Traveling exhibit challenges stereotypes about Muslim giving

(RNS) — As politicians in Washington singled out Somali and Muslim immigrant communities in Minnesota last year, a familiar stereotype resurfaced: Muslims as outsiders and “takers.”

And amid a high-profile investigation into a pandemic-related fraud scheme in the state, advocates say suspicion of Muslims rose and their contributions to Minnesota’s economy, culture and communities were disregarded.

A traveling exhibit called “Inspired Generosity” aims to challenge that. It opened in Minneapolis last week at the Robert J. Jones Urban Research and Outreach-Engagement Center Gallery at the University of Minnesota and highlights how Muslims in the U.S. have served their neighbors for decades. First debuted in Atlanta in September 2024, it arrives with new resonance after months of federal immigration enforcement that has shaken the city’s Somali and Muslim neighborhoods.

“People think of Muslims, unfortunately, as proselytizers, takers, that we are not contributing to our country,” said Dilnaz Waraich, president of the WF Fund, a philanthropic group that organized the exhibit. “We need to tell different stories of generosity.”

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Inspired Generosity features 50 stories of giving from the American Muslim community. The stories — told through poetry, videos, art and written entries — show the multitude of ways that Muslims have shown up for their neighbors through volunteerism and activism. The exhibit combines national stories with examples from each host city to uplift local impact.

Giving has long been a part of Muslim life. As one of the five pillars of Islam, Muslims are required to donate a portion of their wealth to charity, known as zakat. Muslims are also encouraged to give sadaqa, or regular, voluntary donations.

Waraich said those practices are rooted in a broader ethic of caring for neighbors and supporting the well-being of the wider community.

Muslim Americans gave an estimated $4.3 billion in donations to mostly nonreligious causes over the course of a year, according to a 2021 report from the Muslim Philanthropy Initiative at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy. Much of those donations stayed in the U.S.“

Muslims aren’t generous just because it’s a mandate for us,” Waraich told RNS. “We give because we want to create a better backyard. This is our backyard.”

Local religious leaders welcomed the exhibit. Makram El-Amin, an imam at Masjid An-Nur in north Minneapolis, said it is a much-needed display of how Muslims care for and support others.

El-Amin sees a connection between what he called a “crisis” in Minneapolis and the stories on the gallery walls. Recent immigration enforcement has put a spotlight on Muslim giving, as local mosques and community groups have stepped in to help families facing job loss, eviction or legal challenges. Residents have also risked their own safety, he said, as they protested the federal agents.

“You can’t really quantify that,” he said. “But to say that wasn’t generous, we’d be missing something.”

The exhibit also is underscoring the contributions of Muslim women and women-led organizations in the state such as Rabata, a Minnesota-based Islamic education group for women, and Reviving Islamic Sisterhood for Empowerment, an advocacy group.

Malika Dahir, who leads RISE, remembers as a child seeing her mother and grandmother always giving — cooking for new mothers and supporting others through informal care circles. Those quiet practices of generosity, rooted in faith, shaped how she understands philanthropy today.

Dahir said it’s important to honor the ways Muslim women have given time, wealth and resources to sustain their communities. As part of the exhibit, RISE is organizing a panel about Muslim women and philanthropy to encourage others to start similar initiatives.

“People feel empowered, and it has a ripple effect, when they know what it is exactly that their sisters are doing and create pathways for others to be able to give as well,” she said.

El-Amin said humility is often emphasized in Islamic teachings on charity, but there is also value in making those efforts visible.

“There’s a real benefit of really calling out the many ways that Muslim individuals, organizations, communities, families, are making a contribution to the betterment of others,” El-Amin said.

El-Amin and his mother, Arlene El-Amin, are featured in the exhibit for their work at Al-Maa’uun, a community center that has offered food, housing and mentoring support for 17 years. For him, generosity includes time, presence and activism as much as money.

While much of the exhibit focuses on service and grassroots giving, it also points to the growth of more formal philanthropy among Muslim Americans.

Structured, large-scale philanthropy among Muslims is still developing, said Nausheena Hussain, a Minneapolis-based philanthropic leader and doctoral student in philanthropic leadership.

Much of Muslim American giving, she said, still happens informally through mosques, community networks and direct support, making it less visible in traditional philanthropic spaces.

“As I study the landscape of philanthropy in the United States, all these books, they’re hundreds of pages long, and there will be maybe one sentence about Muslims or nothing at all,” Hussain said.

She added that Muslim donors are often left out of major philanthropic networks and institutions, limiting how their contributions are recognized.

“If we are constantly seen as the people who are receiving the zakat or the aid, who are always refugees trying to make it, it just gives this sense that we’re never going to be the ones that get to help others,” Hussain said. “So when we give examples of Muslim philanthropists, we’re teaching that this is our legacy.”

Waraich, whose WF Fund supports Muslim nonprofits, said she hopes the exhibit helps bridge that divide by uplifting Muslim philanthropy and bringing it into conversations within the wider philanthropic sector.

The exhibit is part of a broader effort she describes as “narrative change work,” aimed at reshaping public understanding of Muslim communities.

That work, Waraich said, involves telling stories that reflect the full scope of Muslim life, including long-standing traditions of generosity

.“With all of the talk about fraud and all of the negative things that we’re hearing about our communities here in Minnesota, narrative change work is really important work,” said Ikram Hussein, a project officer at Rabata. “It’s not just an option.”

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