December 7, 2015

Dear Friend,

We welcome President Obama’s call for all Americans to remain united and to not let the fight against ISIS be defined as a war between America and Islam.

Last night, the President reminded us that:

“We cannot turn against one another by letting this fight be defined as a war between America and Islam. That, too, is what groups like ISIL want.  ISIL does not speak for Islam.  They are thugs and killers, part of a cult of death, and they account for a tiny fraction of more than a billion Muslims around the world -- including millions of patriotic Muslim Americans who reject their hateful ideology. Moreover, the vast majority of terrorist victims around the world are Muslim.  If we’re to succeed in defeating terrorism we must enlist Muslim communities as some of our strongest allies, rather than push them away through suspicion and hate.”

We thank President Obama for showing the leadership that we need to bring our country together during this critical time. It's time to rally behind the leader of our country -- whether Democrat or Republican, Muslim or Christian or Jew -- to push back against the political and violent ideologies we see being promoted today. We agree with the President that we will prevail over ISIS and we will best achieve that goal united as Americans.

In 2014, we released our Safe Spaces Initiative, the first major national grassroots effort to equip American Muslim communities with practical tools for prevention and intervention strategies for troubled individuals. Safe Spaces is a program that focuses on rehabilitation driven by communities for troubled individuals, so that they are left with more options other than incarceration or terrorism. An updated version of Safe Spaces is set to be released in the upcoming weeks.

We agree with the President that a partnership is necessary, where communities push back against violent ideology and law enforcement deals with criminal behavior.

Sincerely,

Salam Al-Marayati,
MPAC President