Introducing Maʿruf Commons: A New Home for Our Work
When I launched my website and newsletter in May 2024, my goal was to share work on Islamic law and ethics, applied spirituality, and communal well-being. Since then, I've been deepening my engagement with our communities—listening closely and learning what we truly need.
I've also been examining the limitations of working as an individual under a company structure and considering what might be possible through something more collaborative and sustainable.
Today, I'm excited to share the result of these reflections: Maʿruf Commons.
Maʿruf Commons logo
Why Maʿruf Commons?
After months of consultation with trusted peers, mentors, scholars, and practitioners, it became clear that this work needed a new home—a public home that reflects its communal, collaborative, and value-driven nature.
Through research, education, and training, Maʿruf Commons seeks to embody maʿrūf—what is known to be good—and to provide meaningful solutions to emerging challenges in our communities.
What is Maʿrūf?
Maʿrūf is a core moral anchor in the Quran. It refers to what is known and recognized as good, right, appropriate, and morally approved by revelation, reason, and sound human nature. It encompasses what the community widely recognizes as ethical, just, and beneficial.
Allah makes encouraging maʿrūf the hallmark characteristic of our community:
كُنتُمْ خَيْرَ أُمَّةٍ أُخْرِجَتْ لِلنَّاسِ تَأْمُرُونَ بِٱلْمَعْرُوفِ وَتَنْهَوْنَ عَنِ ٱلْمُنكَرِ وَتُؤْمِنُونَ بِٱللَّهِ
"You are the best community ever raised for humanity—you enjoin maʿrūf, forbid evil, and believe in Allah." [Quran 3:110]
What is Commons?
Commons refers to a shared space or resource managed by and for a community—in this case, a public organization offering educational resources and communal spaces of belonging.
Commons is the closest English concept to Islam's waqf (public endowment) and ḥimā (common land), enabling us to carry forth—and reimagine—these bedrock institutions of the Muslim past.
What We're Building
Maʿruf Commons is built on the recognition that our communities need clearer frameworks for thinking and living, public education and training that is principled, rigorous, and accessible. We also need research that offers concrete solutions to real needs and collaborative spaces where scholars, practitioners, and community members shape solutions together.
Maʿruf Commons is where we'll pursue all of this with excellence, transparency, and integrity.
What This Means Practically
My work continues—just under a new structure. At Maʿruf Commons, I’ll continue my teaching, training, and collaborative research, now held within a nonprofit organization.
My personal website (mariamsheibani.com) remains the home for academic research, open-access publications, personal essays, and biographical information.
Maʿruf Commons is now the home for all community-oriented work: courses, resources, collaborative research projects, and training.
What's Coming
Over the next few months, you can expect our new website, the Islamic Law Literacy Initiative, a self-paced course on parent and adult-child relationships, new articles and research, public education resources, and updates on collaborative projects including family law, safeguarding, and hadith.
Maʿruf Commons website.
A Personal Note
Thank you to everyone who has taken a course, responded to a newsletter, shared ideas, offered feedback, or reached out with encouragement. Your engagement made Maʿruf Commons possible.
My intention is that this shift brings greater clarity, accountability, depth, and benefit; not only to the work, but to the communities we serve.
May Allah make Maʿruf Commons a community where maʿrūf is lived and cultivated; a space of mercy and renewal. May we experience this work as a shared journey anchoring us in the Sunna and guiding us to confident, compassionate practice and service.
With gratitude and dua,
Dr. Mariam Sheibani
