Deep Dives with ISPU

Visions and Voices, the first publication from ISPU's Native American and Indigenous Muslim Stories (NAIMS): Reclaiming the Narrative project, is the first-ever photo narrative project to center the lived experiences of Native American and Indigenous Muslims in the United States. This research amplifies Indigenous Muslim voices to highlight the challenges, strengths, and needs of this small b...

Visions and Voices, the first publication from ISPU's Native American and Indigenous Muslim Stories (NAIMS): Reclaiming the Narrative project, is the first-ever photo narrative project to center the lived experiences of Native American and Indigenous Muslims in the United States. This research amplifies Indigenous Muslim voices to highlight the challenges, strengths, and needs of this small b...

Visions and Voices, the first publication from ISPU's Native American and Indigenous Muslim Stories (NAIMS): Reclaiming the Narrative project, is the first-ever photo narrative project to center the lived experiences of Native American and Indigenous Muslims in the United States. This research amplifies Indigenous Muslim voices to highlight the challenges, strengths, and needs of this small b...

Visions and Voices, the first publication from ISPU's Native American and Indigenous Muslim Stories (NAIMS): Reclaiming the Narrative project, is the first-ever photo narrative project to center the lived experiences of Native American and Indigenous Muslims in the United States. This research amplifies Indigenous Muslim voices to highlight the challenges, strengths, and needs of this small b...

Visions and Voices, the first publication from ISPU's Native American and Indigenous Muslim Stories (NAIMS): Reclaiming the Narrative project, is the first-ever photo narrative project to center the lived experiences of Native American and Indigenous Muslims in the United States. This research amplifies Indigenous Muslim voices to highlight the challenges, strengths, and needs of this small b...

Visions and Voices, the first publication from ISPU's Native American and Indigenous Muslim Stories (NAIMS): Reclaiming the Narrative project, is the first-ever photo narrative project to center the lived experiences of Native American and Indigenous Muslims in the United States. This research amplifies Indigenous Muslim voices to highlight the challenges, strengths, and needs of this small b...

Since the spring of 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic has overwhelmed healthcare systems, and the burden of care for the nearly unprecedented volume of patients has fallen on the shoulders of healthcare workers (HCWs). To understand how American Muslim HCWs working in the United States have been impacted by this stress, and how they have been coping with it, the Mental Health of Muslim Healthcare Worker...

2022 marks 20 years of the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU) —20 years of research making an impact, of working towards an America where Muslims are thriving and equal. One thing that has remained consistent over the past two decades is the various groups of committed and visionary people who help shepherd ISPU's community into the future. Today on Deep Dives with ISPU , yo...

Illinois is one of the most diverse and representative states in the nation, encompassing communities of every race, class, and background. It is also home to the largest per capita Muslim population in the nation. A snapshot of Illinois' Muslims is a snapshot of America's Muslims, so understanding the needs and assets of this population is key to ensuring Illinois becomes an even more e...

In August 2022, ISPU will release our 6th American Muslim Poll . After moving from an annual to biennial poll between 2020 and 2022, our research team has honed on the pressing topics related to American Muslim communities today. In this episode of Deep Dives with ISPU , Executive Director Meira Neggaz is in conversation with our Research Project Manager, Erum Ikramullah, for a one-of-a-kind early...

On this episode of Deep Dives with ISPU , Director of Research Dalia Mogahed interviews ISPU Scholar Dr. Hadia Mubarak about her new book, Rebellious Wives, Neglectful Husbands: Controversies in Modern Qur'anic Commentaries . They discuss findings from the book, tying in assumptions and ISPU research about Muslim women and divorce in the Muslim community. Dr. Mubarak is an Assistant Professor...

In the spring of 2021, ISPU Executive Director Meira Neggaz appeared on Nonprofit Nuggets , a podcast by former ISPU board member M. Gasby Brown, to discuss leadership qualities in nonprofit spaces. On today's episode of Deep Dives with ISPU, we're adding to this conversation. Meira and Gasby discuss insights on board fundraising using ISPU as a case study. This is pulled from the newly...

