In Arabic and other languages, nia (نية) means intention or purpose.

In the Islamic tradition, this has a spiritual component, with the Messenger ﷺ stating that “Action is but by intention.” The scholarly commentary on this hadith notes that “believers should be visionaries” because we should always seek to check our intentions and understand the purpose of our actions. They also say that intention is enough for God to “make a change in our reality, so we should not belittle the necessary change in intention that has to occur in order for our external condition to change.”

Weaving reflects both the art of creating fabric—interlacing threads to form something strong and beautiful—and the practice of connecting people and ideas, like a network weaver who threads meaningful relationships.

We draw on the stories of our founder’s maternal grandmother—Sayeeda “Ruby” Khanam—who founded a sewing school in Dhaka in the 1970s that, at its height, employed 250 women and exported handmade textiles as far as London. As a seamstress, mother, and entrepreneur, she taught these skills and more to her daughter, Lovely, who carried them with her to Detroit, where she passed on wisdom about weaving threads to self and with community to her three daughters.

We also honor the legacies of our founder’s father, Mohamed Islam, whose commitment to education and community building emphasized the value of knowledge, family, and shared resources, and of her mentor Lila Cabbil, whose network-building, teaching, and advocacy highlighted the transformative power of relationships and stewardship. They both demonstrated the immense power of network weaving—from the banks of the Jamuna River to those of the Detroit River.

Thus, as a practice, “nia weaving” is about weaving intention into all things.

May God bless the ancestors—including Sayeeda, Mohamed, and Lila—and all those who are living and woven into the tapestry that is Nia Weaving.