About
Posted on June 13, 2010
Peace be upon you! Welcome to our little virtual mosque & community center, where all are welcome! While developing an ideal vision of a mosque, we hope to build a community. You can write for our site, become a regular in the forums, or just hang out and read.
A Little History
Over a decade ago, an American-Muslim teenager started calling himself “HijabMan.” Dissatisfied with the community of Muslims surrounding him, he donned this new moniker to attract attention and created a web site chronicling his struggles as a first-generation American Muslim of South Asian descent. While doing so, he hoped to find a warm, intimate community of believers focused on the principles within the Qur’an and other revelation.
Over the course of the next decade, hijabman.com became much more than a website. The site grew into a vibrant hub for the very community he had envisioned– despite its status as a personal blog.
As he got to know all his new friends, he recognized two big problems. First, he heard story after story of people trying to change mosques from within—to make them more women-friendly, more environmentally conscious, more relevant to young people—that all seemed to end in frustration and failure. His community couldn’t seem to find mosques responsive to their needs. Second, this new group was spread out all over the world making it difficult for community members to connect.
So ‘Hijabman’ made some decisions: (1) if mosques and Muslim communities weren’t meeting the needs of the next generation of young Muslims, then the next generation of young Muslims would have to build their own institutions. (2) Since he did not have the resources to build a brick and mortar mosque or to invent and construct teleportation devices to ensure that all his new friends could visit that mosque, he would build a virtual mosque instead.
And here we are! The new hijabman.com is a little bit of everything, but, most importantly, it is no longer an individual’s blog. It is an institution that strives to successfully merge our approaches to spiritual and worldly life in an open, accepting and collaborative environment. Please consider becoming part of the community.
Let’s get to work!!
Structure
Like many ‘mosques’ in the United States, this ‘mosque’ is more of a “community center.” Like most “community centers” this “community center” offers a variety of resources, services, and activities. The site is divided into the following sections:
The Mosque
In the mosque, you can watch video sermons, ask for advice, read articles about the muslim community, and even donate to charity!
The [Group] Blog
Think of this as your community gazette, where you can read articles on topics ranging from how to cook a mean sweet & sour chicken to the difficulties of finding a spouse. There may also be articles on current events, religion, or relationships. Feel free to send in a submission using our contact form, or submissions [A T] hijabman [D O T] com
The Forum
Welcome to the community café! Come hang out with friends, socialize, converse, tell jokes and get to know one another.
Work
This is where we keep information on our side projects, like 365Muslim.
Services
We are just starting out so our services are still fairly web-based, but check out the book recommendations, and resources page (coming soon)– full of organizations & individuals that may be able to assist you.
The Shop
Support our institution by purchasing a funky t-shirt, calligraphy, or photograph prints in our shop!
The Vision
The best of mosques is the best of resource centers. Need support during Ramadan? Looking for a mentor? Need some information on childbirth? Struggling to pray? We believe that the imam(s), or leaders of the mosque, should be very well-connected, and should be able to send you in the right direction. That ‘direction’ may be in the form of advice, the name of an organization, an introduction to an expert in the field, or even a book suggestion!
This space is welcoming to people of all faiths, genders, races, and ages. We’d like our mosque to be a model for the warmest, friendliest, and most useful mosque in the history of mosques.
On our approach to islam
“But as for those who strive hard in Our cause -We shall most certainly guide them onto paths that lead unto Us: for, behold, God is indeed with the doers of good.” (Qur’an 29:69)
Namely, the word “Islam” is used in the Holy Qur’an with a deeper dimension than a creed to be compared to other creeds, or a set of social or cultural customs and traditions of certain societies who carry this label. Rather, Islam in the Holy Qur’an points to a living Truth that transcends names, labels, languages, and/or religious affiliations. – The Book Of Character
If you walk into your average mosque, you’ll hear, “Islam is a way of life!” And then they’ll go on to tell you the “islamic” way of blowing your nose. They see Islam as a way of life in the “It-Tells-You-How-To-Do-Everything!” kind-of way. We do not see it that way.
For us, being a muslim means to being a champion for all good, just causes on Earth. Read more about our approach.
Recognition
hijabman.com and/or hijabman.com products have appeared in the NYTimes, USAToday, the Islam Channel (UK), Salam Cafe (Australia), and featured in The Guardian’s Islamophonic podcast, Emel Magazine, and Comedy Central’s Colbert Report. Recently named 1 of the 500 most influential Muslims in the world in a joint publication (2009) by Georgetown University & the Royal Islamic Strategic Studies Center of Amman, Jordan.
