Zaid Shakir – The Foundations of an American Muslim Antipoverty Movement

About this lecture

In this powerful lecture, Imam Zaid Shakir draws on a single Quranic verse about the Ansar and Muhajireen to lay out the spiritual and moral foundations of an American Muslim antipoverty movement. He argues that love, freedom from envy, selfless giving, and inner purification are the essential prerequisites for meaningful community organizing and social justice work. Weaving together Quranic wisdom, Hadith, and vivid examples from contemporary American poverty — including Camden, New Jersey and a group of Somali refugees from Lewiston, Maine — he calls Muslims to stand up with one voice against economic injustice and to ground their activism in a deep awareness of their worth before Allah.