Acacia Magazine

Lessons in Radical Imagination — Acacia Magazine Makkah Ali explores the origins of the Dar-ul-Islam movement and the lessons we can learn from their organizing work.

History contains many stories about the ways people have rejected and built in states uninterested in their survival. And African American Muslims have used Islam as a tool for liberation.

Drawing inspiration from the work of the Dar-ul-Islam movement: www.acaciamag.com/issue-03/les...

Where Do We Go From Here? — Acacia Magazine Strategies to employ for effective left movements

Today, many of us find ourselves paralyzed by the magnitude of oppression.

While not many things are within our individual control, activist
Hoda Katebi writes that “we cannot let [despair] impede what we do have control over: how we fight, resist, and build.” www.acaciamag.com/issue-03/whe...

Badar Khan Suri, the Georgetown Researcher Abducted by ICE Speaks Out

“If I am there in the Palestinians’ name, I take it as a badge of honor. I am not sorry.”

Published in partnership with @readlux.bsky.social and @hammerandhope.bsky.social, we spoke with Georgetown's Dr. Badar Khan Suri about his ICE detention: www.acaciamag.com/web/badar-kh...

Our greatest hope with this issue is that it galvanizes you to take action: Use these pages as pretext for what you plan to do next. Because according to our editor
@hiraahmed.bsky.social, “what we do for one another is all we have.”

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The house is on fire. Welcome to Issue 03 of Acacia.

We look to current and past struggles to strategize how to combat rising fascism. The pursuit of Mahmoud Khalil, Momodou Taal, and others confirms that fascism is here — and many of its tools aren't new.

A New Torchbearer for Progressive Politics — Acacia Magazine Saliha Bayrak on Zohran Mamdani's mayoral candidacy

New York City's Democratic mayoral primary election is tomorrow.

Read our feature story on @zohrankmamdani.bsky.social's historic campaign — and what it says about the surging political power of American Muslims — here: www.acaciamag.com/issue-03/a-n...

On Bail as Zakat: A Conversation with Believer's Bail Out — Acacia Magazine Maryam Kashani and Alla Alaghbri talk to us about using zakat to bail out incarcerated Muslims.

Meet Believer's Bail Out — a community led bail fund that has freed more than 200 Muslims from pre-trial & immigration incarceration via zakat funds. www.acaciamag.com/web/on-bail-...

Brown Butter Halwa Noreen Wasti's twist on the classic South Asian dessert

A momentary dose of lightness: For Eid, consider Noreen Wasti's brown butter halwa, adapted from the traditional version she grew up with: www.acaciamag.com/recipes/brow...

A Conversation With Mahmoud Khalil's Legal Team — Acacia Magazine Samah Sisay, an attorney on Mahmoud Khalil’s legal team talks to Acacia about the his case and the state of immigration law.

"This is a case that is supposed to be creating fear for others … ensuring [they’re] not affiliated with any sort of activism in support of Palestine,” says Samah Sisay, one of Mahmoud Khalil’s attorneys.

Read our conversation with her here: www.acaciamag.com/web/on-the-d...

Mosab Abu Toha: The Artist as Reporter — Acacia Magazine

After months of being inundated with images of Palestinian suffering, Mosab Abu Toha emphasizes the importance of imagining the lives unlived. That is the role of the artist, he says.

Read our profile of the poet by Acacia’s founder and EIC, @hiraahmed.bsky.social: www.acaciamag.com/issue-02/mos...

When Ramadan Means Letting Go Of Fasting — Acacia Magazine

Choosing not to fast for Ramadan often comes with a sense of loss, even when it is the right decision for health reasons.

Sumera Subzwari shares her personal story of navigating the holy month while in recovery from an eating disorder: www.acaciamag.com/web/when-ram...

On the Keffiyeh Issawi documents how the keffiyeh, a symbol of hope and resistance for Palestinians has been maligned by liberals and conservatives alike as symbol of hate

Along with the rise in the keffiyeh’s popularity has come a massive faction of bad actors who have worked hard to cast it in a negative light.

