Salaam held it’s first Muslim awareness event in partnership with All Souls’ Episcopal Church on May 23. Our Evening of Ramadan was sold out, with over 80 people in attendance. Our Muslim speakers captivated the audience, touching on the life of Mohammed, the role of women in Islam, and the true meaning of jihad and sharia law. Many of us partook in the evening prayers, Muslim style. The evening closed after a rousing question-and-answer session.

The follow-up iftar mosque visit overflowed into two mosque visits – one at the Islamic Center of San Diego, and a second at the Muslim Community Center in North County. For most, it was their first time visiting a mosque.

On June 22, Salaam and Change Begins with ME hosted a friendship dinner with about fifty people in attendance. Everyone enjoyed a delicious catered dinner and a couple hours of vigorous conversation. We are looking forward to putting on many more friendship dinners.

Salaam’s pilot events confirmed that both non-Muslims and Muslims are eager to push through misconceptions and come together in friendship.

Salaam’s Events Calendar

We have launched an events calendar to keep everyone aware of upcoming opportunities. You can find it here.

San Diego’s interfaith awareness week (5 – 12 August) is here!. Salaam will be represented at several events during the week as noted on our events calendar.

Please take note of our special mosque visit on Friday, August 10. Please RSVP if you plan to attend.

Next Steps

Salaam will be scheduling monthly awareness events at churches, clubs, and civic groups. If you are a leader or an organizer and would like to host an event, please contact us.

We are excited to be organizing an interfaith singles activities calendar. Please contact us if you are interested in helping organize. Stay tuned for our first event!

Salaam’s Board of Directors

Salaam is pulling together an amazing team of leaders. We’ll be introducing them to you in each new blog post. Our first addition is our VP of communications. Nathan Johnson has shaped the Salaam voice and brand in almost every way, from the name and logo to the website, video and photos. A seasoned digital storyteller and world traveler, Nathan can often be found in Africa or Latin America, creating videos that move people to action for causes and organizations. His consultancy is <http://nathan.works>

Nathan’s next project for Salaam is The Portrait Series, a web series of short videos about American Muslims. The first episode has been filmed and is currently in post-production. Learn more at <https://www.salaamusa.org/portraits/>

Salaam’s promotional video is up to over 4000 views on FB.  Great work, Nathan!! Please watch and share it!!

Why Do They Hate Us? Making Peace with the Muslim World, by Steve Slocum

Why Do They Hate Us? Takes the spotlight off of radical extremists and puts it on Islam’s mainstream. Release date – January 2019. Please check out our new book website. The preorder button is not yet operational, but will be soon