphological breakdown of key action words. Watch this AI generated video for a more indepth explanation of tasreef. We are looking for beta testers; you can sign up here. 

And second, we are launching two new Reading Circles with Dr. Hasib Nasiri. One focuses on Queer Islam, and the second adds a new cohort to our Islamic Feminism circle. You can register for Reading Circles in Queer Islam here and Reading Circles in Islamic Feminism here.   

Onward and upward…

Ani Zonneveld