Muslim Civic Coalition Hosts American Muslim Story Workshop at Nabala Cafe

August 6, 2026 — Chicago, IL On July 28th, the Muslim Civic Coalition hosted an eventful workshop at the Nabala Cafe. The workshop entailed explaining not only what the American Muslim Story was, including how Black American Muslims are an integral part of our history, a part which must be included and highlighted. Both stories remind us that our stories didn’t begin slightly prior to the 2000s, but rather, they began in the 1700s, making our contributions to this country as important.

The workshop followed as such, an explanation and teaching moment of both the American and African American Muslim Story, giving background to the idea of the story of Self, Us, Now, a reflective exercise done during this workshop that allowed attendees to explore how a certain problem or issue pushed them to critically think about how it affected their community, and how it proceeded to reflect in the work they do today. Each attendee shared their story of Self, Us, Now, giving space to ponder on how certain events affect the trajectory of our work. 

Following this exercise, it made space for the introduction of giving an example of how our personal American Muslim Story would look. Giving an example of how our parents arrived to the United States, pushing through financial and economical struggles, how our grandparents survived the after-effects of colonialism, there were themes that could be shared with each person, preserving the idea behind the American Muslim Story: building connections with each other. 

Building connection with one another, understanding that another’s struggle can sometimes be synonymous with our own, creates camaraderie between each other and strengthens our community bonds. It also pushes us to find ways to fix the problems our grandparents, parents, relatives have gone through via policy, that way the same issues that affected them don’t affect future generations.