{"id":38204,"date":"2023-12-20T17:44:58","date_gmt":"2023-12-20T17:44:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/?post_type=podcast&#038;p=38204"},"modified":"2024-01-25T20:29:16","modified_gmt":"2024-01-25T20:29:16","slug":"syeed","status":"publish","type":"podcast","link":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/podcast\/syeed\/","title":{"rendered":"How Can We Engage in \u201cSacred Witness\u201d Amid Deep Conflict?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t<div data-elementor-type=\"wp-post\" data-elementor-id=\"38204\" class=\"elementor elementor-38204\" data-elementor-post-type=\"podcast\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section data-dce-background-color=\"#FBFBFB\" data-dce-background-overlay-color=\"#CAEDF1\" data-dce-background-image-url=\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Interfaith_America_Podcast_Glyph_Lighter_Blue_Resize.png\" class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-1ab9386 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"1ab9386\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-background-overlay\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-7136309\" data-id=\"7136309\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div data-dce-background-color=\"#EF747400\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-222c80e elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"222c80e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm\" href=\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/ia-eboo-patel\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-icon elementor-align-icon-left\">\n\t\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"8\" height=\"12\" viewBox=\"0 0 8 12\" fill=\"none\" class=\"arrow\"><path d=\"M7.55469 10.59L2.97469 6L7.55469 1.41L6.14469 -5.65703e-08L0.144687 6L6.14469 12L7.55469 10.59Z\" fill=\"#0053BB\" class=\"first\"><\/path><\/svg>\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-text\">Interfaith America with Eboo Patel\u200b\u200b<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-69e715f elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"69e715f\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">December 21, 2023<\/p>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-97c4506 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"97c4506\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<h1 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">How Can We Engage in \u201cSacred Witness\u201d Amid Deep Conflict? <\/h1>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-32de30d elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"32de30d\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Najeeba Syeed, a Muslim scholar recognized as a leader in peacebuilding and social justice practice and research, explains how to foster constructive interfaith dialogue \u2013 including engaging in \u201csacred witness\u201d &#8211; during periods of heightened religious or political tensions.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-e4f1b40 elementor-share-buttons--view-icon elementor-share-buttons--skin-flat elementor-share-buttons--color-custom elementor-share-buttons--shape-square elementor-grid-0 elementor-widget elementor-widget-share-buttons\" data-id=\"e4f1b40\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"share-buttons.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-grid\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-grid-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"elementor-share-btn elementor-share-btn_facebook\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\trole=\"button\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttabindex=\"0\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\taria-label=\"Share on facebook\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-share-btn__icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<i class=\"fab fa-facebook\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-grid-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"elementor-share-btn elementor-share-btn_twitter\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\trole=\"button\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttabindex=\"0\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\taria-label=\"Share on twitter\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-share-btn__icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<i class=\"fab fa-twitter\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-grid-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"elementor-share-btn elementor-share-btn_linkedin\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\trole=\"button\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttabindex=\"0\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\taria-label=\"Share on linkedin\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-share-btn__icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<i class=\"fab fa-linkedin\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-grid-item\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tclass=\"elementor-share-btn elementor-share-btn_email\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\trole=\"button\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\ttabindex=\"0\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\taria-label=\"Share on email\"\n\t\t\t\t\t\t>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-share-btn__icon\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<i class=\"fas fa-envelope\" aria-hidden=\"true\"><\/i>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section data-dce-background-color=\"#FBFBFB\" data-dce-background-image-url=\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Interfaith_America_Podcast_Glyph_Lighter_Blue_Resize.png\" class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-9ad80af elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"9ad80af\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-8132c67\" data-id=\"8132c67\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5ead331 elementor-widget elementor-widget-html\" data-id=\"5ead331\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"html.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<iframe height=\"200px\" width=\"100%\" frameborder=\"no\" scrolling=\"no\" seamless src=\"https:\/\/player.simplecast.com\/9b7bf610-eb3e-4171-ac44-b2290faacf18?light=true\"><\/iframe>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-inner-section elementor-element elementor-element-9dc6328 elementor-section-content-middle elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"9dc6328\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-inner-column elementor-element elementor-element-b2a82e2\" data-id=\"b2a82e2\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div data-dce-background-color=\"#92DCE5\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-56fac63 elementor-align-left elementor-widget__width-auto elementor-laptop-align-left elementor-tablet-align-center elementor-widget-mobile__width-inherit elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"56fac63\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm\" href=\"https:\/\/locator.simplecastcdn.com\/bc2d3e71-0e84-48d9-91b6-d98a891e9134\/9b7bf610-eb3e-4171-ac44-b2290faacf18.mp3?nocache\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-text\">Download<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div data-dce-background-color=\"#92DCE5\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ba2b50c elementor-align-left elementor-widget__width-auto elementor-laptop-align-left elementor-tablet-align-center elementor-widget-mobile__width-inherit elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"ba2b50c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm\" href=\"#transcript\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-text\">Transcript<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-c1188f4\" data-id=\"c1188f4\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a4a58ad elementor-widget elementor-widget-qi_addons_for_elementor_highlight\" data-id=\"a4a58ad\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"qi_addons_for_elementor_highlight.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"qodef-shortcode qodef-m highlight qodef-qi-highlight qodef-qi--has-appear  qodef-highlight-style--color\" >\n\tIn This Episode...<\/h2>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-04ac362 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"04ac362\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Najeeba Syeed and Eboo Patel explore the ethics and future of interfaith work amid deep divides across religious communities. They focus on the impact of global wars and crises on religious communities and discuss the role of institutions in promoting interfaith understanding through open-mindedness and deep listening.\u00a0<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section data-dce-background-color=\"#FBFBFB\" data-dce-background-image-url=\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Interfaith_America_Podcast_Glyph_Lighter_Blue_Resize.png\" class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-b89dae9 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"b89dae9\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-78b1e64\" data-id=\"78b1e64\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-ee2edc5 elementor-widget elementor-widget-qi_addons_for_elementor_highlight\" data-id=\"ee2edc5\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"qi_addons_for_elementor_highlight.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"qodef-shortcode qodef-m highlight qodef-qi-highlight qodef-qi--has-appear  qodef-highlight-style--color\" >\n\tAbout Najeeba Syeed<\/h2>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d0e9c88 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"d0e9c88\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p><a href=\"https:\/\/najeeba.com\/about\/\">Najeeba Syeed<\/a> is the inaugural El-Hibri endowed Chair and Executive Director of the Interfaith Institute at Augsburg University in Minneapolis, Minnesota. She has been a professor, expert practitioner, and public speaker for the last two decades in conflict resolution, interfaith studies, mediation, restorative Justice, education, and social, gender, and racial equity.<\/p><p>She has facilitated conflict resolution processes for conflicts in many schools, communities, and environmental and public controversies. She served as the co-chair of the American Academy of Religion\u2019s Religion and Politics Section and was a member of the Academy\u2019s Religion, Social Conflict, and Peace Section. She was elected by the body of the American Academy of Religion to serve on the governing body of the Program Committee. She is a past board member of the National Association for Community Mediation, National Coalition for Dialogue and Deliberation and serves on the Higher Education Advisory Council for Interfaith America, and Advisory Council for Peace and Conflict Resolution at the Tanenbaum Center and past chair of the Pasadena Commission on the Status of Women. She served on the Teaching Team for the Luce American Academy of Religion Summer Seminar on Religious Pluralism and Comparative Theologies.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-2c8ede2\" data-id=\"2c8ede2\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-6cf6fb2 elementor-widget elementor-widget-image\" data-id=\"6cf6fb2\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"image.