After decades of activism and witnessing the marginalization of minority voices within Muslim America, AMBA’s founders sought to organize lawyers and law students who could collectively speak against injustices in America. It was finally time to start a national Muslim Bar Association based on the values of the Ahlul Bayt (peace be upon them), the Prophet’s family members, men and women who were known for using their power to fearlessly speak truth and build peace.

AMBA wanted to establish a unique American institution based on the values of the Ahlul Bayt that advocates on both domestic and international issues intersectionally on a non-partisan basis. Furthermore, the leadership of AMBA was meant to be truly inclusive of all Muslims from varying sects. AMBA sought to provide a radical alternative to legal community organizing and activism. And while other national Muslim legal organizations are identity-based, AMBA sought to be a value-based organization, without aligning itself to any other outside entity or political party, standing independently as a powerful and principled voice in our society. This project could no longer wait.

The desire to change our Muslim American legal scene to cultivate a safe space for our next generations of lawyers was paramount. Personally, one founder was healing from the loss of her heavenly child and two others were dealing with the recent loss of their scholarly fathers. But it was a young visually-impaired activist, who had recently been accepted into Harvard Law School, who was the catalyst that brought together all founders and AMBA began to crystallize. For them, AMBA was a step in the process of healing, not just personally but from the ills in our communities and the many injustices in our society as a whole. Taking Imam Ali's (as) words to heart, they took solace in the fact that from pain and patience, comes a type of success that none of us can yet even fathom.

"Be sure that there is something waiting for you after much patience, to astonish you to a degree that you forget the bitterness of the pain." — Imam Ali Ibn Abi Talib (AS)