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Teaching While Muslim

Type:

Teacher’s organization
Formation:

2018
Founders:

Nagla Bedir and Luma Hasan

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Teaching While Muslim is a teachers’ organization that provides resources and workshops to address what it claims are biases against Muslims in schools. 1 The organization operates primarily in New Jersey public schools. 2

Background

Teaching While Muslim is a teachers’ organization that provides resources and workshops to address what it claims are biases against Muslim in schools. 1 The organization operates primarily in New Jersey public schools and offers model lesson plans for K-12 schools. 2 1

The organization provides resources for teachers that claim the State of Isarael is guilty of “genocide.” 1

The organization says it is “Working to actively include social justice, anti-racist, and anti-Islamophobic curricula and educators in our schools.” The group says it seeks to “contribute to the fight against discrimination, implicit bias, and institutional racism.” 3

The organization provides classroom resources and workshops that represent different Muslim identities, including Black Muslim identity. Workshops include supporting refugee students, being an immigrant, dealing with xenophobia and Islamophobia, navigating citizenship, Arab-American identity, and the history of stereotypes of Arab Americans. Resources also teach on Muslim identity, holidays, and culture. 4

Founders

The idea for the Teaching While Muslim grew out of a 2016 workshop at the Urban Teaching Matters conference at Rutgers University-New Brunswick that focused on a perceived void in the education system regarding Muslim students or educators. The workshop was conducted by Nagla Bedir, a teacher at Perth Amboy High School, and Luma Hasan, a Franklin High School teacher. Both are graduates of Rutgers Graduate School of Education. 4

The two co-founded Teaching While Muslim in 2018. 5

Bedir has been an activist with ties to the Islamic Circle of North America, according to the Middle East Forum. 2

Palestinian Advocacy

Teaching While Muslim developed lesson plans on the Israel/Palestinian conflict that focus on the “genocide,” the “history of the occupation,” “Gaza in context,” and the “resistance.” 6 Leason plans have included a coloring page for young children indicating that the internationally recognized territory of Israel constitutes part of “Palestine.” 1

One lesson that compares European colonization of America with Israel’s colonization of Palestine, students are asked, “Compare and contrast the motivations, process, and repercussions of colonization in the Americas with the current colonization of Palestine under Israel.” 1

The group suggested teachers talk “about Palestine in the classroom,” discuss Israeli “apartheid,” and avoid terms such as “clashes” or “conflict,” which it says suggest “Palestine is on the same level as Israel.” The group further contends, “Israel is backed and funded by the US army and is committing an ethnic cleansing and military occupation against Palestine. […] This is not a war — both sides are FAR from equal power and access to resources.” 5

The organization has stated on its Instagram page: “There is a genocide being waged against Palestinians in ALL of Palestine.” 1

The organization hosted a virtual “curriculum share” for about 80 New York City and New Jersey teachers in February 2024, and talked about the “Israeli occupation” and called for educators to “explore what the definition of terrorism is” and ask students questions such as, “Who gets to decide the definition? Who gets to apply it and use it?” 5

The “Know Your Rights” pamphlet encourages teachers who “teach about or advocate for Palestine” to “keep communication regarding protests, walk-outs, rallies etc. on your personal email rather than district-issued emails” and contact a union representative if a teacher’s “cease-fire now” sign is called into question. 5

The group’s website includes a section on “Palestine,” an option for “supporting student activists,” and a resource for “talking about Palestine in the Classroom.” The website encourages teachers to support student activists in walkouts or boycotts backing Palestine and notes, “students are constantly exposed to the daily atrocities that are egregious in Palestine.” 1

Lesson Plans

Teaching While Muslim has a “Learning for Justice” lesson plan “seeks to uphold the mission of the Southern Poverty Law Center.” 3

There is also a lesson plan for the “Zinn Education Project” based on left-wing writer Howard Zinn’s book A People’s History of the United States. 3

The organization calls for “editing curricula to incorporate the stories, narratives, and the existence of Muslims,” which it says “can be done in every single discipline.” 7

Teaching about 9/11 Attacks

Teaching While Muslim provides lesson plans that include teaching on the “catastrophic events of 9/11” that led to an “erosion of civil liberties of many Americans,” and “understanding the context of 9/11.” 3

In 2022, Teaching While Muslim teamed with the New Jersey chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-NJ) to release the educator’s guide to classroom discussions surrounding 9/11 that includes lesson plans and curriculum guides present “a more nuanced approach to the subject of 9/11 and its impact on Muslim students,” and bullying of Muslim students in school. Teaching While Muslim executive director Nagla Bedir and assistant director Maheen Ahmad said in a joint statement upon the announcement: “Misinformation around 9/11, Muslims, and Islam are the primary causes of anti-Muslim racism and Islamophobia in schools.” 8