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"730\" height=\"730\" src=\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Najeeba-Syeed-730x730.jpg\" class=\"attachment-article-hero size-article-hero wp-image-38206\" alt=\"\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Najeeba-Syeed-730x730.jpg 730w, https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Najeeba-Syeed-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Najeeba-Syeed-650x650.jpg 650w, https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Najeeba-Syeed-1300x1300.jpg 1300w, https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Najeeba-Syeed-1024x1024.jpg 1024w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 730px) 100vw, 730px\" \/>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section data-dce-background-color=\"#FBFBFB\" data-dce-background-image-url=\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Interfaith_America_Podcast_Glyph_Lighter_Blue_Resize.png\" class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-7330ecb elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"7330ecb\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-3474041\" data-id=\"3474041\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-20765a7 elementor-widget elementor-widget-qi_addons_for_elementor_highlight\" data-id=\"20765a7\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"qi_addons_for_elementor_highlight.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"qodef-shortcode qodef-m highlight qodef-qi-highlight qodef-qi--has-appear  qodef-highlight-style--color\" >\n\tSubscribe wherever you listen to podcasts.<\/h2>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1bf140c elementor-widget__width-auto elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"1bf140c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm\" href=\"https:\/\/podcasts.apple.com\/us\/podcast\/interfaith-america-with-eboo-patel\/id1648145713\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-icon elementor-align-icon-left\">\n\t\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" width=\"250\" viewBox=\"0 0 187.5 187.499992\" height=\"250\" preserveAspectRatio=\"xMidYMid meet\"><defs><clipPath id=\"c88c629cd4\"><path d=\"M 10 2 L 178.074219 2 L 178.074219 165 L 10 165 Z M 10 2 \" clip-rule=\"nonzero\"><\/path><\/clipPath><clipPath id=\"2dc4167b25\"><path d=\"M 73 105 L 114 105 L 114 185.484375 L 73 185.484375 Z M 73 105 \" clip-rule=\"nonzero\"><\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><g clip-path=\"url(#c88c629cd4)\"><path fill=\"#9531c7\" d=\"M 11.921875 101.6875 C 13.65625 109.734375 16.441406 117.425781 20.398438 124.648438 C 29.109375 140.605469 43.152344 153.46875 59.757812 160.914062 C 62.777344 162.292969 65.921875 163.445312 69.050781 164.484375 C 68.242188 161.15625 67.539062 157.71875 66.960938 154.375 C 66.851562 153.339844 66.609375 152.308594 66.492188 151.386719 C 64.632812 150.59375 62.898438 149.785156 61.15625 148.992188 C 46.761719 141.742188 35.148438 129.820312 28.300781 115.472656 C 25.390625 109.269531 23.414062 102.726562 22.375 96.074219 C 21.222656 88.492188 21.222656 80.808594 22.496094 73.339844 C 23.78125 66.117188 26.085938 59.113281 29.453125 52.570312 C 33.410156 44.878906 38.859375 37.875 45.242188 32.140625 C 51.980469 26.058594 59.757812 21.347656 68.234375 18.148438 C 77.0625 14.816406 86.460938 13.320312 95.875 13.550781 C 105.269531 13.777344 114.570312 15.730469 123.035156 19.515625 C 131.277344 23.078125 138.835938 28.25 145.226562 34.558594 C 151.503906 40.644531 156.488281 47.871094 160.070312 55.796875 C 163.222656 62.53125 165.203125 69.710938 166.011719 77.054688 C 166.925781 84.90625 166.484375 92.921875 164.726562 100.613281 C 163.214844 107.492188 160.671875 114.105469 157.222656 120.230469 C 149.65625 133.582031 137.773438 144.375 123.671875 150.691406 C 122.777344 151.089844 121.882812 151.453125 120.996094 151.835938 L 120.585938 154.582031 C 120.042969 158.054688 119.347656 161.476562 118.464844 164.886719 L 118.625 164.710938 C 123.027344 163.339844 127.328125 161.621094 131.398438 159.671875 C 147.769531 151.628906 161.238281 138.3125 169.363281 122.125 C 172.96875 114.785156 175.640625 106.867188 176.914062 98.835938 C 178.425781 90.222656 178.425781 81.273438 177.035156 72.546875 C 175.753906 64.164062 173.082031 55.902344 169.257812 48.328125 C 164.734375 39.347656 158.597656 31.210938 151.152344 24.382812 C 143.460938 17.304688 134.453125 11.65625 124.679688 7.859375 C 114.53125 3.90625 103.632812 1.960938 92.738281 2.078125 C 81.871094 2.207031 71.066406 4.441406 61.011719 8.613281 C 51.367188 12.632812 42.53125 18.492188 35.46875 25.480469 C 28.292969 32.484375 22.253906 40.859375 17.960938 49.921875 C 14.355469 57.617188 11.921875 66.003906 10.761719 74.484375 C 9.585938 83.554688 9.9375 92.855469 11.921875 101.6875 Z M 11.921875 101.6875 \" fill-opacity=\"1\" fill-rule=\"nonzero\"><\/path><\/g><path fill=\"#9531c7\" d=\"M 93.539062 59.082031 L 93.539062 59.242188 C 82.214844 59.242188 73.054688 68.320312 73.054688 79.449219 C 73.054688 90.582031 82.222656 99.652344 93.539062 99.652344 C 104.839844 99.652344 114.019531 90.582031 114.019531 79.34375 C 114.027344 68.144531 104.847656 59.082031 93.539062 59.082031 Z M 93.539062 59.082031 \" fill-opacity=\"1\" fill-rule=\"nonzero\"><\/path><path fill=\"#9531c7\" d=\"M 133.476562 67.625 C 135.199219 71.53125 136.382812 75.660156 136.957031 79.910156 C 137.644531 84.730469 137.421875 89.542969 136.484375 94.136719 C 135.667969 98.277344 134.160156 102.296875 132.183594 105.964844 C 129.511719 110.902344 125.914062 115.265625 121.617188 118.707031 C 121.84375 119.621094 122.082031 120.421875 122.195312 121.34375 C 122.554688 123.71875 122.554688 126.128906 122.554688 128.539062 L 122.480469 132.125 L 121.601562 132.933594 C 131.121094 127.304688 138.902344 118.699219 143.425781 108.707031 C 145.761719 103.769531 147.265625 98.492188 147.960938 93.097656 C 148.769531 87.582031 148.546875 81.96875 147.609375 76.453125 C 146.675781 71.175781 144.8125 66.007812 142.378906 61.1875 C 139.371094 55.324219 135.175781 50.050781 130.304688 45.574219 C 125.320312 41.09375 119.625 37.539062 113.355469 35.136719 C 106.519531 32.492188 99.082031 31.222656 91.644531 31.347656 C 84.324219 31.574219 77.015625 33.183594 70.273438 36.167969 C 64.242188 38.808594 58.667969 42.589844 53.910156 47.296875 C 49.269531 52.003906 45.328125 57.519531 42.65625 63.476562 C 40.449219 68.304688 38.9375 73.585938 38.242188 78.976562 C 37.433594 84.949219 37.652344 91.023438 38.9375 96.882812 C 39.992188 102.167969 41.839844 107.21875 44.519531 111.925781 C 49.039062 120.1875 55.78125 127.3125 63.914062 132.238281 L 63.914062 129.019531 C 63.914062 126.503906 63.796875 124.207031 64.257812 121.796875 L 64.960938 118.699219 C 60.074219 114.449219 56.132812 109.285156 53.460938 103.425781 C 51.726562 99.535156 50.558594 95.402344 49.976562 91.152344 C 49.40625 86.796875 49.511719 82.320312 50.320312 77.957031 C 51.136719 73.714844 52.519531 69.6875 54.507812 65.902344 C 56.828125 61.203125 60.078125 57.070312 64.035156 53.515625 C 67.984375 49.960938 72.511719 47.207031 77.390625 45.253906 C 82.84375 43.1875 88.773438 42.148438 94.578125 42.261719 C 100.382812 42.386719 106.191406 43.757812 111.53125 46.046875 C 116.410156 48.234375 120.707031 51.21875 124.539062 54.886719 C 128.253906 58.566406 131.277344 62.929688 133.476562 67.625 Z M 133.476562 67.625 \" fill-opacity=\"1\" fill-rule=\"nonzero\"><\/path><g clip-path=\"url(#2dc4167b25)\"><path fill=\"#9531c7\" d=\"M 93.539062 105.609375 C 82.324219 105.609375 73.214844 114.625 73.214844 125.695312 C 73.214844 185.148438 93.539062 185.148438 93.539062 185.148438 C 93.539062 185.148438 113.859375 185.148438 113.859375 125.695312 C 113.859375 114.625 104.757812 105.609375 93.539062 105.609375 Z M 93.539062 105.609375 \" fill-opacity=\"1\" fill-rule=\"nonzero\"><\/path><\/g><\/svg>\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-text\">Apple<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3acc2e3 elementor-widget__width-auto elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"3acc2e3\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm\" href=\"https:\/\/open.spotify.com\/show\/3VEezNzW3y1x5CVoBNR5RY?si=96a72d5ea7424ddc&#038;nd=1\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-icon elementor-align-icon-left\">\n\t\t\t\t<svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" width=\"250\" viewBox=\"0 0 187.5 187.499992\" height=\"250\" preserveAspectRatio=\"xMidYMid meet\"><defs><clipPath id=\"e10b623734\"><path d=\"M 3.578125 3.578125 L 183.578125 3.578125 L 183.578125 183.578125 L 3.578125 183.578125 Z M 3.578125 3.578125 \" clip-rule=\"nonzero\"><\/path><\/clipPath><\/defs><g clip-path=\"url(#e10b623734)\"><path fill=\"#1ed760\" d=\"M 93.578125 3.578125 C 43.796875 3.578125 3.578125 43.902344 3.578125 93.578125 C 3.578125 143.359375 43.902344 183.578125 93.578125 183.578125 C 143.359375 183.578125 183.578125 143.253906 183.578125 93.578125 C 183.578125 43.902344 143.253906 3.578125 93.578125 3.578125 Z M 134.867188 133.46875 C 133.253906 136.160156 129.8125 136.910156 127.121094 135.296875 C 105.9375 122.394531 79.378906 119.492188 47.980469 126.589844 C 44.96875 127.234375 41.960938 125.40625 41.3125 122.398438 C 40.667969 119.386719 42.496094 116.378906 45.503906 115.730469 C 79.804688 107.886719 109.261719 111.214844 132.921875 125.734375 C 133.242188 125.921875 133.539062 126.140625 133.8125 126.390625 C 134.089844 126.640625 134.335938 126.914062 134.558594 127.210938 C 134.777344 127.507812 134.96875 127.824219 135.128906 128.160156 C 135.285156 128.496094 135.410156 128.84375 135.5 129.203125 C 135.589844 129.5625 135.644531 129.925781 135.660156 130.296875 C 135.679688 130.667969 135.660156 131.035156 135.605469 131.402344 C 135.550781 131.769531 135.460938 132.128906 135.332031 132.476562 C 135.207031 132.824219 135.050781 133.160156 134.855469 133.476562 Z M 145.835938 108.953125 C 143.792969 112.285156 139.488281 113.257812 136.160156 111.316406 C 111.964844 96.476562 75.082031 92.175781 46.484375 100.777344 C 42.71875 101.851562 38.851562 99.8125 37.773438 96.15625 C 36.699219 92.390625 38.738281 88.519531 42.503906 87.445312 C 75.191406 77.550781 115.835938 82.28125 143.6875 99.378906 C 146.910156 101.316406 147.875 105.617188 145.835938 108.953125 Z M 146.800781 83.359375 C 117.769531 66.15625 69.917969 64.542969 42.175781 72.929688 C 37.765625 74.328125 33.035156 71.75 31.636719 67.339844 C 30.242188 62.929688 32.820312 58.199219 37.230469 56.800781 C 69.058594 47.125 121.960938 49.058594 155.296875 68.84375 C 159.277344 71.207031 160.566406 76.371094 158.199219 80.347656 C 156.050781 84.433594 150.78125 85.726562 146.800781 83.359375 Z M 146.800781 83.359375 \" fill-opacity=\"1\" fill-rule=\"nonzero\"><\/path><\/g><\/svg>\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-text\">Spotify<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section data-dce-background-color=\"#FBFBFB\" data-dce-background-image-url=\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Interfaith_America_Podcast_Glyph_Lighter_Blue_Resize.png\" class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-8a5763b elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"8a5763b\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-cf6d2f5\" data-id=\"cf6d2f5\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-db1f773 elementor-widget elementor-widget-menu-anchor\" data-id=\"db1f773\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"menu-anchor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-menu-anchor\" id=\"transcript\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d0e92b8 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"d0e92b8\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">How Can We Engage in \u201cSacred Witness\u201d Amid Deep Conflict?<\/p>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-0eccc20 elementor-widget elementor-widget-qi_addons_for_elementor_highlight\" data-id=\"0eccc20\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"qi_addons_for_elementor_highlight.