#MuslimPhilanthropy Podcast · American Muslim Community Foundation

#MuslimPhilanthropy Podcast withMa’ruf Dallas with Salvy Ahsan

·34 min·2 clips

Salvi Ahsan reframes fundraising as asking with dignity and compassion on behalf of people who cannot ask.

1. The Muslim Philanthropy Podcast examines Salvi Ahsan's work with Maruf Dallas and Muslim approaches to refugee support. 2. Muhi Khwaja hosts Salvi Ahsan, Maruf Dallas's Development Coordinator, whose psychology, education, chaplaincy, and nonprofit experience shape her community work. 3. The episode asks how faith, donor relationships, and practical services can help refugee families move toward self-sufficiency. 4. Ahsan grew up in New York, studied community psychology and early childhood development, and later worked in Islamic schools in Atlanta, Georgia. 5. After moving to Dallas in 2016 and becoming a full-time mother, Ahsan returned to community work as a summer-camp teacher at a local masjid. 6. Ahsan says her service path began with a middle-school UNICEF water project, continued through Key Club, and expanded through Islamic Relief fundraisers. 7. During college, Ahsan helped create a grassroots organization for Atlanta's refugee community with other Muslim students. 8. Ahsan says Maruf Dallas serves refugees, unhoused people, and low-income families through case management, food assistance, mental-health services, job training, and rental support. 9. Maruf Dallas's Training for the Future program connects clients with trade schools such as HVAC and medical-assistant programs, internships, and possible employment. 10. Ahsan describes a clothing drive for refugee children's undergarments, a Texas fan drive, ESL classes, and a budgeting class taught by founder Aisha Waheed. 11. The Daily Ansar initiative directs recurring donations toward immediate needs including food security and rental assistance. 12. Ahsan links Daily Ansar to the Muhajirun from Makkah and the Ansar of Medina, emphasizing shared community rather than a power dynamic. 13. Ahsan says many Maruf Dallas clients were doctors or engineers in their home countries before struggling to find equivalent work after arriving in the United States. 14. Bayan Islamic Graduate School gave Ahsan a framework for crisis response after the Allen outlet mall shooting and two murder-suicides affected her community. 15. Ahsan contrasts Bayan's accredited Islamic chaplaincy training with Kalam's classical Arabic and foundational Islamic-science education. 16. Ahsan says North Texas Giving Day generated $10,000 for Maruf Dallas after support from Communities Foundation of Texas, donors, businesses, and the Dallas Muslim Running Club. 17. Khwaja and Ahsan use a conversational interview format that moves from biography to nonprofit programs, fundraising, education, and career advice. 18. Ahsan speaks reflectively about gratitude, intention, collaboration, donor stewardship, and the emotional demands of asking for money. 19. Muslim nonprofit workers, refugee advocates, chaplaincy students, and local donors. 20. Listeners seeking entertainment without nonprofit or community-service detail.

As heard by us

A grounded look at Ma'ruf Dallas's refugee support work and the steady labor of helping families rebuild.

Selvi Ahsan, Ma'ruf Dallas's Development Coordinator, anchors a practical portrait of refugee support. The work is shown through case managers who build tailored plans, along with food boxes, hygiene products, rental assistance, and the Training for the Future program, which can…

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You want a calm, practical look at Muslim philanthropy in action.

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