Controversies

In 2023, Teaching While Muslim produced a leaflet that was sent to the entire staff at Columbia High School in Maplewood, New Jersey. The leaflet described the U.S. as “a co-conspirator with Israel, preventing Muslim Palestinians from partaking in Ramadan as the Israeli Zionist occupation enacts a genocide against them.” Kevin Gilbert, the acting superintendent of the South Orange-Maplewood School District in New Jersey, apologized about the distribution of the leaflet. 2

In 2024, J. Scott Cascone, superintendent of New Jersey’s Holmdel Township School District, apologized to the public when Teaching While Muslim material was in an email sent to district staff. Recipients said the message was “biased and antisemitic.” 2

In 2024, at Schuyler Colfax Middle School in Wayne, New Jersey, a test question asked: “It is a terrorist organization that commits acts of violence, destroys cultural artifacts, and encourages loss of life in order to achieve its goal of global rule under strict Islamic Sharia law.” The four multiple-choice options were the Shining Path, al Qaeda, the Palestine Liberation Organization, and the correct response, Islamic State, often known as ISIS. 9

Teaching While Muslim doxed the teacher who gave the quiz on Instagram, saying he “failed his students and must be held accountable for this misinformation.” The group said, “Call and email everyone that you can. This is NOT okay on a million levels. Go.” It said the question “wrongly implies that terrorism is a fundamental goal of an ‘Islamic State’” and is “a continuation of U.S. and Zionist propaganda aimed at fearmongering against Muslims AND Palestinians.” 9 In a school district apology, Mark Toback, superintendent of schools for Wayne Township, New Jersey, said: “The question was offensive and contrary to our values of respect, inclusivity, and cultural sensitivity, I sincerely apologize.” 10

References

  1. “Perth Amboy High School psychology teacher has ‘Teaching While Muslim’ consultant company that claims Israel is committing genocide’ and ‘ethnic cleansing.’” Defending Education. April 19, 2024. Accessed June 28, 2025. https://defendinged.org/incidents/perth-amboy-high-school-psychology-teacher-has-consultant-company-that-claims-israel-is-committing-genocide-and-ethnic-cleansing/
  2. Rossomando, John. “Islamist Propaganda Organization Promotes Divisive Agenda in New Jersey Schools.” Middle East Forum. March 25, 2024. Accessed June 28, 2025. https://www.meforum.org/islamist-propaganda-organization-promotes
  3. “Lesson Plans.” Teaching While Muslim. Accessed June 28, 2025. https://www.teachingwhilemuslim.org/lesson-plans-1
  4. Duvert, Evie. “Teaching While Muslim.” Rutgers University. September 12, 2018. Accessed June 28, 2025. https://www.rutgers.edu/news/teaching-while-muslim#:~:text=Nagla%20Bedir%20(left)%20and%20Luma,Muslim%20identity%20and%20tackle%20misconceptions.
  5. Stack, Haley. “Islamic Education Consulting Group Brainwashing Public-School Students with Anti-Israel Propaganda.” National Review. April 19, 2024. Accessed June 28, 2025. https://www.nationalreview.com/news/islamic-education-consulting-group-brainwashing-public-school-students-with-anti-israel-propaganda/
  6. [1] “Lesson Plans on Palestine.” Teaching While Muslim. Accessed June 28, 2025. https://www.teachingwhilemuslim.org/ps-lesson-plans
  7. “Workshops Offered.” Teaching While Muslim. Accessed June 29, 2025. https://www.teachingwhilemuslim.org/workshopsoffered
  8.  Press Release. “CAIR-NJ, TWM Introduce Educators’ Guide for Classroom Discussions of 9/11.” Council on American Islamic Relations. September 8, 2022. Accessed June 28, 2025. https://cair-nj.org/cair-nj-twm-introduce-educators-guide-for-classroom-discussions-of-9-11/
  9. Rothove, Ben. “New Jersey middle school appeases terrorist sympathizers.” Washington Examiner. July 1, 2024. Accessed June 28, 2025. https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/3065290/new-jersey-middle-school-appeases-terrorist-sympathizers/
  10. Editorial Board. “Wayne, NJ schools chief is SORRY for painting ISIS as a terror group.” New York Post. July 4, 2024. Accessed June 28, 2025.  https://nypost.com/2024/07/04/opinion/wayne-nj-schools-chief-is-sorry-for-painting-isis-as-a-terror-group/
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