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"qodef-shortcode qodef-m highlight qodef-qi-highlight qodef-qi--has-appear  qodef-highlight-style--color\" >\n\tTranscript<\/h2>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-bd7dd8c elementor-widget elementor-widget-jet-unfold\" data-id=\"bd7dd8c\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-settings=\"{&quot;mask_height&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:196,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;unfold_easing&quot;:&quot;linear&quot;,&quot;fold_easing&quot;:&quot;linear&quot;,&quot;mask_height_laptop&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:200,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;mask_height_tablet&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:303,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;mask_height_tablet_extra&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;mask_height_mobile&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;unfold_duration&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;ms&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:500,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;fold_duration&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;ms&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:300,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]}}\" data-widget_type=\"jet-unfold.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"jet-unfold \" data-settings=\"{&quot;height&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:196,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;separatorHeight&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;unfoldDuration&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;ms&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:500,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;foldDuration&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;ms&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:300,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]},&quot;unfoldEasing&quot;:&quot;linear&quot;,&quot;foldEasing&quot;:&quot;linear&quot;,&quot;foldScrolling&quot;:&quot;true&quot;,&quot;hideOutsideClick&quot;:&quot;false&quot;,&quot;autoHide&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;autoHideTime&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;foldScrollOffset&quot;:{&quot;unit&quot;:&quot;px&quot;,&quot;size&quot;:0,&quot;sizes&quot;:[]}}\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"jet-unfold__inner\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"jet-unfold__mask\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"jet-unfold__content\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"jet-unfold__content-inner elementor-text-editor elementor-clearfix\"><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Eboo Patel: This is the Interfaith America Podcast, and I&#8217;m Eboo Patel.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[music]<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:00:13] Eboo Patel: Welcome to the Interfaith America Podcast. I&#8217;m Eboo Patel. My friend Najeeba Syeed is a Muslim theologian, a lawyer, an interfaith studies leader and practitioner, and an individual who went to a synagogue in the weeks immediately following the brutal Hamas attacks of October 7 and said to a group of Jews, &#8220;You will be safe with me. It is because I am a Muslim that I extend my hand in warmth and welcome and safety to you.&#8221;<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I&#8217;m excited to welcome Najeeba Syeed to the Interfaith America Podcast. Najeeba is a professor, a public speaker, an expert practitioner in the fields of conflict resolution, interfaith studies, mediation, education, deliberative democracy, as well as social, gender, and racial equity. She&#8217;s also the inaugural El-Hibri Endowed Chair at Augsburg University and the Executive Director of Interfaith at Augsburg. In 2021, Najeeba entered the political sphere by serving as Chief of Staff to Nithya Raman, the first Asian American woman elected to the Los Angeles City Council.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">During her time as Associate Professor of Interreligious Education at Claremont School of Theology, Najeeba was named the Southern California Mediation Association&#8217;s Peacemaker of the Year. Najeeba, welcome to the Interfaith America Podcast. I&#8217;m excited to talk to you about why, as a Muslim, you extend your hand in warmth and peace and safety to other religious communities. What about your life journey brings you to this place? What does it look like to create constructive dialogue in a classroom during times of intense global conflict?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Let&#8217;s begin. My friend Najeeba, thank you for joining me. Salaam alaikum to you. Let me ask you this question. Such a difficult time right now. Difficult time for Muslims, difficult time for Jews, difficult time for everybody. How&#8217;s your spirit doing?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:02:22] Najeeba Syeed: Yes, I think it is a difficult time for everyone. One thing that&#8217;s really been illuminating for me is that you never know how a global crisis is going to impact you and students. I was really struck by one of my students after one of my classes. She took me aside and said, &#8220;Hey, I just want you to know, Professor Syeed, I really didn&#8217;t know much about this region before this moment.&#8221; It really was eye-opening to me that whatever I might be going through or individuals might be going through, other people are just learning, are just coming to the table now, or just hearing.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">How do we make room for all of those folks at this place, whether it&#8217;s our universities or our communities to have a conversation? I could have responded to her and said, &#8220;Well, why didn&#8217;t you know anything? What&#8217;s wrong?&#8221; I had to have an open heart and an open mind and just listen. I think that&#8217;s really been indicative for me of the stance that I personally take as an individual, as a mom, as a professor, as someone who engages across the country is, &#8220;Let me show up and let me listen.&#8221;<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:03:36] Eboo Patel: Yes. We&#8217;ve been friends for 15 years and open heart, open mind, someone who creates the space for lots of people to come to the table and to have positive and beautiful connections, that is precisely how I view you. That&#8217;s why we&#8217;re doing this podcast, because I want you to shine that light for lots of listeners here. A few days after this most recent chapter of the conflict starts in the Middle East or really heats up, a few days after October 7th, you speak at a synagogue in the Twin Cities and you said something in that talk that I just found so moving, and I want to quote you directly and get into it.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">You say, &#8220;I stand here to let you know that in our country right now, we know that antisemitism is on the rise, and I want you to know that you are safe with me. I want you to know that if your synagogue is ever targeted, my home and my heart are open to you. Some days it may get impossible to be able to share space, but I want you to know that if ever there was a moment when we can witness each other&#8217;s pain, that is in fact a sacred witness.&#8221;<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Just pause and breathe and say a prayer because I just think that those are sacred words. I want to ask, you&#8217;re a Muslim American and a professor of Islamic Studies at Augsburg University. You hold a chair. How is it that a week or two after October 7th, you, a Muslim professor, and a chair at Augsburg University are speaking at a synagogue? How does that come to be?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:05:24] Najeeba Syeed: I think the question for me that&#8217;s even bigger is how is it as a Muslim who&#8217;s a professor at a university, how is it that I couldn&#8217;t say those words? That to me is really the question behind your question is this was planned months ago.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:05:42] Eboo Patel: Your visit to the synagogue was planned months before that.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:05:45] Najeeba Syeed: Exactly. Part of what I think is important to know is that, for me, being in relationship with other faith communities was a practice that predated this most recent crisis. I share that because what that means is showing up isn&#8217;t just an act of recognition when there has been harm. I should be showing up then anyways, but it should be a way of life for me and that&#8217;s part of being Muslim. At the very core, part of being Muslim is to, as the Quran tells us, [foreign language], to get to know people of diverse backgrounds.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">It&#8217;s mentioned more than once in the Quran that the diversity of humankind is a sign of God&#8217;s creation. The Quran also says God could have made us all one people. God could have made us all Muslim. God could have made us all whatever, Jewish, all of one language and culture. To me, it&#8217;s a spiritual discipline, a spiritual practice to know other communities. Then at the heart of that, showing up in that moment, a commitment I had already made prior, months before. It was this other saying of Prophet Muhammad that from a Muslim, you should feel safe from their hand, from&#8211; essentially summarizing that saying that I should be, as a Muslim, other people should feel safe with me.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I stood there witnessing and utilizing. I mentioned in my comments at the synagogue multiple times that I&#8217;m doing this because it&#8217;s based on how I interpret my relationship with God. That if a community is in pain, if a community is scared, that it&#8217;s my sacred obligation first to be there to witness the harm that they&#8217;ve gone through, and then to make sure that if they need a place of safety, that I and my family would be there. I think I did it. I did it as a matter of course.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:07:52] Eboo Patel: Look, you and I have known each other for 15 years. I know that about you. I was not surprised by this at all. I just thought the beauty of the language was particularly moving. It&#8217;s a combination of, Najeeba, your own manifestation, &#8220;You will be safe with me,&#8221; and the Muslim theological heritage, which is the Prophet Muhammad, may the peace and blessings of God be upon him, says that a Muslim is someone from whose hand you shall feel safe.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">There&#8217;s that combination of what is in the tradition and then your particular interpretation and centering of it. I want to actually ask a question about that. Religious traditions are like Aristotle, that you can find what you want in them. There are lots of Jews who say right now is the time for Jews to focus on antisemitism. Lots of Muslims who say right now is the time for Muslims to focus on Islamophobia. You can find lots of things in one&#8217;s own religious tradition that says focus on your own community during times of duress.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">By the way, this is a time of duress for Muslims in America. We all agree on that. You are saying we should do that and more. Tell me how this particular interpretation of Islam, what we at Interfaith America would call a Muslim theology of interfaith cooperation, which is to say my commitment to protect you is rooted in my particular theology. How does that become central to your understanding of Islam?