What does it look like to build in the midst of destruction? To hold more than one truth at once — the suffering and the hope, the injustice and the calling to act anyway?
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Those are the questions that animate Ihssane Leckey‘s life and work. A Harvard-certified negotiator, former Federal Reserve regulator, former candidate for the U.S. House of Representatives in Massachusetts’ 4th district, and an advocate for survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse — Ihssane sat down with AMCF co-founder and Chief Development Officer Muhi Khwaja for a wide-ranging conversation on the #MuslimPhilanthropy Podcast. What followed was one of the most candid, far-ranging conversations the podcast has hosted — covering immigration, financial justice, civic courage, survivor advocacy, and what it truly means for American Muslims to show up.
A Journey Rooted in Purpose: From Morocco to the Halls of Power
Ihssane traces her sense of purpose back to childhood — to a small girl in Morocco who kept pulling her friends’ attention toward the kids who were left out. “Some of my friends started calling me an imam,” she recalled with a laugh, “saying, you’re always referring to religious texts and we just want to have fun and play.” But that instinct to speak the truth and make sure the quiet ones were seen never left her.
She arrived in the United States at age 20, carrying her mother’s dream of a college degree and not much else. Her early years were a study in perseverance — flipping kabobs on the Upper East Side of Manhattan as an undocumented immigrant, earning below minimum wage, facing wage theft with no legal safety net to fall back on. “I picked myself up and looked for the next job and the next job,” she said, “to make sure I could have a somewhat decent place to live while seeking the education that the women in my family were never allowed to pursue.”
That education came at Boston University — where she and her mother literally ran down the street together on the final day of applications to hand-deliver documents before the 5 p.m. deadline. She was accepted, and awarded a scholarship for women in mathematics. “It shattered all the ceilings in my family,” she said. “We were told girls can’t do math. I had believed that rhetoric at a young age. To come here and live the freedom to believe in oneself — that changed my life.”
Following the Question: Why Are People Hungry in the Richest Country on Earth?
Ihssane’s career has always followed a single question — not just how do we address suffering, but why does it exist in the first place? That question drove her from a food bank to a Federal Reserve office to a congressional campaign, each step a deeper attempt to understand and dismantle the systems that produce poverty and injustice.
After graduating college, she went to work at Philabundance, the largest food bank in the tri-state area, and began advocating against food stamp cuts during the 2008 financial crisis. “We felt the responsibility as Muslim people,” she said. “We pay taxes. We pay into funds that feed the hungry. Feeding the hungry, caring for the orphan — these are principles we are ordered to uphold. So how could we stand by?”
But the deeper question — why do cities go bankrupt in the wealthiest country in history? — took her to the University of Pennsylvania to study public finance. She refinanced billions of dollars in municipal debt, lowering interest rate payments that burdened local governments and the families they serve. “That was very fulfilling,” she said. “Until I started asking the next question.”
That next question led her to the Federal Reserve, where she regulated the “too big to fail” banks whose unchecked risk-taking had triggered the 2008 collapse. She described working within the Dodd-Frank framework to ensure large financial institutions would hold their own capital rather than demanding public bailouts when their risks backfired. “I saw the power of our democracy,” she said. “Those protections are now under significant threat.”
When Government Falls Short: The Role of Muslim Philanthropy
Muhi asked Ihssane the question that sits at the heart of AMCF’s mission: when government safety nets fray, what is the relationship between philanthropy and public responsibility?
Her answer was direct. “Our government is perfectly functional in inflicting pain on the people right now. Nonprofits step into the gap — food banks, civic education, legal aid. But we also need nonprofits that change the look and feel of our government. C4 organizations. Voter education. Muslims in elected office.”
She pointed to the growing wave of Muslim elected officials across the country as proof of what is possible. And she knows firsthand — Ihssane ran for Congress in Massachusetts’ 4th district in 2020 on a justice-for-all agenda shaped by her years in public finance and federal regulation. “That run put us out there as a people who care about the underserved, who want prosperity and safety for everyone. We know that the safety of our community lays in the safety of all communities.”
Actionable Hope: Holding More Than One Truth
One of the most striking ideas Ihssane introduced was “actionable hope” — the ability to hold suffering and possibility at the same time, and then move your feet.
She described working with entrepreneurs in Israel and the West Bank who had just been shot at under an olive tree, and who the next day were back building their businesses and their children’s futures. “That gives my heart that extra beat,” she said. “To build in the midst of destruction.”
She illustrated actionable hope with a letter from the womb: “It is true that I am inside this heavenly space you’ve prepared for me. And it is true that it has become very tight because I am growing. And it is true that I want to stay here with you forever. And it is also true that I need to get out. And when I get out, I will see your beautiful face.”
“That’s what I mean by holding more than one truth,” she said. “To recognize that in the suffering there is also growth — and a hand asking us to step in. Not just with words or thoughts. With action. You have to move your feet.”
Carrying the Stories of Survivors
Some of the most personal moments in the conversation came when Ihssane spoke about her advocacy work with survivors of domestic violence and sexual abuse — a calling she holds with visible tenderness and weight.
She highlighted two organizations she has served: Taking Back Ourselves, a trauma-informed healing organization founded by psychotherapy professionals where survivors work through trauma and reclaim their lives; and Men’s Healing, a New York-based organization focused on male survivors of sexual abuse — a chronically under-resourced population whose stories are rarely told in public.
“Nobody should have to carry that burden alone,” she said. “The stories I’ve heard — I hold them dear. They deepen my understanding of what it is to carry this weight in silence.”
She named a persistent funding gap: domestic violence receives far more philanthropic support than sexual abuse organizations, because the subject makes funders, media, and politicians uncomfortable. “The calling for service happens when things are hardest, most uncomfortable,” she said. “We cannot run from problems because they are too difficult to face.”
Advice for Muslims Who Want to Show Up
As the conversation wound down, Muhi asked what Ihssane would say to Muslims who want to make a difference but are not sure where to start. Her answer was grounded and sequential.
Start with yourself.
“Community growth starts from the local, and the local starts from the self. We have to be strong — because we’re asking people to walk over us. We’re going to be the bridge. We have to hold the weight of the many who will cross.”
Then reach out locally.
Find the C4 organizations in your area. Donate to them. Show up in the civic world. Support Muslim candidates. And if you feel called — run yourself. “What is there to lose?”
Keep showing up.
“We will be successful. Just keep showing up. Inshallah, we will continue to walk in God’s light.”
Listen to the Full Episode
The full conversation with Ihssane Leckey is available on the #MuslimPhilanthropy Podcast. If her work resonates with you, consider supporting the organizations she mentioned — and sharing this episode with someone in your community who needs to hear it.
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