Bismillah. It is little surprise that our youth face unprecedented challenges. They must confront constant pressure from a well funded Islamophobic network that seeks to undermine their civil rights and at the same time struggle against an ever secularizing popular culture that seeks to sideline the relevance of faith or sanitize it to a culture identity bereft of a God centered reality. In light of this storm, that we must provide spaces for our youth, especially our teenagers, to develop committed and confident Muslim identities.

In 2013, I established the MAPS Youth group in Redmond Washington. With the help of my wife, I wanted to create a space where Muslim teenagers could learn and connect to Islam in a relevant and practical manner. A space where our teenagers could mature spiritually, socially and emotionally. To that end, I created consistent programming, where every week we would have a halaqa/discussion, service event or social. As the years continued, we added large scale events like career nights, Seerah exhibitions and 3 day summer retreats. We started with a handful of regulars and by year 10, by the grace of Allah (swat) served on average over 130 teenagers every week. Our teens learn, socialize and gain the tools to live as committed and confident Muslims in America with a desire help Islam continue to flourish into the next generation.