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:09:24] Najeeba Syeed: There&#8217;s a really important time of Prophet Muhammad&#8217;s life where in many ways I&#8217;ve given some sermons on this, where he experienced what was a Muslim ban, where he experienced tribal leaders that said, &#8220;We don&#8217;t want to have trade with you because if you continue preaching this message, in many ways, we will ban you physically. We will not do commerce with you.&#8221; This was one of the most difficult times in his life. It&#8217;s called, by some scholars, the year of sorrow.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I&#8217;ve preached on it, and one of the things that really struck me that was really beautiful. I was reading a scholar who said, &#8220;You know the way that that ban was broken was by righteous people who were not Muslim who broke that embargo, whether it was around feeding this community, whether it was a very small, at this time, nascent community of people who were very much at the margins of society. Early Muslims, like early Christians, early Buddhists, people who came to these faith communities were not always people of power. They were people at the very margins and edges of society that were really touched by the messages of justice and the messages of solidarity.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I think about that again and again, that, in many ways, the survival of Muslims early on depended on righteous people who are not of Muslim origin or didn&#8217;t accept the Muslim faith, but supported this very small community. Prophet Muhammad&#8217;s own mission in his 20-year-plus mission, it was non-Muslims in his family that also supported him despite not believing in what he preached.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:11:09] Eboo Patel: Abu Talib.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:11:10] Najeeba Syeed: I think that&#8217;s, to me, that&#8217;s like a really important lesson is that this faith, and I&#8217;m deeply embedded in it, not just from my own perspective, but from my lineage, from my family, from&#8211; I have behind me, you can&#8217;t see it, but I have a family shajra tree that&#8217;s more than 15 generations long, in which each generation, we were Muslim teachers and keepers of the tradition in Kashmir and starting in Arabia and moving all the way into South Asia generations.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I say that because it&#8217;s sort of like, to me, the survival of my community, my family is tied to people who stepped out of their own self-interest. I think about all those moments, and I think about Prophet Muhammad in these times of these years of sorrow, and thinking about my community has survived, not just because of us, but because of others who extended themselves. How can I not do the same?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:12:15] Eboo Patel: Yes, that&#8217;s so beautiful. I want to get to your life story in a moment here, but just to stick for a moment on the story of the early Muslims. The first people who recognize the prophethood of Muhammad are Christian monks. Bahira, who sees the mark on the back of the prophet when he&#8217;s a young boy, a Waraqah, who&#8217;s a Christian monk, who after the prophet receives his first revelation in the year 610, is the one who says, &#8220;Verily, the prophet of your people has arrived.&#8221;<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">One of my favorite is when the prophet makes the Hijrah to Medina, the person who first greets him is a rabbi, Rabbi Mukhayriq. Actually, the constitution of Medina is written in the home of that rabbi. Without the presence of these righteous Christians and Jews and pagans, there might not have been a Muslim community. These are the people who not just protected, but actually proactively supported the emergence of a religious civilization that was not their own. I&#8217;m with you. I see this as being at the heart of the Muslim story, that interfaith cooperation is woven into our tradition.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">When I speak with Christians, and they say, &#8220;Well, why as a Christian should I be doing interfaith work?&#8221; I talk about the Good Samaritan story. Jesus is literally saying, follow someone whose beliefs are different than yours, but whose ethics are superior. One could say the same that it&#8217;s woven into our tradition in the same way. I appreciate you highlighting that. The year of sorrow, of course, I&#8217;ve heard about it, but it&#8217;s not been central to my understanding of Islam. Part of the beauty of conversations like this is the ability to say, &#8220;Oh, yes, I should go back and read about that time.&#8221;<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Who were the groups who said, we don&#8217;t agree with your doctrine, but we appreciate your personhood, and we admire your ethics, and we will support your community. I think that&#8217;s powerful. Najeeba, I want to get an understanding of how in your own personal life story. Because of our friendship, we know a lot about each other. I know that you were educated at a Quaker University. I know that you have taught at Methodist schools, like the Claremont School of Theology.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The school where you currently have a chair, the El-Hibri chair, is an ELCA Lutheran school. I&#8217;m just curious, how has your life journey in the United States, with all of this religious diversity, how has that helped shape your understanding as a Muslim of your commitment to others?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:14:45] Najeeba Syeed: Yes, it&#8217;s so funny. I was telling&#8211; I think I was telling my kids, they&#8217;re now 17 and 15. I think when you and I met there, I was probably just having one of them and the other was about to be born. I was telling them, &#8220;I look forward to the day where I&#8217;m hired and I&#8217;m not&#8211; there isn&#8217;t an article written about me saying the first Muslim to blah, blah, blah,&#8221; which has been an incredible honor.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">When I went to college, I went to a Quaker college, and I remember I think the school newspaper&#8211; I was the only Muslim in my incoming class, and the school paper said something about &#8220;Islam comes to Guilford College,&#8221; and that&#8217;s been the trajectory of my life. My story of coming to Guilford, ended up in Diana Eck&#8217;s first book about religious pluralism in the United States.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:15:31] Eboo Patel: Yes, encountering God.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:15:32] Najeeba Syeed: Yes. Apparently, my father was sharing stories about his 18-year-old daughter with scholars who I, of course, later came to respect and love personally as friends, and that story is about my first Ramadan where I was away, and as you know, Ramadan is such a communal practice. I was already away at college. I was by myself. I didn&#8217;t have other Muslims around, and it was fascinating because our campus minister made sure that I had himself as well as a group of students that broke fast with me and got up and did the pre-dawn meal with me, and it was a really beautiful experience.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Besides ending up as a subject in a book on pluralism, the lesson for me was that the gesture of supporting me in my fast was a part of their Quaker ethic, that here&#8217;s a Muslim woman, at that time, really, a girl, on her own. We&#8217;ve opened up the door for her, and it&#8217;s not really about all of the articles that have been written about me. I&#8217;ve been a historic hire, the first Muslim professor at Claremont School of Theology, now the first Muslim woman at a Lutheran institution where I&#8217;m at right now that has tenure that&#8217;s now a full professor. There&#8217;s a lot of firsts that have happened in my life.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Behind the fanfare of being the first is, obviously, there&#8217;s a lot that we carry that can be difficult when you&#8217;re the only one, but it&#8217;s also the courageous stance that institutions and individuals in those institutions have taken because not every hire was met with a lot of support in the beginning or understanding or there are risks that were taken. When I was in one denominational institution, every four years when there was an assembly of that denomination, there was a worry about whether the interfaith part of their mission would come under attack.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">My hiring at Claremont School of Theology meant that we could incubate an institution that&#8217;s now one of the first graduate Muslim seminaries in the country that&#8217;s accredited.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:17:35] Eboo Patel: Bayan, right?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:17:36] Najeeba Syeed: Right. My physical presence there meant the first four students of Bayan were my advisees that I helped develop that curriculum. The work that I&#8217;m doing now at Augsburg means that we can engage our students in a way that couldn&#8217;t happen before. We are, as an independent college, we have probably the largest percentage of Muslim students in the state of Minnesota. We&#8217;re the most ethnically diverse institution in the Midwest of our size and the region.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I think about, as we&#8217;re talking about this journey, it&#8217;s not the story of Najeeba. I don&#8217;t ever see it as a story of myself. I see it as the story of institutions that make a decision around inclusion. I happen to be a part of that story. I think that it means it&#8217;s also about the Muslim American community and our story. When you&#8217;re, as I am an immigrant, moving into these spaces, again, the possibility of it happening, there weren&#8217;t the resources to just put together a Muslim graduate school. There aren&#8217;t the resources, per se, to start off many institutions.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I think about the incubation of so many projects that have come out of my presence now at multiple institutions. I worked for an elected official, Muslim woman in hijab walking around the halls of Los Angeles City Council chambers. These are things that are beautiful, not because of who I am, but because it means that we&#8217;re living up to, and often not in the most perfect way, living up to this idea of a kind of diversity that is built on the idea that we&#8217;re better when we move in that direction.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:19:35] Eboo Patel: Yes, we&#8217;re better together. It used to be a campaign at Interfaith America. We called it the Better Together campaign. Part of what I&#8217;m hearing you say, Najeeba, is you have been a beneficiary of the theologies of interfaith cooperation of other institutions.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:19:49] Najeeba Syeed: Absolutely.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:19:49] Eboo Patel: There&#8217;s a Quaker theology of interfaith cooperation that welcomed you into Guilford College 20, 25 years ago. There&#8217;s a Methodist theology of interfaith cooperation that welcomes you into Claremont. In effect, I hear you saying, &#8220;Look, we, Muslims, have a theology of interfaith cooperation, and I am going to both give it back, if you will, square the karmic circle. As a beneficiary of your theology, I&#8217;m going to make sure that other people benefit from my own theology of better faith cooperation.