Uncertain times at home and abroad | #4 in a four-part series

Springfield’s Muslim community continues to navigate both local and global challenges, including international conflicts and issues around faith, individual identity, and resilience. A growing fear among Muslims is that their civil rights, whether as citizens or migrants, are increasingly under threat. Recent deportations by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement have only heightened those fears.

Local Muslims are joining the Muslim Civic Coalition’s effort to voice the concerns of Muslims in Illinois. This multi-organization project aims to lobby state lawmakers to uphold fundamental constitutional protections. Springfield resident Ashraf Tamizuddin shares why he joined this effort, “The thing is, Springfield is the capital of Illinois. We have a lot of opportunities to work, not just for the Springfield community, (but for) Illinois, and the whole country. That is one of the big motivating factors for me to say, 'Now look, a wrong was done, but two wrongs do not make a right. So we have got to fix it.'”

The struggle for justice also extends beyond U.S. borders. While concern about the Occupied Palestinian Territories has long been present, the 2023 bombing of Gaza sparked a new wave of activism, especially in Springfield. Three Muslim women organized a local protest against U.S. funding that aided military action in Gaza. Those protests quickly expanded. The movement became Springfield Families for Ceasefire — a broad coalition of approximately 450 people from diverse backgrounds. A protester was inspired seeing the increased support and commented, “In 30 years of speaking up for Palestine, I've never seen this level of solidarity, especially from those who aren't Muslim. We started out with about 75 Muslims showing up for a protest, and now we have an organization made-up of more than 400 people from all kinds of backgrounds, faiths, and points of view. But they all believe in freedom and justice for all.”

And the support isn’t limited to Springfield. In Decatur, Millikin University hosted Palestinian-American civil rights activist Linda Sarsour in March. She spoke about intersectionality and activism, “I think oftentimes we underestimate the power of storytelling, the power of connecting with people and being able to share my journey in the activism and organizing as a woman, as a Palestinian, as a Muslim American, and also my work in solidarity with communities across the country. Times are going to be hard, but we're all we got, and we're going to continue to organize and protect our people.”

For some Springfield Muslims, concerns aren’t just hypothetical; they’ve experienced religious discrimination firsthand. The Illinois Muslims Report found that over half of Muslims in the state report facing discrimination outside their communities. Muslim international students, in particular, feel vulnerable. Dr. Ali Nizamuddin, a political science professor at the University of Illinois Springfield, has seen that fear up close, “I recently told my student, he's an international student, you don't have safety at this moment. Please don't do anything that would compromise your future until your situation is more stable. Me and my siblings have discussed many times where we (might) need to relocate, and the fact that we have to have these types of conversations as Muslims in this country is scary.”

In the face of fear and frustration, Springfield’s Muslim community is choosing action. Many are supporting advocacy and speaking up to ensure that civil liberties are not just promised, but protected. For NPR Illinois, this is Hafsa Rahman.

This article is part of the Healing Illinois 2025 Reporting Project, “Healing Through Narrative Change: Untold Stories,” made possible by a grant from Healing Illinois, an initiative of the Illinois Department of Human Services and the Field Foundation of Illinois that seeks to advance racial healing through storytelling and community collaborations.

After a recent central Illinois case that gained national media attention, prompting almost-daily protests, this project sought to engage diverse and rural communities with information that brings neighbors together and moves us forward.

Managed by Press Forward Springfield, this project enlisted 3 central Illinois media outlets to produce impactful news coverage on the disparities and tensions within and among the region's diverse communities while maintaining editorial independence.

The citizen and student NPR Illinois J-Corps, or Journalism Corps, is a vision and project to identify and train people in communities throughout central Illinois to cover or increase coverage of under covered areas.