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Okay, so good evening everyone and Assalamu alaikum.

Thank you all so much for joining us.

My name is Mehlaqa Samdani.

I am the director at Critical Connections

and organization in Boston, Massachusetts

that builds community and awareness

around issues related to American Muslims.

Our event today on the question of blasphemy

is the first in our critical issues in context series,

which will take a deep dive into controversial

and contentious topics impacting Muslim communities.

Other topics in our series will include

the rights of religious minorities, sectarianism,

the ethics surrounding war and armed conflict in Islam

and I hope that you will be able to join us for that.

So it should be noted that given the realities

of societal and structural Islamophobia

in this country, it is often very difficult

to have these conversations for American Muslims.

And but we also unfortunately know that often

the narratives surrounding these topics

...