In Darfur, Muslim-on-Muslim violence has resulted in more than 450,000 deaths. Arab militias, seeking land and resources in the region, have used widespread violence against Sudan's black Muslims. Over 2.5 million people have been displaced since troubles began there in 1991.

One of the most frequently used weapons used by the militias is rape. Sexual assaults of unthinkable brutality are part of daily life for the women and girls of Darfur. Victims are unable to seek justice, and the male relatives who try to help them are often killed.

The situation in Darfur is something many cannot imagine. Unfortunately, while Sudan is plagued by Muslim-on-Muslim violence, the Muslim community worldwide has not taken a firm enough hand in working to end the violence in Darfur.

Darfurians Mohamed Adam Yahya and Suad Monsour are taking a stand - and demanding that others do the same.

Mohamed Adam Yahya, a human rights activist and refugee from Darfur, has criticized the Muslim community for not doing enough about the situation in his homeland. In an interview with Qatar's leading English daily newspaper, Yahya says:

"The silence of the Arab and Islamic world on the Darfur issue is not only baffling, it is shameful ... there is a genocide going on in the region and the Jews and the Americans are opposing it, while the Arabs and Muslims have chosen to be conveniently mum. It is ironic that Muslims are killing Muslims there."

Yahya is doing more than just criticizing his community. He is also the founder and executive director of the Damanga Coalition for Freedom and Democracy, which works to preserve human rights and ethnic communities in Darfur. Read more about Yahya's personal story here.

Like Mohamed Adam Yahya, Suad Monsour is a Darfurian refugee taking action to help those still suffering in the region. She has brought the plight of Darfurians - particularly those who have been most brutalized by the militias - to the attention of the United States Senate and House of Representatives. She works for the group Darfur Peace and Development, and speaks to youth of all faiths about how they can affect positive change.

Both of these individuals have seen their homes destroyed and their loved ones killed. Yet, they have recognized that no amount of devastation can strip us of our voice. Surely if the refugees of Darfur can speak out, we all can too.

How can you join Mohamed Adam Yahya and Suad Monsour in creating change for Darfur? Here are some simple steps to take:

1. Educate yourself about the situation in Darfur.
   
   
2. Have a camcorder or simple webcam? Videotape your message of support for the people of Darfur - and submit it to 24 Hours for Darfur. You can email your video to world leaders.
   
   
3. Check out STAND - the Student Anti-Genocide Coalition to learn about specific strategies for helping the people of Darfur.
   
   
4. Sign a petition telling world leaders that immediate action must take place to end the genocide.
   
   
5. Sign up to the Save Darfur Coalition's million-strong email list to get regular updates about Darfur and suggestions about how you can help further.
   
   

Rather than protecting her, Nojoud's father beat her - and told her that she would find no way out of her situation because of their culture. Nojoud's other relatives also refused to help - saying instead that if she wanted a divorce, she'd have to go to court alone.

So she did.

On April 2nd, Nojoud became the first girl in Yemen's history to ever appear alone in court to request a divorce.

After escaping her husband, she took a taxi to her local court and filed to press charges against both her father and the man she was forced to marry.

While Yemeni law permitted Nojoud's father to marry her off to an adult, the country's laws wouldn't permit her to prosecute. The odds were stacked against her in every way.

However, court judge Muhammad Al-Qathi, impressed with Nojoud's courage, heard her case. He ordered that both Nojoud's father and husband be arrested.

On April 15, a Yemeni court granted Nojoud an annulment. She is now living safely with her uncle, and is inspiring Yemenis to change the country's marriage laws.

Nojoud's decision to stand against an oppressive system on her own put her at great risk. Those who should have protected her did not. Nojoud knew that the only way to change her situation was to act on her own.

As an Agent of Moral Courage, Nojoud's initiative didn't just change her life. Her choice made history - and paved the way for change.

This 8-year old is a very special Agent of Moral Courage. She had no natural allies. She did not enjoy the freedoms and privileges many of us take for granted. She hadn't even completed the second grade. Yet she took action. She exemplifies moral courage. May we all work to do the same.

Life could have turned out much differently than it did for Nasser. He had an excellent education and all the advantages needed to lead a rather comfortable life. He could very well have become a success in more conventional fields. He could have had what many would consider a charmed life.

When he was a teen, Nasser's family returned to Mauritania. There, he saw that people's lives didn't exactly match the rosy accounts his parents shared with him. One discovery in particular - that of modern-day slavery in his father's village - led Nasser to leading his life as an agent for change.

Nasser recounts the story of a young playmate of his - who was constantly in a hurry. He always had to leave from playing with their group of friends. Later on, Nasser learned that this boy was a slave -shared between three families. The child had to share his time between his "masters" - and so was always running from one place to another.

This face-to-face encounter with slavery - and other experiences with violence - led Nasser headfirst into activism.

As a junior high student, he joined activist groups working against slavery and human rights abuses in Mauritania. He distributed pamphlets ("I would sometimes be running with stacks of papers inside of my shirt!", he says) and participated in demonstrations.

It's hard for many of us to imagine the world without the internet. But the internet was just emerging as Nasser and his fellow activists were causing a stir in Mauritania. The mainstream media was heavily censored and state-controlled, so the internet was the ideal way to get their message out.

Nasser was part of a group that pioneered the use of the internet as a tool to advance human rights. They researched, documented and spread information about slavery in Mauritania, exposed the corruption of the government, and let people know about violence the government was participating in.

Nasser and his "comrades", as he calls them, were responsible for exposing a high ranking military official who had been part of the brutal ethnic cleansing of black Mauritanians in the late 1990s. The officer was detained, and removed from his post in France. The exposure of human rights abuses caused a diplomatic crisis between France and Mauritania.

The magnitude of what Nasser and his friends had revealed put Nasser and those who worked with him at great risk. Several of his friends were arrested and tortured. He himself was a target, and was forced to flee Mauritania. After finding out that Europe was no safer for him than Mauritania was, Nasser arrived in the United States as a political asylee.

One of the things that most bothered Nasser about the situation in Mauritania is that religion was used as a way to justify violence. He says that Muslims are responsible for great advances in science, knowledge and more - but that we cannot continue to live on past glories. These achievements, he believes, have become like a mind-numbing "drug" to those Muslims who refuse to see the problems happening under the banner of our faith.

"Islamic cultures and civilizations will not recover their past luster until they embrace modernity."

As a Muslim living in the United States, Nasser understands the difficulties faced by the Muslim community (he himself was harshly interrogated by the FBI after 9/11). However, he doesn't agree that western imperialism is the cause of all of our problems. He understands that anti-Muslim sentiments are high. But he also points out that human rights abuses in the Muslim world began long before American or European imperialism of the Middle East. For example, slavery began in Mauritania long before the French colonized the country. He says Muslims have been enslaving other Muslims for a thousand years, even though Islam clearly forbids this.

Today, Nasser is still working for human rights, despite continued risk. Through his work with the Hands Across the Mideast Support Alliance (HAMSA) - a program of the American Islamic Congress, Nasser works for the civil rights of reformers and dissidents. He's responsible for campaigns to assist jailed bloggers, reformers on death row, and others whose rights have been stripped by their governments or communities. HAMSA's "C.R.I.M.E. reports" spread information about particular cases and get people involved to help.

Nasser's activism requires an honest look at his own identity, and a willingness to make himself unpopular in his own community. He's chosen an unconventional life, but knows that moral courage is the key to ending the crimes of slavery and censorship that plague the Muslim world. To learn more, see the links below, and consider getting involved. Working for human rights is a responsibility each of us carry - no matter our religious and cultural background.