From Timbuktu to Mississippi: 

The Underprivileged Student Initiative

The International Museum of Muslim Cultures (IMMC) is appealing for your support to bring 5,000 disadvantaged youth to the museum and participate in a discussion on self-worth and Human Dignity.  We are seeking to raise $30,000.  Through this project and with your support, we are striving to enrich the educational experiences of youth from throughout the state of Mississippi, in schools struggling with underfunding and who otherwise, wouldn't have the resources to travel to visit the museum.   This  initiative is a part of IMMC's overall mission to better educate the public about Islam, Islamic History and Culture, and the right of every human being to a life of Dignity.

"The Legacy of Timbuktu: Wonders of the Writen Word" exhibit and Human Dignity curriculum

The Legacy of Timbuktu exhibit and Human Dignity curriculum gives African American youth an opportunity to reconnect with their Afro- Islamic roots, therefore enhancing their identity beyond a history that has been shaped by the Trans-Atlantic Slave trade.  For most youth in the West, they have only been exposed to the influences of Western Civilizations as the only important contributors to the modern world.  This method serves as inspiration for individuals who trace their family roots to Europe, but does little for the identity of those individuals whose lineage traces back to West Africa, and Islamic civilizations.

Education, Human Dignity and Poverty in the State of Mississippi

In an environment where one's worth is based on material possessions, for those without, many times this reality is internalized; stripping one of their dignity.  Education, is one of the strongest tools to reclaim one's Dignity and liberate oneself from the shackles of poverty.  Currently, the state of Mississippi is ranked 43/ 50 in education (www.alec.org) and the youth poverty rate is at 35% (www.spotlightonpoverty.org).  One of the contributing factors to Mississippi's low public education ratings, is its failure to fully fund education.  This lack of funding restricts educators ability to provide enriching learning opportunities and intellectual escapes from the negative environments, that impoverished youth face.

The Realities of Human Dignity

Since it's founding in 2001, IMMC has set out to research, explore, reinterpret, and present gems from Islamic civilizations past, and to infuse them into the discussion of some of today's most difficult issues.  Starting with the effects of poor education on impoverished communities.  IMMC has targeted the absence of a curriculum that caters to the whole of an individual through the teaching of values and self-worth.  This absence is rooted in the lack of understanding the realities of "Human Dignity".  Dignity as defined by the IMMC, being the “inherent nobility, honor and worth, born sense of leadership and self governance, which is endowed upon every human being, as established by Allah swt.   "Nobility, honor, and a sense of leadership" because Allah  (swt) has placed man on earth as the Khalifa fil-Ard, i.e. vicegerent.  As He says in the Qur’an,

      وهو الذي جعلكم خلائف الارض ورفع بعضكم فوق بعض درجات ليبلوكم في ما اتاكم ان ربك سريع العقاب وانه لغفور رحيم                 

"It is He Who hath made you (His) agents, Inheritors of the earth." (6:165)

Also Allah says about the "Honoured/ Noblity" of the Man,

The Noble Quran 17:70

 وَلَقَدْ كَرَّمْنَا بَنِىٓ ءَادَمَ وَحَمَلْنَٰهُمْ فِى ٱلْبَرِّ وَٱلْبَحْرِ وَرَزَقْنَٰهُم مِّنَ ٱلطَّيِّبَٰتِ وَفَضَّلْنَٰهُمْ عَلَىٰ كَثِيرٍ مِّمَّنْ خَلَقْنَا تَفْضِيلًا

"And indeed We have honoured the Children of Adam, and We have carried them on land and sea, and have provided them with At-Taiyibat (lawful good things), and have preferred them above many of those whom We have created with a marked preference."

IMMC's commitment to supporting education