&#8221; When somebody hands you something, you are grateful. Then when you have something to hand somebody else, you should do it. That&#8217;s the way human beings should work. That&#8217;s the way God works.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:20:32] Najeeba Syeed: I think that&#8217;s one modality of looking at it as transactional.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:20:36] Eboo Patel: I don&#8217;t think of it as transactional. I think of it as&#8211;<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:20:37] Najeeba Syeed: No, no. I wasn&#8217;t saying you&#8217;re saying that, but I meant there&#8217;s a lot of language, not you, per se, but there&#8217;s a lot of language around rights that&#8217;s very transactional. I have a law background, it&#8217;s a very familiar rhetoric. What I think really has been profoundly important in this moment in the world and in my history of migrating to the US when I was 3, is that it&#8217;s not only are we better together, but that ultimately our destinies are intertwined in such a way that we&#8217;re interdependent.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I think for many years I thought of success as independence, and really more and more&#8211; and I think because I&#8217;ve been doing conflict intervention work since I was 18, I&#8217;m the person that was called into multiple sites around the country after&#8211; whether it was officer-involved shootings or stabbings. I&#8217;ve done intervention in real-life conflicts. There&#8217;s been something really&#8211; having done that for 30 years. I wish it was only 20 years [chuckles] since I went to college, and I think it&#8217;s been about 30 that I started.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">There&#8217;s something so profound to walk into a room where people have just hurt each other and to say, &#8220;Oh wait, some of us are deeply traumatized and we still have to live together.&#8221; I&#8217;ve been in that moment so often and so many times that a question that I ask when I intervene in conflicts now is, &#8220;Are you in each other&#8217;s futures? Do you see each other in each other&#8217;s futures?&#8221; Or ask them to ask each other, &#8220;Am I in your future?&#8221;<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The reason I ask that question when I intervene is our present actions determine the future. I think [unintelligible 00:22:28], Jewish ethicist, really, talks about this, like the bridge to the future is the other. What we do in this moment and the choices we make create the future. You&#8217;re father, too. I really feel like having children has brought that to light. However I feel about an issue, whatever I think in this moment that, really, they&#8217;re the inheritors of the world. If I&#8217;m not making it better, not just for my kids, but for all children, what are they going to inherit?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[music]<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:23:01] Eboo Patel: After a short break, Najeeba helps us learn how we can have more productive conversations, even during times of heightened conflict. &#8220;Are you in each other&#8217;s futures?&#8221; I feel like that was the kind of prescient that a king had and a Mandela had. They taught the country, they taught their own community, Black South Africans, African Americans, and they taught other people too. White folks. Like, &#8220;We are not leaving and the other people are not leaving.&#8221; You know what that means? You got to live together.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The way they did their work is the way you do your work, which is, I might want to defeat a certain part of who you are. I might want to defeat Jim Crow. I might want to defeat apartheid, but I am not going to treat you as an enemy or as a permanent enemy because the day after tomorrow, I&#8217;m going to have to live with you, and I&#8217;m going to treat you as a future neighbor. That&#8217;s what I&#8217;m hearing from you.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:24:09] Najeeba Syeed: Guess where that example for me comes from? It actually comes from Prophet Muhammad upon MVPs that after we talked about his early mission and amount of suffering, he went through physical suffering. He left Mecca in the night, escaped to a cave. Imagine the fear that he had for his life. It wasn&#8217;t just him, but many as we call them \u1e63a\u1e25\u0101bah, or companions. What happens when he gains victory and goes back to Mecca with a very different situation, a situation of power, a situation of resources in the transformation of his mission by the end, with the number of people that came into the fold of Islam?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">He had a choice. He could have gone back, written a list, figured out each person&#8217;s violation, and come up with appropriate, as we call it, retributive justice approaches. Instead of retributive justice, he chose restorative justice and gave asylum. Again, he didn&#8217;t have to, but I think the larger scope of what he was doing was building for the future and thinking about this idea that really in many ways is that, are we in each other&#8217;s futures? Because if the answer is no, then it means you&#8217;re going to eliminate. If you literally, if I don&#8217;t see you in my future, then the only other option is elimination.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I&#8217;ve really come to understand that that example of asylum and giving people this capacity and the importance of understanding that sometimes, not every time, but sometimes when it&#8217;s appropriate and there&#8217;s a capacity, that the intervention of spiritual ethics in conflict is that ability to believe that people may redeem themselves. That I forgive, not because I&#8217;m just Najeeba as a human, but God is helping me forgive. It&#8217;s a power I could not maybe have on my own, but because of my spiritual interpretation of the world, I have a tool of understanding that says there is, as many times in the Quran we hear that if people choose peace, you should choose peace.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:26:24] Eboo Patel: Right.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:26:25] Najeeba Syeed: If people bother you, you speak to them with a good word. The same teachings, unfortunately, I tell people often what we bring to the text is the hermeneutic, that you take out of the text what you&#8217;re already bringing in your mind. If you don&#8217;t see other people in your future or you see a future in which the only way victory is manifested is by the elimination of whomever the other may be, then that&#8217;s what you may pull out, whether the text is a religious one or a secular one or an ideology.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">We have to work against that human instinct and that social pressure that says victory is when I myself transactionally have power over others. What does it mean when we share power? What does it mean when we say it&#8217;s when everyone flourishes that if you flourish, I flourish? Maybe it&#8217;s, as one of my mentors said, it&#8217;s called irrational optimism. He said, &#8220;Najeeba, you have it.&#8221; He said he has it.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:27:32] Eboo Patel: Yes, I have it. Yes.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:27:35] Najeeba Syeed: We have it. I know when people tell me, &#8220;Oh, you&#8217;re such an optimist.&#8221; I used to take it as an indictment of my intellectual capabilities. Then I realized something, that the elimination of the other and the resorting to a domination over the other as the only option is probably the least creative one.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:27:54] Eboo Patel: Yes, I love that. I feel like I constantly like charge my own car&#8217;s battery. Actually, that&#8217;s not true. My cord is connected to something and it&#8217;s connected to Islam. That&#8217;s what it&#8217;s connected to. As you talked about this concept that Khaled Abou El Fadl, the great Muslim legal theorist at UCLA, he says, what you read in the Quran is what your heart brings to the Quran, but God has put in your heart his rule, his breath. God has put in your heart taqwa, an inner torch. You actually have a leaning, a fitra towards goodness, and you are meant to extract from the Quran its goodness, its generosity.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">In some ways, like I think that being an irrational optimist is just another word for being a Muslim for me. Of course, I&#8217;m oriented this way because I believe that God made me his [unintelligible 00:28:51] Khalifah, me and 8 billion other people. His [unintelligible 00:28:55] Khalifah. We&#8217;re supposed to steward creation in a manner that is consistent with the beauty and celebration of diversity. That&#8217;s the gift that we have that God doesn&#8217;t give to the angels. I love that our friendship nurtures that. I find that nurtured in my conversations with you. Thank you for that.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:29:16] Najeeba Syeed: We&#8217;ve definitely challenged each other. I don&#8217;t know if the listeners should know that there have been points in which we&#8217;ve definitely challenged one another-<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:29:22] Eboo Patel: Yes.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:29:23] Najeeba Syeed: -to grow, to have perspectives. It&#8217;s not like I&#8217;ve always been like, &#8220;Eboo, everything you&#8217;re doing is great.&#8221; I&#8217;ve never held back from saying, &#8220;You know, well, maybe that might not work out so well.&#8221; I share that because I think that&#8217;s an example of, well, how do you sustain a friendship where you challenge each other to grow? I wanted to share that with the listeners because I definitely have had times where I&#8217;m like, &#8220;Oh my God, did we just have that conversation? Let me call him.&#8221;<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I think when controversies have emerged nationally, we&#8217;ve talked to each other. Something that I wanted to point out here that has really struck me, particularly as a mother, and I wanted to bring this because I do think a lot of times when I work in very violent conflicts, whether it&#8217;s been abroad or in many years of Los Angeles and Pasadena gang intervention work, you know the people that first crossed the line to say, &#8220;We are going to work with each other,&#8221; have been mothers who&#8217;ve lost their children. It is such a profoundly important message for me. Here I don&#8217;t mean you have to be a mother to be a peacemaker, but it&#8217;s people who lost the most.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Sometimes I think about, wait, if someone in that situation, whether it&#8217;s here in LA, or in other conflicts that I&#8217;ve traveled to, if they&#8217;re willing to say, &#8220;Look, we&#8217;re going to put down our arms, or we&#8217;re going to put down our ability and this cycle and interrupt the cycle,&#8221; been really striking to me. The lessons that I&#8217;ve learned from those mothers, if they&#8217;re willing to do that, how can I who&#8217;s very proximate or maybe removed or I haven&#8217;t had those kinds of losses, what do I learn from this? I just wanted to share that too, that I think there are many examples. Spirituality and religion have played a role in those decisions for many of those mothers, but not for everyone.