Co-founder and Executive Director of La Convivencia, Tasneem Sultan, resides in West Windsor, New Jersey, with her husband Manzoor Sultan (PhD), and her two sons Zain and Bilal. Having lived in Pakistan, France, Canada, and the USA, Tasneem has fostered a deep understanding of the urgent need for cross-cultural and inter-religious dialogue. While living in the deep South city of Huntsville, Alabama, Tasneem found that some people lacked basic knowledge of different faiths and cultures including her own. Despite the growing diversity of the United States, a lot of people remain unaware of their neighbors’ and community members’ backgrounds. To educate the community and partake in spreading interfaith knowledge, Tasneem became an active member of Huntsville Interfaith Mission Services and other organizations with the goals of bringing communities together. After relocating to West Windsor, she continued her mission and became involved in many organizations including the West Windsor Human Relations Council and with her heroic efforts, she converted this little-known organization into a prominent one by organizing large-scale events on a variety of topics. In 2015, while conducting a National History Day project, Tasneem’s son Bilal learned about the medieval period (711-1492 AD) in Spain when people of many different faiths co-existed and blossomed into an exemplary society, one resembling the fundamentals of American culture. After much research and interviewing world-renowned scholars of that historical period, Bilal’s comprehensive presentation was well-received at the National History Day competition. Inspired by that learning, Bilal and his older brother Zain, with Tasneem’s support, pursued the establishment of a New Jersey-based non-profit organization, La Convivencia, that strives to honor and celebrate the differences and the shared values of our pluralistic community based on the principles of acceptance, trust, and mutual respect. Her entire family participates in community service as a testament to their dedication in regards to the usual of their goals. The goal of the organization is to create cross-cultural and inter-religious dialogue that will help people understand each other’s struggles. The organization is continuously working to foster strong relationships among Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists, Sikhs, Hindus, Bahais, and Atheists through dialogue, civic & social justice engagement and engaging in community service. In addition, it is actively pursuing the fight to break down stereotypes, hate and prejudice present in the modern world. Though La Convivencia has been around for only a few months, it has already had an impact on members of the community. Its events and gatherings have proven that through interaction between people of diverse backgrounds and through civic engagement and community service, people’s lives are changed and that they put that change into action. The Sultan family knows they must do their part to change the attitudes as ignorance is the root cause of hate and education is the solution. Come join us and participate in honoring and celebrating the diversity of our perspectives, and the commonality of being alive, as we create thriving communities — a thriving humanity — for all.
