“What can one young Muslim do to fight the injustices plaguing the world today?” This question that many young people repeatedly ask themselves was the guiding focus for CAIR Washington’s Muslim Youth Leadership Program.
From August 5th to August 15th, CAIR-WA brought together 16 of Washington’s most active and dedicated Muslim youth leaders to engage in a series of lessons covering topics including the Islamic foundations of social justice, the history of social justice in Islam, and providing trainings tools and resources to be an effective social justice leader. Youth attendees also gained the opportunity to engage with Imams, politicians, activists, and other experts in social justice as well as the opportunity to give back to the community by creating care kits for those experiencing homelessness. The program culminated in a capstone project where these 16 youth leaders demonstrated their impressive goals of social justice and their newfound knowledge for how to achieve them.
On August 5th, these Muslim youth leaders made their way to CAIR-WA’s office for day one of the program. As CAIR-WA Community Legal Advocate, Sabrene Odeh, began the lessons, it quickly became apparent that these members of Washington’s Muslim youth were above and beyond in their Deen, their drive for universal justice, and their activeness in striving for it. Many are involved in humanitarian nonprofits, local political campaigns, and global social justice movements. To begin further developing these skills, they were given a rundown of the legal process by CAIR-WA’s legal team and discussed with Imam Akram Baioumy about the importance of social justice advocacy in Islam.
Two days later, on August 7th, this group of Muslim leaders came back together to learn about the history of Muslims in social justice movements with CAIR-WA’s Executive Director, Imraan Siddiqui. They then shifted to a discussion with Imam Abdullahi Jaranow on the importance and methods of maintaining personal wellbeing while working with the heavy topics that often accompany fights for social justice, as well as methods of community care to take care of one another. The youth then welcomed three more guests to the office: Tukwila City Councilmember Mohamed Abdi, Bothell City Councilmember Rami Al-Kabra, and Washington State Representative Osman Salahuddin. These three elected officials provided valuable insight into the political process and how to achieve social justice through political pathways. They ended the session with a community service project, provided by Essentials First, where they worked together to create street kits, bags filled with necessities such as rain ponchos and shampoos, to be distributed to community members experiencing homelessness. We’d like to give a special thank you to Councilmember Abdi who stayed late to support the youth with the street kits.
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- Guest speaker Executive Director Imraan
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- Guest speaker Ayoub
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- Thank you to Gyro Stop!
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- Guest Speaker Linda Sarsour!
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- Guest speaker Imam Abdullahi Jaranow
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- Preparing street kits from Essentials First
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- Celebratory dinner!
The third day of the program began with an inspiring discussion with award-winning activist, Linda Sarsour, where these 16 leaders learned practical advocacy skills from an expert in the field. They then jumped into policy training with public policy and advocacy expert, Aya Samman. Aya illustrated the various levels of government and demonstrated how she engages in policy to advocate for social justice. Lastly, the youth grouped together to discuss their assigned readings from 40 on Justice by Omar Suleiman.
The youth’s last day of learning on August 14th began with a lesson on public speaking by communications expert, Hanady Kader. The young people were challenged with creating and presenting a speech on an assigned topic (i.e. arguing for less homework) and excelled at their speeches. They then learned from CAIR-WA Digital Specialist and influencer, Anyssa Mahmoud, on how to use social media in their journeys as social justice leaders, as well as how to remain safe while engaging in public platforms. Lastly, they received an overview of the impact of media and communications work by CAIR-WA Communication’s Director, Katie Walker. She also provided instruction and direction on their capstone projects due by midnight the same day.
On the final day of the program, these 16 youth leaders were invited to join together for a final time with their families to delight their taste buds with a delicious dinner and indulge their minds with captivating presentations on their capstone projects. Through these presentations, this group of youth once again demonstrated their admirable passions, coupled with a strong foundation in Islam and new knowledge stemming from the program, to illustrate the injustices faced by the world, and how they intend to fight them. The CAIR-WA team left the dinner with pride for the Washington Muslim community and with hope that the future is in good hands.
A special thanks to everyone who provided their insight, efforts, and time to the program. A special shout out to Hasan Zeer with Gyro Stop for generously donating all four days of lunches for our youth while they worked to sharpen their skills. Thank you to all the parents for raising strong young Muslims who dream of universal justice and who we are certain will go far in their journeys to achieve it. Finally, we want to give a thank you to all the youth who participated in this program and showed an inspiring commitment to learning and creating lasting change in their communities.
About the Author: Zayna Aarbi was an Outreach Intern in Summer 2025.