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Some of them will come to the table without religious interpretation of the world. I think that&#8217;s a lesson to see how people who are actually engaged in or suffering tremendous losses to listen to those voices, and I&#8217;ve heard often far more compassion, and interest in mutuality of a future than I hear from people who are on the edges who may not actually be losing anything or agents in the reality of a particular scenario or crisis. I just want to encourage us whatever the situation is, listen to people and hear what&#8217;s behind the words and the future that they want to manifest.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:31:57] Eboo Patel: Yes, that&#8217;s beautiful. That&#8217;s profound. I want to talk about the future and your beautiful line, &#8220;Do we see each other in the future together?&#8221; So much of what we do as teachers is about the future. We work with college students, 18, 19, 20-year-olds in part because of who they are now, and in part because who they&#8217;re going to be in 10, 20, 30, 40 years. In our exchanges over the past six weeks or so, Najeeba, you&#8217;ve shared with me that your classes have actually gone well over the last six weeks.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I feel like you can count on one hand the number of professors who teach in any area related to Jews, Muslims, or anything even tangentially related to the Middle East who can say, &#8220;My classes have gone well.&#8221; Tell me about those classes. How is it in classes with Christians, Muslims, Jews, atheists, agnostics, talking about Islam and Judaism, talking about the Middle East, there has been constructive conversation?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:32:53] Najeeba Syeed: I think one thing that&#8217;s really important as a professor is that I based my work on three concepts that actually have solidified and crystallized in the last eight weeks. One of them is, what is the role of the university? To me, it&#8217;s fostering critical thinking. That&#8217;s one way that I look at how I&#8217;m engaging with my students. Are we fostering critical thinking from their perspective?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">The second is to think about the communities present in my classroom and on my campus and to understand that there are moments, particularly in the last two months where there has been so much trauma that when, for instance, one of our student groups wanted to engage in some activity or event that was a statement of their belief on a particular situation that we offered another student group that may not feel safe, a space of sanctuary. To understand that there are moments, and I talk about this as trauma-informed interfaith work, whether it&#8217;s this situation or others, sometimes in interfaith spaces, we need to be able to recognize that we are a community of communities.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">That there may be stages in which communities need self-expression. They need to do rituals of grief. We don&#8217;t all have the same rituals of grief. How do we create the capacity to understand that? When do we make an informed decision of joining together, and then also making sure that we&#8217;re giving people places for care? I think we&#8217;ve done a lot of that in the last&#8211; we&#8217;ve made decisions about that in the last couple of months. I think that&#8217;s been important to understand that we&#8217;re doing that for all of the communities that are present on campus.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I think that&#8217;s really important to understand around this idea of being a community of communities, and then really maximizing our expression of compassion. In this moment, I think it&#8217;s not just about taking positions and articulating, it&#8217;s about compassion, and understanding that there are moments of trauma where all we can say or do is maybe just be there for someone in silence and sit next to them. Maybe that&#8217;s all that person needs, but it means making sure that our mental health services for our universities are culturally competent, as I mentioned, for all communities.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">To tie this all back together to my class, one of the things that I think was really profound, we had our final class of the semester, but it was really beautiful, as you said, Christian, Muslim, and Jewish students. One of the students said something that was really beautiful and it really struck me, was that they&#8217;re going to be a rabbi. They&#8217;re inspired to be a rabbi, and I thought, &#8220;Oh, that&#8217;s really beautiful.&#8221; What they said was that their hope is if they were to have to go through a similar situation that they would want to bring someone in their congregation that was from a community that was impacted and to have that conversation.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">We&#8217;re thinking about this class where people are talking to each other and that as a result of it, someone is thinking about their future as a clergy person of their own tradition and saying, &#8220;I don&#8217;t want to just talk about other communities, I want to hear from them and engage and have a conversation.&#8221; I thought that was really beautiful, and another student talked about really this idea of humility and humbleness. That part of what they brought to this space was an understanding that, I think they called it humble listening, and I thought that was so beautiful and it was a very spiritual interpretation.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I actually don&#8217;t remember their religious background because in some ways it doesn&#8217;t matter. They could have been from any background, but they said, &#8220;I learned how to do humble listening.&#8221; We opened up the class with a conversation about how hard these conversations are and the risks that everyone takes by having these conversations. I&#8217;ve done work in places in the world where if you show up as someone from a different religious tradition, on your way home, you don&#8217;t know if you&#8217;ll make it home. Right?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:37:06] Eboo Patel: Right. That&#8217;s Kashmir. Right.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:37:09] Najeeba Syeed: I mean anywhere all over the world. I think one of the other students said something to the effect of how the understanding in class helped me recognize the importance of an inclusive environment like we did. One of their ideas was we talked about, like for instance, when you don&#8217;t drink alcohol, we have a lot of very observant Muslims on campus. One student said, &#8220;You know what, instead of having happy hour where I feel left out, let&#8217;s have dialogue hour, let&#8217;s all meet after work and have a dialogue hour about religious diversity because happy hour.&#8221;<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">It was so fascinating because I thought it could have been like, &#8220;Let&#8217;s play baseball, let&#8217;s get to know each other.&#8221; They were like, &#8220;Yes, let&#8217;s just replace happy hour at work with dialogue hour.&#8221; That was really beautiful to me, that was a Muslim student. I just wanted to share some of these closing reflections that the students have because I feel like at 17 and 18 or 19, they&#8217;re modeling a learning that I wish so many of us could engage in.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:38:08] Eboo Patel: You created an educational space where that dimension of who they were emerged. There&#8217;s a beautiful line by Michelangelo, &#8220;The angel already exists in the stone, the job of the sculpture is to release it.&#8221; The better self already exists in the young person. The job of the educator is to create an environment where that better self can emerge and then be nurtured, be educated.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:38:35] Najeeba Syeed: Yes. There was a couple of really other beautiful things that struck me in the class, and this has been, I think a theme, whether you and I have been in conversation with each other is, when you are confident in your own tradition&#8211; you asked me how I showed up at a synagogue without whatever is happening, even that&#8217;s a question of how do we do that work? One of the things that the students said in this class, at the end of it, she&#8217;s a Christian student. She said, part of the outcome is she&#8217;s much more involved in her church. [laughs]<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I thought that was a really fun outcome, and she said, &#8220;I&#8217;m a manager at a local coffee shop, and I realized we didn&#8217;t have halal options for Muslim students.&#8221; It was this journey of self-discovery. To me, the confidence that I have in being Muslim and the teachings and the capacity is not impinged upon by being present for people of other faiths. I can walk into a space and I have a deep belief that I&#8217;m there because of the calling of being a Muslim. It isn&#8217;t a threat to me to show up and exhibit rahma or which is compassion. It comes from the root word Rahmah, the same in Hebrew around the idea of the womb to express compassion for others because it isn&#8217;t a threat to my own interpretation of who I am. It&#8217;s a position of strength.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:40:02] Eboo Patel: Right. Totally. Generosity.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:40:04] Najeeba Syeed: It&#8217;s a position of strength and not a position of deficiency. That to me is a spiritual lesson that interfaith can bring to so many of the dialogues that we&#8217;re trying to have on our campus, is that maybe the position of strength is actually doing this humble listening. The position of strength doesn&#8217;t mean that we move to a diluted, common understanding of the world where we all accept one interpretation, a universal theology, or one diluted version.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Maybe the strength is that we listen to each other. In doing so, it doesn&#8217;t just reconnect us with our own origins, but it allows us to display the confidence that comes out of questioning yourself, questioning each other. One of the things that was fascinating to me about teaching at a Christian institution is that it was often, it was evangelical Christians that came to me and would want to speak to me. After a while, I was like, &#8220;What&#8217;s going on here, guys?&#8221; They said, &#8220;Well, the fact that you are&#8211; we love that you&#8217;d publicly display your faith. You walk into a room with hijab and you don&#8217;t apologize about it.&#8221;<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">People have told me so many times that I wouldn&#8217;t get a job after 9\/11. I was told after law school, remove the hijab so you&#8217;ll get a job. I was able to find positions, but evangelical students learned from that. I learned from evangelical students, they were like very comfortable talking about God. They were like, &#8220;And today we&#8217;re going to be talking about God, blah, blah, blah.&#8221;<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:41:35] Eboo Patel: It&#8217;s like Muslims. It&#8217;s their version of everything is, mashallah and inshallah. You can&#8217;t talk to a Muslim for five minutes without hearing that. There&#8217;s an evangelical version of that.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:41:45] Najeeba Syeed: Exactly.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:41:46] Eboo Patel: Hi, Najeeba, last question.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:41:48] Najeeba Syeed: Yes.