For every community activist, there was a point in time that made them want to change things for the better. For Soraya Deen, a Sri Lankan American Muslim woman, this moment came in 2017. It was Sept. 11, and her seven-year-old son was bullied at school. Children who were born years after the attack on the Twin Towers were blaming him for 9/11.
Deen, a lawyer who immigrated to the U.S. as a young adult, became an interfaith activist soon afterwards. She joined the American Muslim and Multifaith Women’s Empowerment Council (AMMWEC) and founded Muslim Women Speakers. She is also one of the founding members of the Clarity Coalition – an alliance addressing religious extremism – and the co-chair of the Women’s Working Group of the International Religious Freedom Roundtable in Washington, D.C.
Shortly after she became active, she met Marsha Novak, an activist and a member of Temple Judea, and together they founded the Interfaith Solidarity Network to promote interfaith unity in the San Fernando Valley. “Our goal is to have personal transformation and send a strong message that despite how we all have different faiths, we are here for each other,” Deen said.
“Our goal is to have personal transformation and send a strong message that despite how we all have different faiths, we are here for each other.”
– Soraya Deen
The two women became fast friends. For Deen, it was the first time she had befriended a Jewish person, as she never had the opportunity to get to know one. “I was very disappointed by the silence of the Muslims after Oct.7,” said Deen. “The Muslim leaders also didn’t say a word after the death of Paul Kessler [who died following an attack by a pro-Palestinian in Thousand Oaks].”
“We, as Muslim women, need to speak up. We don’t hear enough from South Asian Muslim women, only from the Middle Eastern ones,” Deen, who is a member of a group of Muslim women who are defending the right of Israel to exist and defend itself, said.
Deen and Novak organized a solidarity rally in the Valley following the attack on Israel; 500 people participated in the march. She had traveled to Washington, D.C. for speaking engagements, and five days after the Oct. 7 attack, they organized a multi-faith peace vigil outside the White House to show solidarity with the victims in Israel. They also traveled to Israel last December and visited Sderot and Ofakim, where 52 residents were killed.
“We met with a woman who lost two sons in the attack, one who was shot in the attack and the other who died while he was a hostage of Hamas, and others who lost their loved ones,” Deen said. “I was amazed by the capacity to have peace and love in their mind after all that they had experienced. There was no hatred for the Palestinians.” Together with other women leaders of AMMWEC, Deen stood up for the Jewish victims of the Hamas attack in Washington and spoke at the International Religious Freedom Summit, a bipartisan gathering of thousands of coalition leaders, nonprofit and human rights advocates. They also visited the office of Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.), a very vocal critic of Israel. They wanted to ask Tlaib and her colleagues to condemn Hamas for the “rape, murder, torture, assault and all mutilations” of the Israeli women on Oct. 7. They also asked her to speak out against hate speech on college campuses.
“She wasn’t in her office, [so] we were invited to come in by her staff. We told them why we were there. They said they would let her know. We tweeted about it, but didn’t have any response,” Deen said. Since becoming an activist, Deen has visited Israel many times and also participated in March of the Living in Poland. She also travels frequently to Washington. Her activism, however, doesn’t sit well with her community. Some stopped speaking to her, some say “If Soraya is on this WhatsApp group, then we are out,” she said. “They think I’m employed by Mossad. They say, ‘You are not a good Muslim.’ They say I have no sympathy for the Palestinians and that I’m one-sided. Things like that.”
Knowing what kind of a reaction she is expected to receive in most mosques, Deen doesn’t bring her message to them or arrange for any speakers on behalf of Israel. “My local mosque will say, ‘Soraya, it’s too raw, too early, it will make people angry, people don’t have the capacity to understand,’” she said. “’We are hoping that once the war is over there will be a better opportunity.’”
Even her family and her children don’t see the situation in Israel the way she does and keep telling her to stop talking about the subject. “They tell me that there are Palestinian children who are getting killed.”
Her children, like many other students on U.S. campuses, hear false information about Israel that feeds negative views about Israel. To influence change, she said, we need to approach Christian students as well and try to get the point across to them.
“We need to see more activity from synagogues. The 75% to 90% of them don’t have social networks, it’s time to reinvent a new way to doing things. They need to make videos, tell their story. We can’t wait for someone else to do the work.”
Deen admits that her opinion of Israel wasn’t positive prior to her becoming an activist. This was due to things she heard from her community, including her family and mosque. Even though those around her still hold onto their beliefs, she is steadfast in standing with Israel.
With this anti-Israel atmosphere, there are not many Muslims who are willing to voice a different opinion. Those who share her viewpoint on Israel choose to write to her organization words of support but refrain from speaking up. “They are too scared,” she said. “But they say to us, ‘Keep doing the good work.’”
It takes a lot of courage to stand up for your beliefs when everyone in your community sees things completely differently. However, Deen believes that with time, more people will be open to listen and understand Israel’s stance better.
Deen said that as a Muslim woman, she knows how much brainwashing Muslim people have gone through, but she is still hopeful about the future. “When you study, when you visit Israel, when you get to know Jewish people, you get a different perspective. The day after the war, we need to speak with women in Gaza. We need to give them hope and tell them how they were brainwashed and start changing things together.”
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