Meet an innoFaither is our series to introduce the inspiring optimists in the innoFaith world and what they’re working on and thinking about. We hope it helps you find and engage with each other across the network to advance faith-rooted social innovation and interfaith collaboration for social impact. Or just meet some cool people.
Meet Reem Rahman, passionate mom and systems change expert, one of the folks behind the beautiful changemaking.net resource from Ashoka in our resource library. Reem brings her deep faith, curiosity, and commitment to everything she does, which now includes creating the most compelling homeschool we’ve ever heard of and writing a children’s book.
What faith(s), if any, do you practice? Is your faith or practice bringing special inspiration or insight for you in this current moment?
I am a Muslim.
Right now, the ongoing, devastating pandemic reminds me how fragile and precious life is. I am thinking deeply about how I can make the most of the blessings and privileges that I have to be in good health and home while so many are struggling without. In particular, I am trying to see how I can contribute as much good to the world as I can, and in a way that may continue to bring benefit for generations to come after I die. I am especially inspired by the Islamic teaching about leaving a legacy that lasts beyond one’s lifetime when the Prophet Muhammad was recorded teaching, ‘When a person dies, his deeds come to an end except for three: Sadaqah Jariyah (a continuous charity), or knowledge from which benefit is gained, or a righteous child who prays for him’. (source)
I try to ask myself daily, if I were to die unexpectedly, did I make the most of my life? Did I give back as much as I could? I hope that I can contribute as much good as possible, and in a way that lasts for generations to come.
Where do you live?
Due to the pandemic, we temporarily relocated away from the Bay Area and are currently living with family in the Chicago suburbs. We switched our view from hummingbirds to icicles; it’s a lot colder out here than in the Bay! But we are blessed and grateful to be lucky enough to be with family, in good company, health, and home.
What's your favorite pastime?
I love reading! When I pick up a book, I’m transported to other worlds and learn from lifetimes of wisdom others have recorded. I’d love to get lost in a bookstore or library, any day!
What are you working on currently?
I am currently homeschooling our children together with their cousins at our school called the “Malcolm X School of Adab and Acomedido.” We hope to measure the success of our children’s learning by the ideas referenced in the school.
On whether they have beautiful manners - being gentle, caring, problem solvers in their lives both inside and outside the home. This is the concept referenced by the Arabic word “Adab.”
On whether they proactively help in the right way, at the right time, as a result of paying attention to their surroundings - a beautiful Mayan term encapsulated in the term “acomedido.” Check out the awesome NPR article about this phenomenon, How to Get Your Children To Do Chores Without Resenting It.
On whether they are resilient, lifelong learners, who can learn from, and build upon, the legacy of those who came before us. These are the ideas evoked by the school’s namesake of the great African-American civil rights hero Malcolm X.
In the process of teaching, we ourselves learn and grow as well! The joy and wonder of discovery from the young ones is infectious. We believe that learning is not limited to just what happens in “class” and aim to make each teaching playful, hands-on and real-world whenever we can.
Inspired by our children, my fellow homeschooling teacher and sister-in-law are working on a book titled “My First Heroes,” which seeks to inspire children to be their own everyday heroes, based on stories from the Islamic faith tradition. The 12-mini-bookset includes titles such as “Ibrahim (Abraham), the Sun, and the Stars” to emphasize the quality of curiosity, and “Musa (Moses) and the Opened Sea” to emphasize the quality of being a team player.
Lastly, I am passionate about opening up access to “systems change” learnings. Knowing how to create systems change—tackling the root causes of a problem to create long-lasting impact—is what gives me hope that together, we can create deep and lasting social change. I am constantly inspired by the examples of social entrepreneurs, such as Raj Dayadev’s work to create restorative justice and Vanessa Garison and Morgan Dixon’s work to “pioneer a health movement for African-American women and girls grounded in civil rights history and principles.”
In a previous job at Ashoka, I helped launch the award-winning resource changemaking.net to make systems change learning more accessible, and I am excited to find ways that we can scale access to more of such open learning content. Accelerators and fellowships on systems change still do not have enough participants from historically underrepresented communities - and I hope we can find ways to change that, ASAP!
What question are you thinking about these days?
The work above is each driven by its own core questions. Mainly:
Homeschooling - How do you know when an education is successful? How do you structure homeschooling to achieve this success?
Self-publishing - How can we create an educational resource that creates as much ongoing social impact as possible, in every stage of the process, from the content in the book, to the selection of illustrators and vendors?
Producing open learning experiences - How do we shift away from learnings on systems change only reaching a few, exclusive accelerator participants, to scaling access to learnings on systems change? In particular, how do we ensure full, representative diversity of participants? How do we ensure the learning content is effective as it is moved into new formats and scale of audiences?
How can people find you?
You can also follow along on our homeschooling journey at malcolmxhomeschool on Instagram.