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:41:48] Eboo Patel: I feel like a very important conversation approach or quality is to be able to have a disagreement on politics without insulting somebody else&#8217;s identity. In fact, holding somebody else&#8217;s identity in reverence and yet disagreeing on what a government is doing or how a government should be shaped, et cetera. How do we do that?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:42:18] Najeeba Syeed: Is that not the foundation of democracy?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:42:20] Najeeba Syeed: I think it is. I totally think it is.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:42:23] Eboo Patel: I was like, wait, why would I want to be in a society where everyone&#8211; as we talked about, God could have made us all the same. First of all, it would be really boring if we all had the same political view. It&#8217;s also politics in many ways is a manifestation of our ethics and how we want to see the world. That practical articulation of our ethics, if it doesn&#8217;t make room for dissent from it, then it becomes in many ways an authoritarian perspective. I&#8217;m really concerned about the fragility of democracy, whether it&#8217;s in our country or across the world, in which there isn&#8217;t an ability to functionally operate.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">Here&#8217;s the law background that we have to be able to operate in a way that there is space for a multiplicity of views. That to me is a functional democracy, but it also means that we are able to not have a crisis of my own identity when I meet someone who has a different viewpoint to my own. I share that because if one maintains their identity only in opposition to someone else&#8211; in the work that I&#8217;ve done in conflicts around the world, sometimes I meet people and their identities. I&#8217;ll ask them, &#8220;Well, who are you?&#8221; They can tell me who they are not in opposition to a list of [unintelligible 00:43:51]. Right?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:43:53] Eboo Patel: Yes.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:43:53] Najeeba Syeed: Understandably, I&#8217;ve gone into situations where people talk about a conflict that&#8211; something that happened hundreds of years ago, and they&#8217;re deeply embedded in that identity. I understand the histories that come with that. I&#8217;m just concerned that there have to be modalities in which we think about identity that are not just in opposition to a set of phenomenon or whatever surrounds us.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I often think about it when I work with my students. &#8220;What do you stand for? What are you working towards? What is your role? What is the role of people around you as well?&#8221; We talk about it a lot in our work as procedural justice, not outcome justice, meaning the outcome of it. If you try to achieve justice with procedures that are not open to multiplicity of ideas, two things people want in most processes, they want to be heard and they want to participate. They actually don&#8217;t care much about the outcome.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">I emphasize this again and again, with whatever conflict that I&#8217;m working on is, &#8220;What are the procedures of justice here? What are the ways in which we are building voices and space for voices that agree and space for voices that dissent? What are the costs for the dissenting voices?&#8221; If the cost is non-existence, then that really concerns me because that means then the outcome of that process is not going to be one that&#8217;s sustainable or durable.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:45:28] Eboo Patel: Najeeba Syeed, wise Muslim Mama, legal theorist, theologian, treasured American. Thank you. Thank you for your friendship. Thank you for this time of this podcast.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:45:40] Najeeba Syeed: Thank you.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">[00:45:40] Eboo Patel: I will look forward to our continued conversation for days, months, years, decades to come. Inshallah. As I reflect upon this conversation with Najeeba, there are so many places that my own mind and heart are going. There are questions that I&#8217;m asking myself that I want to ask you, what is your theology or ethic of interfaith cooperation or peacebuilding? What is it from your own tradition, whether that&#8217;s the Zoroastrian tradition or whether that&#8217;s being a secular humanist? What is it that would inspire, indeed, call and command you to extend welcome and safety to a community that is not your own and that yet is suffering?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">What would it look like if you were in conflict with certain elements of that community? Could you still extend warmth and welcome and safety? What gives Najeeba the courage and strength to do that? Do you have that courage and strength in your own life? In your own tradition? If you were a teacher or a mediator, what lessons could you take from Najeeba in creating a classroom environment in which students felt like they could break the norms of conflict and begin new norms of welcome and inclusivity?<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><span data-contrast=\"auto\">If you were a mediator, how would you ask the question to two sides in conflict? Are you in each other&#8217;s future? If so, let&#8217;s begin building a better future for all of us today. Thank you for listening to the Interfaith America with Eboo Patel podcast. Let us know your thoughts in the comments or wherever you live on social media. You can always find us on Twitter @InterfaithUSA and Instagram @InterfaithAmerica. To read more about this conversation and to find resources and stories about bridge building and our religiously diverse nation, visit our website, interfaithamerica.org. I&#8217;m Eboo Patel.<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><span data-ccp-props=\"{&quot;201341983&quot;:0,&quot;335551550&quot;:6,&quot;335551620&quot;:6,&quot;335559739&quot;:240,&quot;335559740&quot;:240}\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p><p><em>Intro\/outro music provided by Mysterylab Music and composed by Mott Jordan.<\/em><\/p><p><em>Credit music provided by Die Hard Productions.<\/em><\/p><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"jet-unfold__separator\"><\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"jet-unfold__trigger\"><div class=\"jet-unfold__button elementor-button elementor-size-md\" href=\"#\" data-unfold-text=\"Show More\" data-fold-text=\"Hide\" data-fold-icon=\"&lt;svg xmlns=&quot;http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg&quot; xmlns:xlink=&quot;http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink&quot; xmlns:serif=&quot;http:\/\/www.serif.com\/&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot; height=&quot;100%&quot; viewBox=&quot;0 0 12 8&quot; xml:space=&quot;preserve&quot; style=&quot;fill-rule:evenodd;clip-rule:evenodd;stroke-linejoin:round;stroke-miterlimit:2;&quot;&gt;    &lt;g transform=&quot;matrix(1,0,0,1,2.15031,-2.295)&quot;&gt;        &lt;g transform=&quot;matrix(-1.83697e-16,1,-1,-1.83697e-16,9.84969,2.15031)&quot;&gt;            &lt;path d=&quot;M7.555,10.59L2.975,6L7.555,1.41L6.145,-0L0.145,6L6.145,12L7.555,10.59Z&quot; style=&quot;fill:rgb(0,83,187);fill-rule:nonzero;&quot;&gt;&lt;\/path&gt;        &lt;\/g&gt;    &lt;\/g&gt;&lt;\/svg&gt;\" data-unfold-icon=\"&lt;svg xmlns=&quot;http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg&quot; xmlns:xlink=&quot;http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink&quot; xmlns:serif=&quot;http:\/\/www.serif.com\/&quot; width=&quot;100%&quot; height=&quot;100%&quot; viewBox=&quot;0 0 12 8&quot; xml:space=&quot;preserve&quot; style=&quot;fill-rule:evenodd;clip-rule:evenodd;stroke-linejoin:round;stroke-miterlimit:2;&quot;&gt;    &lt;g transform=&quot;matrix(1,0,0,1,2.15031,-2.295)&quot;&gt;        &lt;g transform=&quot;matrix(6.12323e-17,-1,1,6.12323e-17,-2.15031,9.84969)&quot;&gt;            &lt;path d=&quot;M7.555,10.59L2.975,6L7.555,1.41L6.145,-0L0.145,6L6.145,12L7.555,10.59Z&quot; style=&quot;fill:rgb(0,83,187);fill-rule:nonzero;&quot;&gt;&lt;\/path&gt;        &lt;\/g&gt;    &lt;\/g&gt;&lt;\/svg&gt;\" tabindex=\"0\" role=\"button\"><span class=\"jet-unfold__button-icon jet-tricks-icon\"><svg xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" xmlns:xlink=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/1999\/xlink\" xmlns:serif=\"http:\/\/www.serif.com\/\" width=\"100%\" height=\"100%\" viewBox=\"0 0 12 8\" xml:space=\"preserve\" style=\"fill-rule:evenodd;clip-rule:evenodd;stroke-linejoin:round;stroke-miterlimit:2;\">    <g transform=\"matrix(1,0,0,1,2.15031,-2.295)\">        <g transform=\"matrix(6.12323e-17,-1,1,6.12323e-17,-2.15031,9.84969)\">            <path d=\"M7.555,10.59L2.975,6L7.555,1.41L6.145,-0L0.145,6L6.145,12L7.555,10.59Z\" style=\"fill:rgb(0,83,187);fill-rule:nonzero;\"><\/path>        <\/g>    <\/g><\/svg><\/span><span class=\"jet-unfold__button-text\">Show More<\/span><\/div>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section data-dce-background-color=\"#FBFBFB\" data-dce-background-image-url=\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Interfaith_America_Podcast_Glyph_Lighter_Blue_Resize.png\" class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-462a643 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"462a643\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-4631251\" data-id=\"4631251\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-inner-section elementor-element elementor-element-6333b16 elementor-section-full_width elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"6333b16\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div data-dce-background-color=\"#FF000000\" class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-inner-column elementor-element elementor-element-ca49e30\" data-id=\"ca49e30\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1fc5825 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"1fc5825\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">Join us today!<\/h2>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-d168685 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"d168685\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Get inspired, equipped, and connected to unlock the potential of America\u2019s religious diversity.