Meet Amani al-Khatahtbeh the Founder of MuslimGirl.com

I'm Amani, the founder of MuslimGirl.com, and I'm an author, activist, entrepreneur, and I also ran for Congress in New Jersey's District 6 this year. Muslim Girl is an online platform for Muslim women's voices, especially those who live in Western societies or non-Muslim countries, who are navigating many different identities and possibly cultures that are looking to apply Islamic principles to today's lifestyles in today's society. I created it when I was a senior in high school because I could not find the spaces in real life that I sought with my community and other young women and girls like myself who shared similar experiences. I couldn't find a space for us to connect and have the conversations that matter to our lives, so I started Muslim Girl online to create that space as a place for us to all come together and actually have a chance at really diving into our identities and what they mean to us outside of what the media narrative was really just trying to shove down our throats at that time. My goal for Muslim Girl has always been for us to not only have a space on our own terms to speak our truths but also to ultimately in the long run impact public opinion by being present and in doing so then having an influence on the policies that are actually impacting us directly and I think that that is absolutely the path that Muslim Girl has been walking and the one that I want to see it continue forging in whatever space it enters. Hi mama. Hi baby. It's official your daughter is on the ballot to run for Congress. Really? I made it on the ballot mama. First Muslim woman to ever run for federal office in the history of New Jersey. I truly think that my congressional race was an affirmation of the work that needs to be done more than anything because I think even just diving into it I entered the race after quarantine had already started right the pandemic was already underway and we were three months away from the primary so it absolutely was a David and Goliath type of battle but regardless of how badly I felt like we needed that congressional seat and how much we fought for it I knew that we couldn't attach ourselves to that as the outcome right like we had to really dedicate and commit ourselves to the work that was necessary and that was needed and do that to the absolute best of our ability and let the chips fall where they may because the work that we do is just contributing to a long chain a long legacy of work not just you know for us as as Muslims as the Muslim community but also so many of the marginalized communities across the country that are fighting for a seat at that table right now so I think that that's the same attitude for me moving forward it's what is the work needed what needs to be done how do we take direct action to make that change happen immediately and not in increments because this is a historic moment that we're in right now the change starts with you as cliche as it sounds it starts within your immediate social circles it starts within your universe your world and that change always ripples outward at the bottom or at the end of the day the most important question to ask yourself is what can I do with the resources I have available with the privileges that I am blessed with what am I capable of and act on that and as long as you do that regardless of what you think about it that's none of your business it's not your business to judge your impact your job is simply to do the best that you absolutely can that's that's your moral responsibility and that's all that you owe the world and if we all do that together then there's no imagining the type of new world that we can all create together