Connecting the Diaspora of Hearts

Help us Connect Muslim Communities Around the World

In 2018 Dustin Craun was living in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and started reflecting with a group of interlocutors on how little we actually know about the diversity of Muslim life around the world. We know about our crises, the wars, and Islamophobia but what do we know about the leaders in our community building the collective future of the world’s largest and most diverse faith? What do we know about Muslims making a social and spiritual impact around our world? What do we know about diverse narratives about Muslims being produced around the world? The diverse startups growing around the world to serve Muslim communities?

So we asked the question 

What would it look like to create a center that is future-oriented, and that creates spaces for media, social impact, and cultural producers? What would it look like to create something visionary and move away from the constant reactionary thinking that our community has been stuck in for the last twenty years? This is what we have set out to build with the Center for Global Muslim Life, as a future-oriented media production hub, research center, and cultural incubator creating cutting edge conversations across diverse Muslim communities. The Center for Global Muslim Life builds connections between a diverse set of media producers, researchers, cultural strategists, artists, technologists, community organizers, and policymakers from throughout the United States and from around the world working on key issues in global Muslim communities.

​Starting with the world we live in today

Over the last few months, we have had our lives turned upside down and we have no real idea when or if things will go back to what we used to consider to be “normal.” Blessings we took for granted like simply going outside, our daily work and outings, praying at the Mosque, Friday prayers, they are gone for now. We pray for this disease to be eradicated and taken from our lives, we pray for healing for all those who are suffering, and for ease for families who have lost loved ones around the world, Ameen. There is no greater example of how little control we have of this world and how interconnected our lives are beyond the barriers and borders placed around us.

These are some of the most difficult times that most of us have ever lived through. The uncertainty of these times should create empathy in our lives in imagining what it is like for the millions around the world who have had their lives uprooted by war and disease.

It should also be a reminder that as people of faith our lives are rooted in our belief and love of God, we must turn to Him with absolute humility and prayer in this moment. We should also reflect on the reality that if this world as it was is unacceptable to our creator, then what type of world should we create that is more in balance with our teachings?

MUSLIM WELLNESS & RAMADAN 

Part of the shocking nature of this moment for Muslims around the world is that we are locked in our homes in what is our most social month where we are at dinners, and the Mosque nearly every night of this month. As we build out rapid response research and programming in response to the COVID 19 pandemic we are looking at mutual aid programs being built at the Mosque level in the United States and around the world. We are also producing a set of content to connect our community in unique ways this month.

CONNECTING THE DIASPORA OF HEARTS

In this time of the COVID-19 virus, it is more important than ever that Muslim communities are able to connect with each other around the world and learn best practices from each other in times of crisis. With this in mind, we are organizing a series of symposia with global Muslim institutions, thinkers, religious scholars, medical professionals, artists, and people making social impact around the world. The first symposium, "Connecting the Diaspora of Hearts - A Day of Prayer and Charity" will take place before the end of Ramadan. 

UMMAH BUILDERS

At this time of great global crisis, we want to talk to the future builders about how to transform our world. Ummah Builders is beginning as a live show hosted by Dustin Craun, the founder of the Center for Global Muslim Life, featuring scholars, artists, entrepreneurs, and change-makers from around the world who are creating communities through social movements, companies, institutions, and art. Over the next year, we plan to turn this into a series of short films.

MUSLIM HEALERS & FRONTLINERS

In the United States alone there are more than 50,000 Muslim doctors, with hundreds of thousands of Muslim health professionals in Western countries. There is also a historical and emerging field of Muslim wellness that mixes traditional Islamic knowledge with Western and at times Chinese medicine. In this live series, we talk to Muslim health professionals and healers from around the world about the Muslim response to the COVID 19 pandemic, and how Prophetic healing is evolving in the twenty-first century.

Ummah Classics is a podcast featuring important lectures and interviews from throughout the world some historical, some more contemporary all with cutting edge ideas related to global Muslim life.

We have built a unique radio station with Ramadan programming (available on our homepage globalmuslimlife.com) from around the world so people can connect with content in a unique way this month. From lectures to classes and global Qur’an recitations this station is built to inspire in this time of great difficulty.

THE PATH - A 10 PART SERIES ON THE JOURNEY TO ISLAM WITH DUSTIN CRAUN

At the Center for Global Muslim Life, our goal is to tell the full story of our community and that includes the millions of Muslim converts around the world. We rarely hear the full story about someone’s spiritual journey to Islam so this month our founder, Dustin Craun, is teaching a 10 part series called “The Path - A 10 Part Series on the Journey to Islam.” Below is the description of the course, “As a spiritual seeker, my path to Islam began far before I embraced the faith in October of 2002 and it has continued every day after with all kinds of twists and turns. In this class, I will talk about my journey within the greater understanding of what it means to be a life long seeker of Truth. I will also discuss the need to decolonize our hearts in an age when they are filled with so many things outside of our fitra (our primordial state). Topics will range from the spiritual, to philosophical, and political with practical advice on transforming your heart.”

THE GLOBAL EID VIRTUAL FILM FESTIVAL

The Global Eid Virtual Film Festival is a celebration of Global Muslim Life during the month when we join together in worship, community, and celebration of faith and life. For most fo the world, this Ramadan will be unlike any other as we are in quarantine in our homes and unable to join together in our public acts of worship and celebration. The Global Eid Film Festival is built for the community to come together in a celebration of Muslim life, faith, art, and culture as a unique way for us to come together online through film. 

We Have Built Connections & Told Stories of Global Muslim Life Around the World. Starting in 2015 we launched Ummah Wide 

We told the stories of the founding of organizations like LaunchGood and NoorKids 

In 2016 we launched MPower Change with Linda Sarsour, Mark Crain, and our founding team. Building one of the largest Muslim social justice organizations in the US. 

In 2017 we launched our production studio, Beyond Borders Studios, where we have worked with clients startups, nonprofits, universities, and corporations of many different sizes including the University of California at Berkeley, The Othering and Belonging Institute, Port of Mokha Coffee, the California Endowment, 500 Startups, Faith in Action National Network, The University of Colorado at Boulder, and CAIR California.

As a filmmaker, I have produced 10 short films to date including, my most recent film "A Prayer Beyond Borders" about immigration at the US / Mexico Border and the response of the Muslim & Christian communities. 

Our Team 

We have built a global team of advisors for this project which to date includes Dr. Hatem Bazian, Aamer Rahman, Amna Mulla Afzal, Abbas Barzegar, Ashraf Gomma Ali, Qasim Arif, and Imam Mohamed Ahmed Khan.