This is the public-facing page about the Seattle Jannah Circle community.

Jannah Circle Seattle is a community of Muslim women based in Seattle with members around North America. We exist to provide spaces for Muslim women rooted in a shared commitment to spiritual growth and the celebration of the authentic Muslim self. We do this by hosting shared spaces for our community, primarily halaqas which are small group discussions about how to live within our Islamic values, but also events like iftars, camping trips, classes, and more. We also are centered on a platform to promote the sharing of resources and information to create a sustainable community rooted in justice, mutual aid, and, most importantly, the Islamic tradition. If you’d like to support our work, check out our fundraising page!

Origin Story

Jannah Circle began as an informal collective of Muslim sisters who met over Ramadan in March of 2022 at Maps Seattle. In the first few days of Ramadan, Ayesha Ghaffar asked a few of the Maps Seattle volunteer sisters to attend an iftar at her house. Despite the guests meeting only a few days prior, the night was a perfectly intimate and wholesome evening filled with prayer, food, and authentic discussions about our lives as Muslim women.

Over the rest of 2022, the Jannah Circle community grew organically to more than 100 Muslim women, organized via a Telegram group chat with dinners after lectures at the mosque, hikes, picnics, board game nights, camping trips, and more. In addition to gatherings, the chat became a place where sisters would seek advice and support via community resources such as rides to the airport, meal trains when sick, or borrowing things etc.

Why should Jannah Circle exist?

A few members of Jannah Circle sought to answer this question in a weekend camping retreat in Leavenworth filled with honest and difficult conversations around community building. The retreat also included pushing ourselves to new heights by learning rock climbing with Climbers of Color.

What we discovered through the retreat is Jannah Circle can serve as part of the solution against the trials that plague our communities such as tribalism, competition, materialism, clout-chasing and comparison- all underscored by racism, misogyny, and hyper-capitalism. We decided that Jannah Circle would be - as our vision states:

A decentralized Prophetic community, continually meeting and departing for the sake of Allah (SWT), with shared ownership, shared resources, and support for one another

As women with a shared faith who organically came together from different racial, cultural, socio-economic backgrounds and ages, what united us was our shared purpose to strive on the path of God with a desire to create an inclusive, yet intimate and authentic community where everyone is a leader and power is distributed between community members. ****This has been difficult to find in previous Muslim or secular communities.

We developed a set of community agreements that reflected this which was later reviewed by all our community members: Community Agreements

Creating a Prophetic Community organized around equity and justice

Striving on this path, in our Islamic tradition, means following in the example of the Prophet Muhammad (Peace be upon him) and the first major Islamic community he created in Medina that laid the foundation for Islamic community and justice. One of the core tenants of that early community we want to reflect in Jannah Circle is sharing - sharing ownership, information, spaces, resources, and hearts to create a thriving and sustainable community rooted in justice.

We believe that within Islamic principles already lies tools to overcome the systematic issues of racism, tribalism, and economic injustice. This can begin with community building at a small scale where community members can rely on each other - after Allah SWT - instead of large institutions with motives that might not always be transparent or in alignment with community values. We believe in living our values and practicing community care through living in the way of the Prophetic tradition.

One tool we use also reflected in progressive secular society is mutual aid. In addition to creating intimate yet inclusive spaces for Muslim women, we also provide a mutual aid platform for our community to share with one another in this trusted space via Notion and our Instagram.

<aside> 🫂 Ibn Umar reported: The Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said, “*The most beloved people to Allah are those who are most beneficial to people. The most beloved deed to Allah is to make a Muslim happy, or to remove one of his troubles, or to forgive his debt, or to feed his hunger. That I walk with a brother regarding a need is more beloved to me than that I seclude myself in this mosque in Medina for a month. Whoever swallows his anger, then Allah will conceal his faults. Whoever suppresses his rage, even though he could fulfill his anger if he wished, then Allah will secure his heart on the Day of Resurrection. Whoever walks with his brother regarding a need until he secures it for him, then Allah Almighty will make his footing firm across the bridge on the day when the footings are shaken.” (*Source: al-Muʻjam al-Awsaṭ 6/139)

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We believe that this our our opportunity to create a local community that is more than what we’ve experienced before as women. Where woman aren’t victims of gossip or subject to competing for the male gaze, but instead are seen, heard, loved, respected, supported, and believed. Where woman are safe to have uncomfortable conversations to promote individual and community growth without reenacting trauma. Where women love each other for the sake of Allah and are met as they are. Where woman can contribute as their capacity allows towards a shared purpose of justice and equity to make our communities a safer place for everyone to not just survive, but thrive InshaAllah (if God wills). May Allah make it easy for us to create a Prophetic community and may He be pleased with our efforts. Ameen.