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div data-dce-background-color=\"#FF000000\" class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-inner-column elementor-element elementor-element-4c11a52\" data-id=\"4c11a52\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div data-dce-background-color=\"#FFFFFF00\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-1fbc351 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-align-justify elementor-widget-laptop__width-initial elementor-widget-mobile__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"1fbc351\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm\" href=\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/subscribe\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-text\">Subscribe<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div data-dce-background-color=\"#FFFFFF\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-40f8167 elementor-widget__width-initial elementor-align-justify elementor-widget-mobile__width-initial elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"40f8167\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm\" href=\"https:\/\/pages.elevate.salesforce.org\/ifyc\/online-donations\" target=\"_blank\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-text\">Support Us<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<section data-dce-background-color=\"#FBFBFB\" data-dce-background-image-url=\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/08\/Interfaith_America_Podcast_Glyph_Lighter_Blue_Resize.png\" class=\"elementor-section elementor-top-section elementor-element elementor-element-0de2a81 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"0de2a81\" data-element_type=\"section\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-100 elementor-top-column elementor-element elementor-element-ed66a4c\" data-id=\"ed66a4c\" data-element_type=\"column\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<section class=\"elementor-section elementor-inner-section elementor-element elementor-element-b8e65d0 elementor-section-boxed elementor-section-height-default elementor-section-height-default\" data-id=\"b8e65d0\" data-element_type=\"section\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-container elementor-column-gap-default\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-inner-column elementor-element elementor-element-69e4b66\" data-id=\"69e4b66\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-2a5bc01 elementor-widget elementor-widget-heading\" data-id=\"2a5bc01\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"heading.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<p class=\"elementor-heading-title elementor-size-default\">ABOUT US<\/p>\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-71ef7df elementor-widget elementor-widget-qi_addons_for_elementor_highlight\" data-id=\"71ef7df\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"qi_addons_for_elementor_highlight.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"qodef-shortcode qodef-m highlight qodef-qi-highlight qodef-qi--has-appear  qodef-highlight-style--color\" >\n\tPodcast Team<\/h2>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-38f8bb9 elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"38f8bb9\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Meet the team who made this podcast possible.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div data-dce-background-color=\"#FFFFFF\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-c67be34 elementor-align-left elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"c67be34\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm\" href=\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/magazine\/about\/\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-text\">Learn more<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-column elementor-col-50 elementor-inner-column elementor-element elementor-element-392f78f\" data-id=\"392f78f\" data-element_type=\"column\" data-settings=\"{&quot;background_background&quot;:&quot;classic&quot;}\">\n\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-wrap elementor-element-populated\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-5f5669e elementor-widget elementor-widget-qi_addons_for_elementor_highlight\" data-id=\"5f5669e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"qi_addons_for_elementor_highlight.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t<h2 class=\"qodef-shortcode qodef-m highlight qodef-qi-highlight qodef-qi--has-appear  qodef-highlight-style--color\" >\n\tContact Us<\/h2>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-a94472e elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"a94472e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Want to share feedback, suggest a future guest or ask a question? Email Us.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-39455eb elementor-widget-divider--view-line elementor-widget elementor-widget-divider\" data-id=\"39455eb\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"divider.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-divider\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-divider-separator\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-09d3b6e elementor-widget elementor-widget-text-editor\" data-id=\"09d3b6e\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"text-editor.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<p>Podcast Team<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<div data-dce-background-color=\"#CAEDF100\" class=\"elementor-element elementor-element-3458101 elementor-align-left elementor-widget elementor-widget-button\" data-id=\"3458101\" data-element_type=\"widget\" data-widget_type=\"button.default\">\n\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-widget-container\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<div class=\"elementor-button-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t<a class=\"elementor-button elementor-button-link elementor-size-sm elementor-animation-sink\" href=\"mailto:podcast@interfaithamerica.org\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-content-wrapper\">\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"elementor-button-text\">podcast@interfaithamerica.org<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/a>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t","protected":false},"featured_media":39264,"template":"","categories":[13,12,9],"season":[1457],"lab_enabled":[],"lab_user":[],"acf":{"featured":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v21.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>How Can We Engage in \u201cSacred Witness\u201d Amid Deep Conflict? - Interfaith America<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Najeeba Syeed, a Muslim scholar, explains how to foster constructive interfaith dialogue during heightened religious or political tensions.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/podcast\/syeed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"How Can We Engage in \u201cSacred Witness\u201d Amid Deep Conflict? - Interfaith America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Najeeba Syeed, a Muslim scholar, explains how to foster constructive interfaith dialogue during heightened religious or political tensions.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/podcast\/syeed\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Interfaith America\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/InterfaithAmerica\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-01-25T20:29:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Simplecast-Cover-Najeeba-Syeed-1024x1024.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@interfaithusa\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"42 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/podcast\/syeed\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/podcast\/syeed\/\",\"name\":\"How Can We Engage in \u201cSacred Witness\u201d Amid Deep Conflict? - Interfaith America\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2023-12-20T17:44:58+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-01-25T20:29:16+00:00\",\"description\":\"Najeeba Syeed, a Muslim scholar, explains how to foster constructive interfaith dialogue during heightened religious or political tensions.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/podcast\/syeed\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/podcast\/syeed\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/podcast\/syeed\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"How Can We Engage in \u201cSacred Witness\u201d Amid Deep Conflict?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/\",\"name\":\"Interfaith America\",\"description\":\"Faith is a bridge to change.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Interfaith America\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/logo.png\",\"width\":400,\"height\":105,\"caption\":\"Interfaith America\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/InterfaithAmerica\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/interfaithusa\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/interfaithamerica\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/InterfaithYouthCore\"]}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"How Can We Engage in \u201cSacred Witness\u201d Amid Deep Conflict? - Interfaith America","description":"Najeeba Syeed, a Muslim scholar, explains how to foster constructive interfaith dialogue during heightened religious or political tensions.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/podcast\/syeed\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"How Can We Engage in \u201cSacred Witness\u201d Amid Deep Conflict? - Interfaith America","og_description":"Najeeba Syeed, a Muslim scholar, explains how to foster constructive interfaith dialogue during heightened religious or political tensions.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/podcast\/syeed\/","og_site_name":"Interfaith America","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/InterfaithAmerica","article_modified_time":"2024-01-25T20:29:16+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":1024,"url":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Simplecast-Cover-Najeeba-Syeed-1024x1024.png","type":"image\/png"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@interfaithusa","twitter_misc":{"Est. reading time":"42 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/podcast\/syeed\/","url":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/podcast\/syeed\/","name":"How Can We Engage in \u201cSacred Witness\u201d Amid Deep Conflict? - Interfaith America","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/#website"},"datePublished":"2023-12-20T17:44:58+00:00","dateModified":"2024-01-25T20:29:16+00:00","description":"Najeeba Syeed, a Muslim scholar, explains how to foster constructive interfaith dialogue during heightened religious or political tensions.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/podcast\/syeed\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/podcast\/syeed\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/podcast\/syeed\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"How Can We Engage in \u201cSacred Witness\u201d Amid Deep Conflict?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/","name":"Interfaith America","description":"Faith is a bridge to change.","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/#organization","name":"Interfaith America","url":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/logo.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/04\/logo.png","width":400,"height":105,"caption":"Interfaith America"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/InterfaithAmerica","https:\/\/twitter.com\/interfaithusa","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/interfaithamerica\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/InterfaithYouthCore"]}]}},"hero_image":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Simplecast-Cover-Najeeba-Syeed-730x730.png","hero_image_caption":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast\/38204"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/podcast"}],"version-history":[{"count":9,"href":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast\/38204\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38360,"href":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/podcast\/38204\/revisions\/38360"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=38204"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=38204"},{"taxonomy":"season","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/season?post=38204"},{"taxonomy":"lab_enabled","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lab_enabled?post=38204"},{"taxonomy":"lab_user","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.interfaithamerica.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/lab_user?post=38204"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}