Fostering Friendships for People and Climate: Ramadan and Right Intention
On April 11th, during her Ramadan time of fasting, Dr. Rohany Nayan joined the Climate Cafe Multifaith for a conversation both local and global, looking at how our faith fosters friendships in our communities and worldwide. Dr. Nayan brought her expertise as an educator, administrator, volunteer, and CEO to our conversation, as we talked about Ramadan and the practices of friendship and justice that connect people during this sacred season for the Muslim community.
With the end of Ramadan for 2023 drawing to a swift close, I wanted to be sure and share these videos. Dr. Nayan is a woman of deep faith and a gifted educator. Her sincere desire to share and uplift was evident in everything she shared.
Below find four videos worth your time. If you are looking to better understand Islam and Ramadan, the conversation and video gave an engaging overview perfect for youth, confirmation classes, and simply getting a better understanding of your Muslim neighbors and the Muslim faith. The videos include an introduction to Chicago Muslims Green Team and the Jariyah Foundation, as well as words of hope.
Islam and Ramadan - An Overview
In the video below, Dr. Nayan offers an overview of the faith practices of Muslim people, including Ramadan. Dr. Nayan explains, “Ramadan is a time to repair, repair your relationship with God, repair your relationship with family… And Ramadan is also to rejuvenate spiritually, to make sure that you draw closer, you do good things, and you connect with people.”
“You must respect dignity, you must give everybody dignity and social justice and righteousness. Prophet Mohammad (PBUH) is my hero because he gave voices to women, he always consulted the women.”
—Dr. Rohany Nayan
Chicago Muslims Green Team
Learn about the work and projects of the Chicago Muslims Green Team (CMGT). Dr. Nayan is one of a number of volunteers working in the community to address sustainability and faith. One program of the CMGT is the Courage Project, activities and outreach to youth inspiring them to make a difference in their communities and the world. Says Dr. Nayan, CMGT was founded “to raise awareness about how to care for this earth, how to be a green "Khalifa" (steward, leader), how to live a sustainable life within the Muslim community and the bigger community… The nonprofit organization promotes a mindful, green, zero waste lifestyle, which is eco-friendly, and inspired by the Islamic ethics and guidance.”
“There is a verse in the Quran, where God says He is the one who ‘made you Khalifa.’ What is Khalifa? It means stewards, stewards are guardians of the earth. All of us are Khalifa. We are stewards of our body. We are stewards of our family. We are a leader of our community. We are stewards of the earth, and also all God’s creation.”
—Dr. Rohany Nayan
Introducing the Jariyah Foundation
At the Cafe, we joined in with congratulations and celebration for the brand new Jariyah Foundation. The Foundation is brand new, incorporated during Ramadan, and seeks to do inspirational work in communities in the US, and global communities e.g. the Philippines, Malaysia, Indonesia and beyond. Their ongoing programs (e.g. Weekly Feeding, Medical Outreach, Qur'anic Literacy, solar installations, etc.) draw from the concept of giving of yourself to benefit others. Their organizational structure includes the following:
Cool educational projects changing lives
Eco-friendly initiatives that help our communities thrive
Amazing collaborations that are making a real difference
For Jariyah Foundation, the goal is to establish “continuous charity” by creating healthy communities and empowering them through service, education and collaborations domestically and globally to help break the cycle of poverty, illiteracy and low expectations. Jariyah Foundation fosters friendships and provides assistance and resources to vulnerable people while striving to establish a sustainable, healthy, equitable lifestyle with an everlasting legacy of positive impact on local and global communities. After all, it does take a village (and the whole world) to build a healthy, safe, happy and thriving community.
“There’s a verse in the Quran that says, ‘hold firmly to the rope which God stretches out to you, and do not become divided among yourselves. And remember with gratitude God’s favor on you. So this is one of our inspirations. We want to get Muslims and non-Muslims together, people who hold on to the rope of God…together.”
—Dr. Rohany Nayan
What gives you hope?
Dr. Nayan shared her optimism that it is well and truly possible for people to choose to get to know each other and work together to remedy the challenges of our world. She reflects on the lessons we learn from our families and relationships. She shares, “My mom always taught me to leave a place better than when I found it. She often reminded me to always be kind in my thoughts, words and deeds.”
“Whatever it is, either we share food, or we just say ‘hi, how are you doing?’ ‘Oh! Here’s a chair, sit beside me.’ So, that’s hope.”
—Dr. Rohany Nayan
Learn more about Ramadan and how to support Muslim friends and students during Ramadan with this one sheet resource from the Muslim Civic Coalition.
Dr. Rohany Nayan is currently the Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the Jariyah Foundation, Inc. She holds a Ph.D. in Curriculum and Instruction from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, a master’s degree in Language Education (TESL) and a bachelor’s degree in English Education (ESL) from Indiana University-Bloomington. She is passionate about her work that focuses on minority and immigrant families and their children’s experiences in their adopted country, and how the interwoven issues of culture, language and meaning-making act upon their identity and literacy development.
Dr. Nayan has been involved in various aspects and levels of education (both Islamic and Western) and interfaith works for more than three decades where she has been a student, teacher, school principal, researcher, instructor, university lecturer, educational consultant and an assistant professor. She has taught classes at schools and universities, designed diverse programs and trained student teachers, community leaders and youth on various topics related to education, culture, identity, English as a Second Language (ESL) and Islam at the Indiana University in Bloomington, the University of North Carolina in Charlotte, the University of Wisconsin in Madison, and the University of Illinois at Chicago. Internationally, she had also taught ESL at the Mara University of Technology in Malaysia and the King Saud University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. In Chicago, her love for Islam, care for the environment and sustainable lifestyle resulted in her volunteering with the Chicago Muslims Green Team.
In 2023, she co-founded the Jariyah Foundation and works as the CEO who focuses on nurturing and growing the foundation’s mission and vision especially in fostering friendships, promoting dignity, health and self-sufficiency while providing assistance and resources to vulnerable people in an effort to establish an everlasting legacy of positive impact on local and global communities. She can be reached at: rohany@jariyah.us
Find more articles and video at the intersection of faith, climate change and climate justice on the Faiths4Future blog.
Rev. Richenda Fairhurst is here for the friendship and conversations about climate, community, and connection. She organizes the Climate Cafe Multifaith as a co-leader of Faiths4Future. Find her in real life in Southern Oregon, working as Steward of Climate with the nonprofit Circle Faith Future.