Interfaith Institute Executive Director Najeeba Syeed was featured in an Augsburg spotlight in the Sahan Journal.

Founded in August of 2019, the Sahan Journal is a nonprofit digital newsroom dedicated to reporting for immigrants and communities of color in Minnesota. Education reporter Becky Z. Dernbach provided a window into community care on campus: “Caught in the crosshairs: How 海角社区 mobilized to protect students during the ICE surge.”

Read more in the

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By: Jerilyn Miller, Sr. Benefactor Relations Specialist

There was a moment during the Interfaith Symposium鈥擧ealing聽the Earth, Healing Ourselves鈥攚hen the room grew still.

Rev. Jen Bailey, the keynote speaker, began with a story. She spoke about her grandmother, who worked the sugarcane fields of the American South in the 1930s and 40s, in the shadow of Jim Crow. Despite the violence and inequity around her, she cultivated dignity, community, and life from the land.

In that story was something deeper鈥攖he connection between soil and survival, between land and liberation.

Bailey named what many are already feeling. We are living, she said, in a time of 鈥渢oxic soil.鈥� Not only environmentally, but relationally and spiritually. The fractures we see鈥攃limate crisis, political division, loneliness, mistrust鈥攁re not isolated problems. They point to a deeper disconnection: from one another, from the earth, and from our shared humanity.

鈥淭his is not just a political crisis,鈥� she said. 鈥淚t is a relational crisis鈥� a spiritual crisis.鈥�

And yet, she did not leave the room in despair.

Instead, she offered another image: sunflowers.

Drawing on the concept of phytoremediation鈥攑lants that draw toxins out of the soil鈥擝ailey described the slow, patient work of healing. Even damaged soil can be restored. Not quickly. Not easily. But through sustained care.

Healing, in this vision, is not a grand solution. It is a practice.

With native flower seed packets in hand, participants turned to one another鈥攕haring ideas, hopes, and the ways they are already tending their communities. For Augsburg senior Zuko Buechler 鈥�26 an urban studies major, the conversation felt both personal and practical.

鈥淚鈥檓 learning a lot about practices with the land and healing,鈥� Buechler said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 making me think about how I can plant these seeds at my grandmother鈥檚 [home] and share in her love of gardening 鈥攁 connection that has shaped me.鈥�

Bailey closed with a simple invitation: a daily discipline of choosing to plant something life-giving, even when there is no guarantee of what will grow.

Over lunch, the conversation continued鈥攇rounded in honesty about life experiences and resilience. Bex Klafter of Lutheran Social Services reflected on what stayed with her most:

鈥淎ll land is good,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here is value鈥攅ven when the soil needs to be amended.鈥�

It is a simple idea, but one that shifts the frame. Healing does not begin with perfection. It begins with what is already here.

At Augsburg, that kind of work takes shape in real time鈥攊n conversations like these, in shared practices, and in a community willing to stay with what is difficult and choosing to tend to what is possible.

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If there is a blessing to be wrestled from the wreckage of Operation Metro Surge, it鈥檚 that our students have received an indelible education in what my colleague Najeeba Syeed a 鈥渓ived theology of neighborliness,鈥� one that is likely to shape their lives forever.

Read his full piece here:

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While ICE鈥檚 presence in Minneapolis has propelled the city onto the national stage in recent weeks, Minnesotans have been 鈥済rappling with a changed reality on the ground for more than six weeks,鈥� executive director of Interfaith at 海角社区 Najeeba Syeed says. 鈥淭he reality is people are not okay; it鈥檚 not business as usual.鈥�

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Interfaith Institute Executive Director Najeeba Syeed recently wrote an on Religion News Service about how Minnesotans are caring for each other after the fatal shooting of Renee Good.

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• Learned about community youth programs focused on sports, job readiness, tech education, and others that help neighborhood kids thrive from Auggie alum Coach Jennifer Weber聽 and聽 Abdirahman Mukhtar of .
• Attended an interfaith dialogue between Trinity Lutheran church and Dar Ul Hijrah mosque members, led by Pastor Jane Bucklee Farley and Imam Sharif Mohamed .Table conversations focused on how faith communities can support bridgebuilding and interfaith cooperation on community based challenges and dire issues of our time including mental health support.
• Reflected on what they learned with community leaders during dinner and connected with volunteer opportunities to serve our unhoused neighbors, work with youth, support food shelf projects and further Augsburg鈥檚 engagement in building a better world for all.

After the visit, Imam Sharif noted, “The interfaith exchange we experienced together reflects the very best of what community engagement and education can be鈥攔ooted in care, dignity, and mutual respect.”

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17 min

Hosts Jason and Tuhina sit down with peacemaker, healer, and scholar, Dr. Najeeba Syeed, to talk about a whole host of topics adjacent to building the interfaith table, the difference between inter-faith and intra-faith dialogue, and what it means to recognize the pluralistic reality all around us.

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Auggie Mahamed Yusuf was quoted in an Interfaith America article about his work to raise awareness and funding for basic hygiene supplies for unhoused neighbors in the Cedar-Riverside community. Many thanks to Pre-Med students, former Interfaith Scholars, and other Auggies who helped make this project a success!

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In Good Faith Podcast

29 min

Dr. Najeeba Syeed discusses how peacebuilding and lived religion unify us and how they’re crucial to a democratic society. Najeeba Syeed is the inaugural El-Hibri endowed chair and executive director of Interfaith at 海角社区 in Minneapolis MN. She co-edited the book 鈥淐ritical Approaches to Interreligious Education,鈥� and she鈥檚 been feature in the Los Angeles Times, or NPR, PBS, and other television shows, and she lectures at major universities across the US.

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