Our sacred duty to the most marginalized - Donate zakat & sadaqa to Muhsen

Bismillah ar-Rahman ar-Rahim

We begin in the name of God, Everlasting Mercy, Infinite Compassion.

As we approach the end of this holy month, we at MPower Change ask you to donate zakat and sadaqa to Muhsen.

Muhsen is helping to lead Muslim communities build a future where people with disabilities are not only “accepted--but welcomed, valued, and empowered”  through their educational, advocacy, and accessibility programs and directories.

Ramadan this year spanned Autism Acceptance Month (in April) and Mental Health Awareness Month (in May).

Dr. Mona Masood is a Muslim psychiatrist started an all-volunteer Physician’s Support psychiatric hotline after a rash of medical provider suicides. She recently stated:

“Muslim fam, next time you find yourself diminishing your strengths and focusing on your weaknesses, remember that out of the billions of souls God created, the one He chose to speak directly with on this Earth, was Moses, a man who literally struggled with speaking.”

In these last few days, let us remember that God not only commands us to our sacred duty of caring and fighting for the most marginalized--but God also chose leaders and messengers from those most marginalized by injustice and discrimination.

God chose Prophet Moses (AS) to carry the message of our faith (Qur’an 20:25-28). He struggled with verbal speech. As do many folks with intellectual, neurological, and psychiatric disabilities such as those with Autism Spectrum Disorder, ADHD, and cerebral palsy. Like me and my husband.

God chose the Prophet Muhammad (S), the Unlettered Prophet, our beloved orphan who was traumatized and persecuted by many--to be our kind, gentle, compassionate Messenger of God (S).

Too often Muslims say “depression and anxiety are a sign of weak faith,” During Mental Health Awareness Month, I’m reflecting on Dr. Masood's reminder that some of the most “pivotal points of the Prophet Muhammad (S)’s life and message literally was called “The Year of Sorrow.”

Let us act in the Prophetic tradition of compassion by donating zakat and sadaqa to help Muhsen create inclusive and accessible environments for people with disabilities in Muslim communities. 

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), 1 in 4 people in the United States has a disability. 

As Black disabled activist Imani Barbarin stated on TikTok, COVID-19 was a mass disabling event. She was responding to a TikTok from a COVID-19 “long-haulers” about their long-term debilitating symptoms. 

Disability is linked with higher rates of poverty, racial discrimination, and other forms of societal inequities.

Right now, Muslim communities have a lot we can do to make our communities more inclusive, welcoming, and compassionate to folks with disabilities.

Imani Barbarin has cerebral palsy, like my husband, who cannot pray salah unless he is in a chair.

Many disabled Muslims tell me of the pain they feel when other Muslims shame them for using a chair to pray if they look “too young” to need it (and who don’t “seem visibly” disabled on first glance). They are frequently pushed out of religious spaces.

I’ve also heard from Muslims with chronic pain and limited mobility who stopped going to the mosque when others physically pulled them to the middle of a prayer line repeatedly. They needed to be at the end so they could get up more easily. 

We can change this. We can confront ableism in our communities.* We can learn about the realities of others, aid others (especially folks who are isolated because of their disabilities) and take action.

We can start by donating zakat and sadaqa to help Muhsen to improve the realities of Muslims with disabilities through compassionate education, programs, services, and advocacy work.

And we can continue to fight for justice by advocating not just for disability accessibility and rights--but also by applying a disability justice lens to change how we run our mosques, workplaces, educational institutions, and social gatherings.

Lastly, we can honor our own healing and care. Dr. Masood says:

“Accepting our limits doesn’t mean our hearts are limited.”

“Ramadan is the perfect reminder that wellness comes by learning to balance multiple, often conflicting, truths simultaneously. 

“By fasting we realize we can find satisfaction in hunger. By charity, we find enrichment in giving. By prayer, we find God’s company in human solitude.”

P.S. If you’re interested in more sadaqa, consider donating to the Autistic People of Color Fund. They provide microgrants to Black, Brown, Native, Asian, and mixed-race people in the autistic community for direct support, mutual aid, and reparations. 

*Lydia X. Z. Brown defines ableism as:

1. Oppression, prejudice, stereotyping, or discrimination against disabled people on the basis of actual or presumed disability.

2. The belief that people are superior or inferior, have better quality of life, or have lives more valuable or worth living on the basis of actual or perceived disability.

“Ableism is not a list of bad words. Language is *one* tool of an oppressive system. Being aware of language -- for those of us who have the privilege of being able to change our language -- can help us understand how pervasive ableism is. Ableism is systematic, institutional devaluing of bodies and minds deemed deviant, abnormal, defective, subhuman, less than. Ableism is *violence.*

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Salma Mirza is a Senior Campaign Manager at MPower Change