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In this section of the website we have collected a selection of news articles referencing MPV board, advisory council, and regular members.

The Ottawa Citizen: Muslims must speak out to promote social justice for all

05 September 2010

The Citizen editorial was right that in the Muslim community, we are paying closer attention to signs of radicalization among our youth.

Muslims for Progressive Values is one of a handful of Muslim community organizations in Canada, founded on the principle that everyone is equal before Allah, regardless of race, class, gender, ethnicity and sexual orientation. We promote liberal readings of our scriptures, which enjoin upon Muslims kindness and compassion. We also speak out to promote social justice, here at home and abroad in Muslim countries.

MPV Statements on Current Issues

26 August 2010

Statement on bombing of Sufi shrine

In the wake of the recent attack on a Sufi shrine in Lahore, Pakistan, Muslims for Progressive Values wishes to extend our condolences to the families and friends of our fellow Muslims who perished. We also vehemently condemn all acts of terrorism against humanity, especially those directed against Muslim minority groups regardless of their sectarian affiliations. We hold it to be true that all who call themselves Muslims are Muslims without contestation.The scene of the attack commonly know as Data Durbar, or the court of the one who gives, was dedicated to Abul Hasan Ali Hajvery, a scholar and a traveler on the spiritual path. His impact on the spread of Islam to the Indian Subcontinent cannot be denied and his writings on spirituality and Islam have been translated into many languages and are still studied a millennium after his birth. The attack on this shrine, a place of gathering and spiritual contemplation, is a loss to all who value pluralism and respect diverse philosophical and spiritual traditions.

Pray In Washington Times 6/25/2010

15 August 2010

IN THE NEWS: Washington Times, 6/25/2010

Commendation of Kathy Lanier : Police Chief - Washington DC Police Department 6/24/10

Muslims for Progressive Values wishes to commend Police Chief Cathy Lanier and the Washington DC Police Department on the position they have taken in regard to the protests being staged by PRAY IN. In a surprise move, the DC Police Department issued a memo stating that they will not respond to calls by mosques to remove women and the Police Chief directed personnel to advise mosque authorities that they will not be escorting women out of the mosque. This action will allow the women to more effectively engage the Muslim community in promoting human and civil rights of women and promoting free expression of their religion.

See the latest article in the Washington Examiner

MPV Ottawa and the Nazia Quazi Case

09 May 2010

Long quiet on political issues, Canadian Muslims are speaking out in a rare display of public activism to help Nazia Quazi, who has been detained in Saudi Arabia since 2007 due to a controversial family law.

“The male guardianship system is completely un-Islamic,” says Khan Salter, chair of the Ottawa chapter of Muslims for Progressive Values, an organization based in Los Angeles that advocates for social justice, human rights, the separation of church and state, and tolerant, inclusive understandings of Islam. “It should be an embarrassment to the Saudis that they’re allowing this to continue,” she argues. [...]

MPV's Pamela Taylor on Holocaust Museum Shooting

10 June 2009

From the Newsweek / Washington Post feature "On Faith":

I stand today in solidarity with the Jewish community. My blood ran cold when I read about the shootings in the U.S. Holocaust Museum in Washington -- the choice of venue and the clear implications that there are those who would like to revive the Holocaust is horrific for me as a non-Jew; how much more so it must be for my Jewish neighbors and friends. I pray for your safety and your peace of mind.

MPV Condemns NYC Synagogue Bomb Plot

21 May 2009

Los Angeles, CA - May 21, 2009 -

Muslims for Progressive Values is shocked and saddened by the revelation of a bomb plot targeting NYC synagogues and U.S. military aircraft. We unequivocally condemn this and all such violent acts as inherently un-Islamic, and stand in solidarity with our brothers and sisters of the Jewish faith and all peace-loving Americans.

MPV Co-Founder on the Murder of Aasiya Zubair Hassan

08 March 2009

MPV Co-Founder Pamela Taylor was published this week in the Newsweek / Washington Post feature "On Faith":

The brutal and gruesome murder of Aasiya Zubair Hassan has prompted a great deal of soul searching in the Muslim community. National organizations, the local community, imams, Muslim social workers, activists and writers have all agonized over how the community did not do enough to protect Aasiya, despite evidence that her husband, the man charged with killing her, was known to be violent. They have called for imams to preach against domestic violence as against the standards of Islam, and for communities to stand in solidarity with Muslim women who complain of abuse, rather than counseling patience or questioning if there is anything they might have done to cause the abuse, or that they could change in order to avert future abuse.

MPV Review Volume 1, Issue 3 Released

03 March 2009

Women of the World

Muslims for Progressive Values is pleased to release Volume 1, Issue 3 of the MPV Review. In this special issue to celebrate International Women's Day:

Musawah: Equality and Justice in the Muslim Family
Art by Dr. Saira Malik Rahman
Celebrate International Women's Day
International Petition to End Violence Against Women in the Muslim World
Poetry: "The Longing" by Nimah Ismail

Click here to read this quarter's issue.