Here are few of Dr. Sayeed’s current projects with people in the community:

• “On Staten Island, we have gotten together high school students from the Miraj Islamic School, The Albanian Islamic Cultural Center, and Our Lady of Good Counsel parish. For two years in a row they have come together and cooked a stew that was delivered to homeless people; visited a church and a mosque together; and learned about each other’s principles of worship. That was lovely.”

In Staten Island, youth at the Miraj Islamic School and the Catholic Youth Organization learned about Islamic and Catholic teachings on social justice. (Photo: Interfaith Center of New York.)  

• In 2011, Dr. Sayeed brought a group of Catholic, Jewish, and Muslim women together as an interfaith discussion group. They have been meeting regularly since then. “We watch documentaries together and use a model called ‘scriptural reasoning,’ which allows us to compare the texts of the various religions on particular topics and share each other’s perspectives,” she says. [For a chance to compare short passages of the Old Testament, the New Testament, and the Quran on topics like the voice of God, the creation of the world, and women and equality, go to scripturalreaoning.org.]

• In Harlem, she helped organize a program that brought together community members from the Mosque Of Islamic Brotherhood and Church Of St. Charles Borromeo & Resurrection Chapel to discuss the intersection of racism and theology. “That was amazing,” she says. “African American Catholics and Muslims got together and shared their experiences of racism within their own faith communities as well as the liberating power of their own faith.”

• Another interfaith program in Harlem looks at the intersection of spirituality and recovery from addiction—“the Catholic and Muslim perspectives on how spirituality could be a tool in recovery.”

Next page: Women in Islam, breaking down gender barriers in the mosque.