In our 2020 American Muslim Poll, we found that one in three American Muslims has an immediate family member with a disability, which is roughly the same of every other faith community we studied.  In March 2022, ISPU went through a staff inclusivity and sensitivity training, an assessment of our materials, and more, with help from MUHSEN —an organization that provides programs and services to imp...

Cuando Jaime "Mujahid" Fletcher abrazó el Islam, le llamó la atención la falta de materiales en español sobre su fe. Junto con su padre y otros, dirigió la producción de más de 300 audiolibros en español sobre el Islam, incluido el Corán, para educar a los latinos de todo el mundo sobre el Islam. De este esfuerzo nació IslamInSpanish , una organización en la que Jaime se desempeña como d...

* A NOTAR: Este episodio también está disponible en español y se puede encontrar aquí . --------- When Jaime "Mujahid" Fletcher embraced Islam, he was struck by the lack of materials in the Spanish language about his faith.  Together with his father and others, he steered the production of over 300 audiobooks in Spanish about Islam, including the Qur'an, to educate Latinos worldwide...

In 2021, ISPU welcomed Brennan McDaniel to the ISPU team as the primary investigator for a new study, Exploring Native American and Indigenous Muslim Stories (NAIMS) . In today's episode of Deep Dives with ISPU, Brennan shares the importance of exploring the vital and too little-known stories of Native American and Indigenous Muslims, and where this project is heading. He is interviewed by IS...

This week on Deep Dives with ISPU , Director of Research Dalia Mogahed interviews ISPU Scholar Dr. Sahar Aziz about her new book The Racial Muslim: When Racism Quashes Religious Freedom . Their conversation dives into how the past informs the present: modern anti-Muslim discrimination compared to historical prejudicial treatment, the complications of the United States’s aspirations for religious f...

The years following the 2016 US presidential elections witnessed an unprecedented increase in Muslim American political candidacies. In her research, Masooma Haider, our 2021 Young Scholar Awards second-place winner, examines the rise in Muslim American civic participation and the possibility of a crucial shift in political identities between first and second generation Muslim Americans. In this e...

Individual experiences of anti-Muslim discrimination in the United States lead to significant impacts on health and well-being. Dr. Naheed Ahmed, our 2021 Young Scholar Awards third-place winner, developed scales to better understand and measure the health impacts of perceived anti-Muslim discrimination in the United States. In this episode of Deep Dives with ISPU, Dr. Ahmed delves into the findin...

When the US Mosque Survey was launched more than 20 years ago, mosques and Muslims in America were heavily discussed in the public square—but there were few sources of data to draw from. In the ensuing two decades, these surveys have filled a critical gap, answering questions like: how many mosques are there in the United States compared to previous decades, and where are they? Why has there been...

Stand-up comedy is a performance art often associated with personal expressions of culture and identity. When examining the content of comedians like Aziz Ansari, Kumail Nanjiani, and Hasan Minhaj, Dr. Samah Choudhury argues that these men step into their Muslim identities through the language and (hostile implications) of racialization. In this episode of Deep Dives with ISPU, Dr. Samah Choudhury...

When it comes to inclusive storytelling, writers, directors, and film industry executives are well-served by using research to guide the authentic crafting of diverse characters and worlds—including Muslim characters and storylines. Today on Deep Dives with ISPU, we’re presenting a conversation between filmmaker Lena Khan ( The Tiger Hunter, Flora & Ulysses ) and actor Rizwan Manji ( Schitt’s...

Welcome to Deep Dives with ISPU—a podcast by the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research organization that provides objective research and education about American Muslims to support well-informed dialogue and decision-making. This podcast will provide deep dives into the most recent and pressing research about the topics and issues affecting American Musli...