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When I am producing impactful stories and content through digital marketing it feels great. Training people with media, helping others with internships, training people to become leaders, and building out a production team are all things I love to do at IslamInSpanish Centro Islamico. My wife and I studied in Egypt learning the Arabic language in 2006. Having the ability to relay critical Islamic information in a digestible way to our community of New Muslims and Spanish speakers is really meaningful to me. I have a background in media studies in which I produce stories from different mediums (podcast, print, video).
I find joy in digital marketing and the process of producing valuable content for those learning Islam. Going through the process of taking people’s stories and years of change and putting it into 2 minutes is very fulfilling. The process of producing something that may take 40 hours of investing time in creating and editing to yield a final 2 minute video while maintaining the integrity of the story and ensuring the impactful message, is something I love to do.
We organized a campaign to be featured on the LaunchGod platform to raise funds for the build out of the IslamInSpanish Center. The process of narrating and producing impactful stories helped us to become the first organization on LaunchGood to break the boundary of raising $1million dollars. We launched a Digital campaign that highlighted the authenticity of people’s stories and Alhamdulillah were able to reach our goal of raising over $1million dollars in 3 and a half months to help build the Centro Islamico. In 2019 the center was purchased in cash through raising funds via digital reach and digital marketing.
I find joy in Ramadan. Ramadan has so many areas to focus on. I find happiness in helping to provide service and funding for the community. The feeling of community is the most inspiring part of my job people come to visit from different areas. Getting to know their stories personally is what is most rewarding. I love the process of getting to know Muslim reverts and their non-muslim families. It really helps to go through the process with their families on explaining the religion of Islam, so that their families are supportive on the journey they are going on. Giving Dawah through family and community building and creating an experience when they come to the center, that Islam is beautiful. Beautifying the mosque, the islamic Center and fostering a welcoming environment so that it looks nice and feels nice brings me joy. The evolution of where we started to where Allah has blessed us to be today as a community is very fulfilling.
I find joy in going through a process of thinking of educational programs that could benefit our community as I lead the Islamic knowledge programs that we have. I review, study, and research ways to effectively relay Islamic knowledge to the community. Alhamdulillah I also love to see members in our community evolve in their journey of Islam.
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From taking the Shahadah, to conducting their premarital talks, to conducting their marriage, to witnessing them build a family, and even potentially becoming business partners at the center. I literally get to see the journey of individual members of our community as they go through the stages of accepting Islam to learning more about the religion through the various eucational Islamic programs they attend. It’s very beautiful to witness the development of different muslims in our community.
One of the aims of IslamInSpanish is to be more welcoming to community who are not Muslim. They work through the educational process of learning Islam with different LIVE QA classes online, youth groups, senior groups, new muslim support groups. We have different social programs such as monthly potlucks to bring families together where members of the community invite nonmuslim family, friends, neighbors, coworkers to break bread together and learn about Islam. IslamInSpanish helps to normalize relationships with family as well and educating the child on what they are about to embark on being that family is a part of the journey. IslamInSpanish focuses on the family of the converts to help them understand the journey that new muslims are about to embark on. Non muslim family members are able to talk to non-muslims about the journey and how they are welcoming. We help walk people through the process as a mentor of a revert.
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“Maybe they don’t know where to start, we help and empower them to become leaders in the community. Train brothers how to give a khutbah and become Islamic Leaders. They become an integral part of the community and supported and are empowered to give back”
“I would get cursed out when I recommend the proper procedure for marriage and they wouldn’t want to take it. That’s when their true character comes out.”~ Imam Isa Parada
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