The Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative (stylized as MuslimARC) is a religious activist group that promotes left-of-center perspectives on race and race relations. The group’s trainers and consultants offer their services to government, nonprofit, corporate, and other societal institutions, with a particular emphasis on securing favorable treatment of Muslims and Black people. Founded in 2014 and based in Alta Loma, California, the group operates across the United States but has been especially active in the Detroit, Michigan area and throughout Southern California. ^{1 2}

MuslimARC has also aligned itself with the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR), a leading and controversial Muslim advocacy group. ³ At the same time, members of the group’s leadership have been involved in inter-religious activities at prominent theologically and politically liberal institutions such as the Union Theological Seminary and the divinity school at Harvard University. ^{4 5} In addition, MuslimARC has collaborated with the activism training arm of the Unitarian Universalist Association, a body of one-time Christian congregations which has since developed into a general spiritual organization with a strong focus on left-of-center social causes. ⁶

A notable opponent of MuslimARC within the political left is the Anti-Defamation League (ADL), which similarly promotes left-wing race ideology but from a liberal Jewish perspective. MuslimARC has joined the lslamic Networks Group, the Islamic Society of North America, and a number of other Muslim activist organizations in attacking the ADL for its pro-Israel messaging and its criticism of supporters of the Palestinians. ⁷

MuslimARC is a fiscally sponsored project rather than an independent organization, receiving its financial and administrative support from Allied Media Projects, a left-of-center public relations strategy developer which has taken funding from billionaire MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. ⁸

Initiatives

The Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative offers a variety of training and consulting services intended to move organizations towards adopting left-wing perspectives on race and favorable views of Islam. ⁹

ARCHouse

MuslimARC maintains a community center in Detroit, Michigan which interfaces with the large number of other Islamic institutions in the city. ¹⁰

DART

One of the group’s flagship programs is the “Detroit Anti-Racism Training” seminar. The group promotes the seminar to satisfy corporate DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) mandates in the workplace. ¹¹

Beyond Color-Blind

In 2019, MuslimARC published a guide to left-wing race ideology aimed at “White Muslims.” The guide’s co-authors claimed to have converted after encountering the teaching of radical Black activist Malcolm X and the “social justice” components of Islam, respectively. ¹²

Leadership

Margari Hill is the co-founder and executive director of the Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative. She also sits on the advisory council of an “Islam, Social Justice & Interreligious Engagement Program” at the Union Theological Seminary, a notionally Christian liberal religious educational institution. Margari received a “Muslim of the Year” award from the Council on American Islamic Relations in 2020. ¹³

Namira Islam is a co-founder and co-director of MuslimARC. She has previously worked with the AFL-CIO, the largest federation of labor unions in the United States, as well as in the pro-Palestinian activism and the Islamic charitable giving spheres. Like her fellow founder Margari Hill, she has been involved in the liberal theological sphere, having been a lecturer at the Harvard University divinity school. ^{14 15} Islam has endorsed the work of the Open Society Foundations, the flagship organization within the grantmaking and activism network of billionaire activist financier George Soros, as well as the anti-law enforcement funding movement. ¹⁶

Financials

The Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative is a fiscally sponsored initiative of Allied Media Projects, a left-of-center public relations nonprofit with financial backers including billionaire philanthropist MacKenzie Scott ¹⁷ MuslimARC grantmakers have included left-leaning Islamic philanthropic organizations such as the Pillars Fund and the El-Hibri Foundation, which contributed more than $50,000 between 2017 and 2020. ^{18 19}

1. “About Us.” MuslimARC. Accessed August 25, 2023. https://www.muslimarc.org/about_us
2. “Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative.” Pillars Fund. Accessed August 25, 2023. https://pillarsfund.org/grants/our-portfolio/muslim-anti-racism-collaborative/
3. “About Us.” MuslimARC. Accessed August 25, 2023. https://www.muslimarc.org/about_us
4. “Margari Hill.” MuslimARC. Accessed August 25, 2023. https://www.muslimarc.org/margari_hill
5. “Namira Islam.” Kennesaw State University. Accessed August 25, 2023. https://www.kennesaw.edu/global-education/center-for-africana-studies/faculty-development-workshops/scholars/namira-islam.php
6. “Unpacking and Resisting State-Sponsored Islamophobia.” Unitarian Universalist College of Social Justice. Accessed August 25, 2023. https://uucsj.org/session-iii-unpacking-and-resisting-state-sponsored-islamophobia/
7. Ismail Allison. “American Muslim Organizations Unite to Reject ADL’s ‘Slander’ and Support Palestinian Human Rights.” CAIR. May 16, 2022. Accessed August 25, 2023. https://www.cair.com/press_releases/american-muslim-orgs-unite-to-reject-adls-slander-and-support-palestinian-human-rights/
8. “Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative.” Democracy Fund. Accessed August 25, 2023. https://democracyfund.org/grant/muslim-anti-racism-collaborative/
9. “Build With Us!” MuslimARC. Accessed August 25, 2023. https://www.muslimarc.org/services
10. “ARCHouse.” MuslimARC. Accessed August 25, 2023. https://www.muslimarc.org/archouse
11. ^[1]“Frequently Asked Questions.” MuslimARC. Accessed August 25, 2023. https://www.muslimarc.org/dart_faq
12. Chelby Daigle. “Beyond Colour-Blind: On Writing an Anti-Racism Guide for White Muslims.” Muslim Link. June 17, 2019. Accessed August 25, 2023. https://muslimlink.ca/news/beyond-colour-blind-on-writing-an-anti-racism-guide-for-white-muslims
13. Margari Hill.” MuslimARC. Accessed August 25, 2023. https://www.muslimarc.org/margari_hill
14. “Namira Islam.” Kennesaw State University. Accessed August 25, 2023. https://www.kennesaw.edu/global-education/center-for-africana-studies/faculty-development-workshops/scholars/namira-islam.php
15. “Margari Hill.” MuslimARC. Accessed August 25, 2023. https://www.muslimarc.org/margari_hill
16. Namira Islam Anani. Twitter. Accessed August 25, 2023. https://twitter.com/namirari
17.  ^[1]“Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative.” Democracy Fund. Accessed August 25, 2023. https://democracyfund.org/grant/muslim-anti-racism-collaborative/
18. ^[1]“Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative.” Pillars Fund. Accessed August 25, 2023. https://pillarsfund.org/grants/our-portfolio/muslim-anti-racism-collaborative/
19. “What We Fund – Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative.” El-Hibri Foundation. Accessed August 25, 2023. https://www.elhibrifoundation.org/grants-database