"I see volunteerism and commitment to community and commitment to public life as an integral expression of my faith tradition," Nashashibi said. "That is the only way that I can think of Islam."
Nashashibi is co-founder and executive director of the Inner-City Muslim Action Network (IMAN), a Chicago-based nonprofit group that works for social justice, delivers social services and cultivates the arts in urban communities. The acronym IMAN also means "faith" in Arabic.
For two weeks in October, Nashashibi will meet with residents in Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan to discuss his community-service and volunteerism experiences as part of a speaking tour sponsored by US embassies.
"I want to learn (from them) and to see to what extent my experiences here can be of any benefit to those who are thinking about some of the very pressing issues of their societies in both countries," Nashashibi said.
Nashashibi began volunteering for his community as a student at DePaul University in Chicago. In 1995, he and other college students founded IMAN, collected donations from members of the Muslim community and launched a food pantry, computer classes and a small health clinic at a doctor's office.
Today, the health clinic is located at IMAN's offices in Chicago and is staffed by more than 25 volunteer Muslim physicians. Nashashibi said he is extremely proud of and inspired by the doctors, some of whom travel several hours to volunteer at the clinic. "I am very much in awe of those who have committed so much time to make that work," he said.
Nashashibi said American Muslims, particularly African Americans, have decades of experience of activism and volunteerism. Projects such as those supported by IMAN, he said, help unite American Muslims of different racial and ethnic backgrounds around the cause of improving their society.
Nashashibi said that reflects a change in perspective among Muslims who immigrated to the United States several decades ago. He said most of them were more concerned about what was happening in the countries they had left than in the communities in which they had settled. But as they worked and raised families in the United States, that began to change.
"It took a paradigm shift to start convincing and inspiring people that … they are here, that they are Americans and that their children are Americans, that they must be committed to the long-term betterment of their environments," Nashashibi said.
Organizations across the United States are taking notice of Nashashibi's efforts. Georgetown University in Washington, in conjunction with the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Centre in Jordan, named him one of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world, and IMAN received the Community Organizing Award from the Chicago Community Trust.
IMAN also is recognized for its Takin' It to the Streets Festival, which has grown in size and scope since its inception in 1997. In July, the festival attracted an audience of nearly 50,000 and was headlined by American rap artist Mos Def.
IMAN's community services are also expanding. Nashashibi envisions a free-standing health clinic to widen IMAN's reach. Meanwhile, a new program is helping former criminals create green living spaces. Through the Green Reentry Project, Muslims recently released from prison are building homes that they will live in. Green Reentry seeks to convert abandoned and foreclosed properties in the Chicago Lawn neighborhood into certified environment-friendly housing.
Nashashibi said Green Reentry's goal is to rebuild the inmates' lives as well as the houses. The men, he said, are "trying to be better people, more committed to community, and turning away from much of the negativity that led to their incarceration."
