Five Points of Light for American Muslims in Five Years

3) More women in public roles and leadership positions. The trend of American mosques moving to near universal acceptance of women in board positions is hopeful. Currently, however, only half of mosques who have changed their policies to allow women to serve have successfully elected/appointed women into those roles. The emergence of The Side Entrance, The Women's Mosque of America, ShakhaFest, and social media campaigns like #NextTimeRememberHer bode well for the examination of so-called women's issues front and center in community conversations. I expect more and more campaigns and organizations to be led by American Muslim women.

4) The plague of extremism. While I pray that ISIS is a thing of the past in five years, the reality is that ISIS or its offshoots will likely continue to spread fear through their barbaric violence and disfigurement of sacred Islamic values. It will be our task to fight evil with that which is better, as the Quran teaches us, and amplify our voices of outrage and hope to win the battle for Islam. We'll stem the alarming tide of young American Muslims becoming prey to extremists by fighting against ISIS's propaganda and perversion of Islam — through Muslim-initiated programs. In five years, I also pray that the question of "Why don't Muslims condemn this?" will have been put to rest. Americans will understand that ISIS does not represent a modern understanding of Islam and the Muslim outrage will be heard and respected.

5) Realizing our interconnectedness as Americans. The #BlackLivesMatter movement has raised the collective conscience about the gaping racial wounds that must be addressed both through policies and public understanding. So far, we have seen the launch of Muslims for Ferguson and a social media campaign that raised over $200,000 to help rebuild black churches burned in arson attacks. In the next five years, the nascent relationships between the emerging voices of this movement and allies in the American Muslim community could create a 2020 incarnation of Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marching alongside Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. and so many other Civil Rights movement luminaries.

This will be possible because of a new level of fearlessness developing among young American Muslim voices. Many of them are the product of programs built in the last decade aimed at building the confidence and skills of American Muslims to serve their communities and causes. Between MPAC Young Leaders and Safe Spaces programs, NewGround, the Women's Mosque, AMCLI, and a number of interfaith groups, I am among a wave of more than 1,000 American Muslims collectively who are working to realize the change we wish to see in the world.

If we are to have any chance at winning back the image and identity of our faith, we will have to pay attention to these areas and doubtless many more. The first step? Let's come out of the closet and let people know that they know a Muslim, and take it from there.