Women Weaving Peace - Mino Akhtar

Even before 9/11, many Muslim activists and community leaders were involved in dialogue with other ethnic, race or faith-based groups. It stemmed from a desire to be understood as media and Hollywood continued their negative stereotyping of Islam while hiding the political underpinnings to those conflicts. I got involved with many such groups, as I loved the promise of dialogue for our new multicultural world, having grown up on four continents myself. I had been enchanted with Bohm’s writings as I was doing my Master’s in Human and Organizational Transformation. My corporate expertise in collaborative methods and my growing practice of Sufism added to my own passion for dialogue as a path for peace.

My first such project involved bringing Arabs, Israelis, Jews, Muslims, and Christians together in Manhattan to discuss the Israel/Palestine conflict—it gave me my first taste of the challenges and transformations that dialogue enables. Another was a national Muslim/Jewish national study project with men and women, which several of my friends were involved with. It splintered as soon as the political rights of Palestinians were raised. Fortunately, one Muslim and one Jewish woman decided not to let the idea die and formed the Women’s Interfaith Initiative of Bergen County, New Jersey. We invited women of the Muslim, Jewish and Christian faiths and felt we could develop a more heartfelt circle of conversation. I was nominated to be a co-leader, which was a fortunate coincidence as the 9/11 backlash triggered an acceleration of my spiritual journey.

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