You’ve seen these names in headlines. What you haven’t seen, at least not fully, is the cost of becoming one.
From detention to harassment to political targeting, the experiences of Leqaa Kordia, Nerdeen Kiswani, and Mahmoud Khalil reflect a broader reality: justice is not treated as a principle, but as a risk.
These were among the voices invited to Muslim Girl’s private table in New York City. To mark 10 years of Muslim Women’s Day, Muslim Girl launches MG10: a salon dinner series convening voices across media, culture, and politics that rarely share the same room.
The individuals gathered are not separate from the political moment, but rather they are at its center. Among those in attendance were former Congressman Jamaal Bowman, the first Muslim woman representative in the New York City Council Shahana Hanif, journalist Kat Tenbarge, and influencer Naley By Nature. Notably, the evening convened activists Nerdeen Kiswani, Leqaa Kordia, and Mahmoud Khalil around the same table for the first time.
As global attention has focused on Israeli attacks on Palestinians, the consequences have extended far beyond Gaza and the West Bank. In the United States, pro-Palestinian advocacy has become increasingly visible, as well as increasingly targeted. Surveillance intensifies. Policy demands are dismissed. Identity itself becomes grounds for scrutiny.
In 2024, Leqaa Kordia was arrested during a peaceful protest outside Columbia University. Months later, she was detained again and transferred to a facility in Texas, where she faced violations of her religious rights, such as being denied halal food, forced to choose between eating and fasting during Ramadan, and refused basic accommodations for prayer.
Nerdeen Kiswani, a Palestinian organizer and mother in New York City, has faced sustained threats, stalking, and attempted violence, including an incident in which her home was nearly targeted in an attack in retaliation for her continued advocacy. The plot was foiled by the FBI and prompted a public statement from Mayor Zohran Mamdani.
Mahmoud Khalil was detained from his home in a direct targeting of his activism. Without a warrant, he was taken by agents, held in undisclosed conditions, and separated from his family, forced to miss the birth of his first child, Dean.
In marking a decade of Muslim Women’s Day, the global campaign amplifying Muslim voices online, the invited guests embodied the very voices, narratives, and perspectives it was created to protect, among the most fearless shaping its purpose today.
There was no shortage of love exchanged as guests traded experiences, touched on the most pressing issues of the moment, and what’s needed for progress. Even Nerdeen and Noor Khalil’s cradled babies, both the same age, seemed to already be bonded. What came together at this table was not just testimony. It was alignment.
In her closing remarks, Amani stated:
This milestone reminds us that progress doesn’t always mean protection, and at the end of the day it comes down to community to be there for each other.
