In Houston, Texas, IslamInSpanish serves as a home for Latino Muslims, a distinct minority within a minority in the United States. The growing demographic group maintains the unique traits of cultures that make up Latin America while embracing the influences of language, food and hospitality found in the practice of Islam in the Old World.

By tackling often overlooked societal issues, Palestinian-born Sami Kafati’s body of work has shaped Honduran cinema even years after his passing.

In the Yoyogi district of Tokyo, Japan, stands the ornate Camii Mosque, in a location where there is a blend of cultures—educating locals and creating a harmony among traditions. Islam’s history in Japan is almost entirely recent, with estimates putting the number of Muslims in Japan close to 200,000 amid a national population of 125 million. “The point is to help people acquire the power of interpretation, the intellectual muscles of critical thinking and critical understanding of this world,” says Qayyim Naoki Yamamoto, professor of Islamic studies at Marmara University.

As the Mediterranean Sea's largest and most central island, Sicily has lured invaders, traders and travelers since antiquity, and each one has left its layers of legacy. From the ninth to the 12th century, Arabs and Normans dominated the island. Along its western coast, in its capital Palermo, the Arab-Norman royal court of King Roger I rose to become one of the most influential seats of power of its time. Since 2015 the UN has recognized a set of nine buildings whose syntheses of Byzantine, Arab and Norman designs epitomize the best of a time whose multiculturalism remains a foundation for Palermo today.

It wasn’t until he found himself thousands of kilometers from his native Australia in September 2001 that Coller, a UCLA-Irvine professor of history, began to realize that his seemingly disparate early interests in French culture, Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, his longing to understand the Middle East and his determination to speak Arabic were all parts of his innate fascination with people. 

Not far from London, newly inaugurated walking routes trace some of the first Islamic patronages and cultural contributions to the UK. The trails start at the country’s first purpose-built mosque and lead to two cemeteries—one dedicated to nearly forgotten Muslim veterans and the other the resting place of several dozen British Muslims, more than a few of them leaders in their fields. While the sites owe their origins to a 19th-century linguist, the trails have come about through collaborations among a local journalist, the London-based nonprofit Everyday Muslim and the town of Woking. All have teamed up so visitors can walk the paths of stories that hold “the potential to change Britain’s popular historical narrative.”

In the era when baseball emerged as "America" National Pastime," the sons of Syrian Lebanese immigrants were smitten by the sport too— including a leftie slugger in Port Arthur, Texas, named Bill Anawaty.

As an 18-year-old from Tajikistan new to Washington, DC, Akobir Azamovich Akhmedov could barely afford the city’s high rents. A dozen years later, he is cofounder and CEO of 4stay, where his plug-and-play approach to long-term accommodations is reshaping the market.