For Issue 02, Danya Issawi explored how a symbol of Palestinian identity and resistance has been hijacked by Zionists. www.acaciamag.com/issue-02/on-...

Finally: to those who haven’t received their issues in the mail or have changed your address, send us an email at subscriptions@acaciamag.com. If you’ve already done so, please bump us again — our spam filters were causing us to miss some.

Thank you for your patience 🙏

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Some good news ✨

You can now purchase single issues of the mag, thanks to our partners at @nplusonemag.com: shop.nplusonemag.com/collections/...

And to our readers abroad: we now offer international subscriptions, here: acaciamag.app.neoncrm.com/forms/subscr...

An Ecosystem of Violence — Acacia Magazine Khwaja draws the connection between American imperial violence abroad and the torture committed by police officers in local police departments at home.

For Issue 02, Maira Khwaja explores the American legacy of torture — from the Chicago Police Department to Guantanamo to Gaza — and where we go from here.

Read her reported essay: www.acaciamag.com/issue-02/an-...

The notorious images out of Abu Ghraib in 2004 shocked Americans who witnessed them—and provoked the public to question the U.S. military for allowing such torture. And yet: those graphic images hardly made a dent.

Today, our feeds are full of equally horrendous images.

The Limits of the Law — Acacia Magazine

Legal scholar Noura Erakat argues that while the law helps us create language for those advocating for Palestine, it must be used alongside other strategies like activism, sanctions, boycotts, and protest.

Read her interview with journalist Afeef Nessouli here: www.acaciamag.com/issue-02/the...

Often yellowed and dusty, the portraits rarely depict the present master of the premises, but rather someone long departed — resulting in a special type of “still life.”

See more photos and read Catherine David's words about them here: www.acaciamag.com/issue-02/fat... #acaciamag #gaza

Taysir Batniji's breathtaking “Fathers” series — shown on the cover of Issue 02 — is an inventory of portraits hung on the walls of living or working spaces in Gaza and throughout the Middle East.

At the CUNY encampment, students were able to communicate with Mumia Abu-Jamal, who is currently incarcerated and widely regarded as a political prisoner for his radical views.

To a crowd of jeering students and supporters, he said, “I admire you.”

The Student Intifada — Acacia Magazine Chowdhury profiles multiple student encampments around the world. She captures how they are spreading despite repression and talks to students about their goals with the encampments and the educationa...

From Issue 02: The student encampments have exposed the connection between the genocide in Gaza and US policies that empower police to stifle dissent and criticism.

They've also demonstrated the potential for an abolitionist future, Rebecca Chowdhury writes. www.acaciamag.com/issue-02/the...

💚

Here, a response from the poet Ghinwa Jawhari.

As Palestinians in Gaza make the trek North back to their homes — or what remains of them — we hope this day marks the beginning of the end of one of the bloodiest chapters in Palestine’s history. #gaza #acaciamag

It’s been 16 months since Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu tweeted: “This is a struggle between the children of light and the children of darkness, between humanity and the law of the jungle.”

He deleted the post almost immediately. But we haven’t forgotten it.

From Issue 02: In this short story by Hala Alyan, an immigrant family moves to Oklahoma where they face the strong current of assimilation in a country hostile to their Arab ethnic background — a feeling all too familiar today.

Read it here → www.acaciamag.com/issue-02/swe...

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The lineup ✨

Years from now, we hope that the back issues will tell the story of what it meant to be a Muslim in America during critical political and cultural moments. We believe that is an invaluable benefit worthy of investment. #acaciamag

We're often asked: why print?

We publish a print edition to build a tangible, enduring legacy of American Muslim political thought and artistic production. The internet may seem like forever, but everything on it is ephemeral.

We also explored the efforts of organizers, whether by working within the Democratic Party to influence policy change around the war on Gaza or rejecting electoralism altogether.

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