There are additional internal steps that can go a long way to better accommodate Muslim employees across the Federal interagency and State and local government.

1. Muslim or interfaith prayer or meditation rooms. Several agencies have already established these but it is still an uphill battle in most Federal Departments and Agencies with inconsistent or opaque processes, policies or timelines.
2. Employee Resource Groups. The establishment of formal staff associations, or employee resource groups too often faces delays and discriminatory hurdles. While Muslim ERGs are now active at the Departments of Justice, Commerce, Transportation, State, HHS, USAID, and SBA, additional guidance and clarity may be communicated to Federal Administrators and Department officials help facilitate or expedite their formation.
3. Internal communication. The Federal government and its sub-national counterparts may strengthen messaging and internal communications against anti-Muslim bigotry and discrimination within their Departments and Agencies, and strengthen the grievance processes in order to effectively prevent and address workplace harassment or discrimination on the basis of religion.
4. Resource Availability and Awareness of Faith Practices: To help identify and prevent bias against underserved communities, there should be greater coordination with relevant civil society members and civil rights organizations, and increased access to resources combating anti-religious bigotry, and where possible, coordination with Federal Centers for Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. To help identify and prevent bias against underserved communities, agencies may adopt in their resource arsenal a toolkit recently created by ISPU and MAPS that provides information about the identity and faith of Muslim Americans to government administrators to give a better understanding of the many Muslim Americans serving across all levels and branches of government, as well as facilitate broader access and pathways to positive and meaningful engagement with this growing segment of American society.
5. Providing or better vetting training and materials on Islam and related topics to specialized agencies or the broader workforce. Government executives must work to eliminate Anti-Muslim Bias in Federal and State workforce and national security trainings which have included materials that insult, demean, stereotype, or scapegoat Muslims.

   In addition, we urge that the government executives ensure that Federal and State law enforcement agencies are better trained to engage with Muslim communities. A recently piloted Islamophobia training courses offered by Muslim American organizations (including ING, ISPU, America Indivisible, MPAC & Emgage) should be scaled up and widely adopted.

Many Muslim government employees have reported obvious discrimination in their security clearance interviews that have gone beyond the Interagency SF-86 standard practice or have had security clearances denied without apparent cause or recourse.

This has a chilling effect on Muslims entering the Federal workforce in the first place and constitutes a form of institutional Islamophobia.

The Federal government should ensure fairness and equity in the security clearance process by revising such processes to remove any discrimination on the basis of religious belief or affiliation, or establishing an independent audit, adjudication, or appeals process when such processes are conducted by independent Federal agencies or sub-national authorities.

MAPS and its organizational partners strongly urge Federal and State government to collect and analyze disaggregated data on employees’ self-reported religious affiliations and measure demographic representation and senior workforce composition.

The White House Presidential Personnel Office (PPO) already collects similar data on a number of demographic, professional background, and protected classes and underserved communities, including religion, while several Federal Departments are working to better account for sexual orientation and gender identity.

We hope to see data collection play a greater role in identifying gaps that ensure an inclusive workplace for all underrepresented protected classes.

Another area that should be addressed to better accommodate Muslim public servants within Federal service is by increasing accommodations within their employee retirement investments accounts (the Thrift Savings Plan).

The Muslim faith stipulates a prohibition against certain investments and many Muslims Americans adhere to Shariah-compliant funds and instruments as part of their faith. Muslim Federal employees may prefer greater freedom over their retirement account and apply this adherence to religious edicts prohibiting usury, conventional bonds, and other prohibitions in their investment accounts.

Managed by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board, the current TSP allows a Mutual Fund Window of up to 25% to be allocated to over 4700 alternative funds that include shariah-compliant options.

This MAPS initiative aims to facilitate a policy change by the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board that would begin allowing the expansion of the current Federal Thrift Savings Program (TSP) and accompanying fee structure to allow an expanded Mutual Fund Window.

Exploring options to request that the Federal Retirement Thrift Investment Board expand that window to 100% would better accommodate Muslims employed by the Federal government, since for some Muslims anything less would be asking them to choose between adhering to their religious beliefs and serving their country as Federal employees. 

MAPS’ partners at Amana Mutual Funds have created this helpful resource on selecting Sharia compliant funds through the existing TSP’s brokerage window.

MAPS supports the creation of a Special Envoy to Combat Islamophobia at the State Department and Special Representative to Combat Islamophobia Domestically.

The American Muslim community is united in calling for the White House and Congress to establish in the U.S. Department of State a Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Islamophobia. A special envoy and office already exists to monitor and combat Antisemitism. It is also important because Islamophobia abroad is inextricably linked to Islamophobia domestically by serving as a source of validation and inspiration for anti-Muslim sentiment and policies. 

The U.S. House of Representatives passed the Combating International Islamophobia Act in December 2021, but the Act, however, has not advanced. The White House has the executive authority to create such a position without the need of having Congress adopt this law. Both Canada and the European Union have already created similar positions to combat anti-Muslim hate. The U.S. can become a leader on this serious issue.

As we continue to witness a rise in hate crimes and discrimination against Muslims in our country, it is also more important than ever to appoint a Special Representative to combat Islamophobia within the United States.

Such an official would provide advice to inform the development of policies, legislative proposals, programs and regulations that could affect Muslim Americans, and support efforts to address systemic racism and Islamophobia through public education and awareness.

In June 2022, the federal government of Canada announced plans to create the office of the Special Representative on Combating Islamophobia, and on January 26, 2023, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau appointed Amira Elghawaby as Canada’s first representative. The Special Representative serves as a champion, advisor, expert, and representative to the Canadian government, for the purpose of enhancing efforts to combat Islamophobia and promote awareness of the diverse and intersectional identities of Muslims in Canada. The creation of a special envoy and office would be a huge step forward in the US government’s prioritization of this issue.

This initiative works to both promote the establishment and recognition of Muslim American Heritage/ Appreciation Month at the Federal and State levels, and coordinate efforts from MAPS members and outside organizations to do the same.

The primary objective would be to support the respective declarations of Muslim American Heritage Month during the academic school year, preferably during the month of January, as New Jersey and Illinois have already declared through their State legislatures.

MAPS is proud to bring you this Toolkit on American Muslims and Islam especially designed for government officials and executives.

Muslim Americans in Public Service, along with the Institute for Social Policy and Understanding (ISPU), launched a toolkit that provides information about the identity and faith of Muslim Americans to government administrators. This toolkit is intended to give government leaders a better understanding of the many Muslim Americans serving across all levels and branches of government, as well as facilitate broader access and pathways to positive and meaningful engagement with this growing segment of American society, below.

Kindly support and amplify this important resource by sharing with public administrators and human capital executives in your government institution or private organization using the suggested language here.

The toolkit was first developed to address a lack of both “Resource Availability” and “Awareness of Muslim Employee Faith Practices” in government, as outlined in MAPS’ July 2021 Blueprint for Action of 13 recommendations to support Muslim American government employees (presented below).