For Converts · Trusted In-Person Communities

Places to Get Grounded,
In Person

The study shows clearly that a convert's feelings of Muslimness are nurtured and/or hindered by the community around her. So, the most practical thing this project can offer is a door: real communities, led by people of knowledge, where a new Muslim can walk in and be received with warmth. Every place gathered here is one I trust.

A word on this list

Every institute listed here is one attended by either myself and/or my husband, as students. I do not recommend institutes, courses, or teachers with whom I, myself, have not studied. I want for my sisters (and brothers) what I want for myself: access to reliable and beneficial traditional Islamic knowledge from trustworthy scholars who have it to give. I know there are many wonderful institutes providing access to traditional Islamic knowledge. However, this is a list personally vetted with the convert in heart and mind. I feel safe learning from these places and with these people, and I pray you will as well.

Karla N. Kovacik, M.A. · The Feeling Muslim Project

Communities · Vetted & Known

Places to nurture your feelings of Muslimness
and to cultivate your sense of belonging

These are gathering places for learning, worship, and companionship. Reach out before you visit; a short message ahead of time is often the beginning of being known.

01

Houston, Texas

Ibrahim Islamic Center

Fellowship, learning, and spiritual cultivation rooted in love and service.

Open to all

"Ibrahim Islamic Center provides space to connect people through fellowship, learning, and spiritual cultivation rooted in love and service." Founded in the spring of 2012 by a group of Houston Muslims, mostly African American converts, who wanted an intentional community rather than a transactional space: welcoming, safe, and authentic, a prophetic community rooted in grace, love, and service to humanity. They welcome and facilitate, providing a nurturing space for companionship, sacred learning, wellness, and community service.

618 Baca St.
Houston, TX 77013

Website Email Instagram Facebook
02

Laguna Hills, California

The Majlis

Religious education, spiritual refinement, fellowship, and service.

Open to all

"The Majlis seeks to develop and nurture safe community spaces where people can learn and live Islam, based on the traditional sources of understanding the faith, while acknowledging the particular challenges of our context. We pray to see a revival of a holistic understanding of Islam that emphasizes how to be in this world in a way that opens the door for a deeper commitment to the prophetic way for all."

23151 Plaza Pointe Drive, Suite 140
Laguna Hills, CA 92653501(c)(3) nonprofit

Website Instagram YouTube Facebook
03

Arden Hills, Minnesota

Rabata Cultural Center & Bookshop

Positive cultural change through creative educational experiences, by women, for women.

Especially for women and children

"Rabata creates positive cultural change through creative educational experiences." Rabata envisions a rising tide of Muslim women teachers, faith leaders, and community stewards in every digital and local neighborhood around the world, building a better society through the educational and spiritual development of women by women, and amplifying the female voice in scholarship and publishing.

Accessibility · MUHSEN certified

A MUHSEN-certified nonprofit offering accessible parking, restroom, and seating, a Braille Qurʾān, closed captioning on media, sign-language interpreters on request, disability-awareness events, staff inclusivity training, and a wheelchair-accessible entrance.

3533 Lexington Ave. N
Arden Hills, MN 55126(612) 584-3359 · 501(c)(3) nonprofit

Website Bookshop Email (612) 584-3359
04

Trexlertown, Pennsylvania

The Sabeel Community

Relationships, religious literacy, and spiritual self-development.

Open to all

The Sabeel Community builds around three commitments, offered in a way contextualized for the uninitiated and newly practicing:

  • Building positive relationships with children, family, colleagues, food, and the environment, offering practical and localized resources.
  • Religious literacy: a basic understanding of the foundational principles of Islam, re-articulated to remain relevant to contemporary audiences.
  • Spiritual self-development grounded in the time-tested principles of ʿilm al-sayr waʾl-sulūk (taṣawwuf).

7150 Hamilton Blvd., Unit 323
Trexlertown, PA 18087501(c) nonprofit

Website Email Instagram Facebook

Featured Reading

A book I recommend, and contributed to

Project Lina: Bringing Our Whole Selves to Islam

Project Lina

Bringing Our Whole Selves to Islam

Dr. Tamara Gray · Najiyah Diana Maxfield
With a special foreword by Karla Kovacik

If you are new to Islam, or a woman looking toward marriage, this is the book I would put in your hands first. Lina is the Arabic word for palm tree, and its three modules, Know Yourself, Declare Independence, and Tend Your Ties, give a convert something to grow from: deep roots, a trunk both strong and flexible, and fruit that sustains.

I wrote the foreword, drawing on the findings of the Feeling Muslim study, and in the back of the book is an excellent pre-marital questionnaire by my dear friend Andrea Cluck Annaba, may Allah have mercy on her soul.

Buy from Rabata Bookshop Full feature

More resources

This page begins with trusted places. Reading, watching, & listening are on their way, in shā Allāh Taʿālā, along with a dedicated home for resources to assist you in finding trustworthy, reliable institutions for studying the traditional Islamic sciences, online and in-person.

Now open

Reading

Beneficial books and articles as well as original works from The Feeling Muslim Project.

 Now open

Learning Islam

Online and in-person opportunities to study the traditional Islamic sciences with trusted, reliable scholars who have the knowledge to give.
Now open

Videos

Lectures and series from teachers of real training, gathered with the same care.

Know a place that belongs here?

If there is a community, led by people of knowledge, where converts are truly received and cared for, I would be honored to hear of it. This list grows by trust, one door at a time.

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