Inspiring Muslims is a new series that will be run by Muslim Sources to bring out stories that will inspire and uplift our community.
Thanks to years of not seeing ourselves represented in the profiles, features and stories of successful people in the mainstream narrative, we as the Muslim community find it harder to dream big and aim high. Showcasing these success stories and inspiring journeys is pivotal to Muslim representation and to the success of our own community members.
We want to create a space to tell the stories of inspiring changemakers and trailblazers who thrive while embracing their faith and identity. These are our stories, by us and for us. Read more about the series here. If you wish to collaborate with us on this series please reach out to us at info@muslimsources.org
When Cadar Mohamud graduated from York University in 2020, she had this intense desire to do something that would make an impact in the world, something that would help her community and make a meaningful contribution that would benefit her world and her hereafter. But she wasn’t quite sure what that project would be.
She loved storytelling and believed in the power of stories to educate and inspire, so she knew she wanted it to be a digital storytelling startup, but beyond that she was still exploring her options.
“I remember being so confused,” says Cadar while talking to me about how she started The Digital Sisterhood podcast that today has crossed over 5 million downloads over its lifetime and recently topped the UK charts of the most listened to podcasts on Spotify. On Apple podcasts it was charting as number one in the education and self improvement categories over last week.
“I was like how am I going to do this? Where am I gonna start? I don’t have all the resources. I don’t have all the money and I’m in no position. And I remember applying for grants and I remember trying to talk to people to get some funding but because I necessarily didn’t exist in the grant world, people had never seen me before in art spaces, it was a very hard ball to catch and throw.”
Doubt, financial challenges, imposter syndrome – Cadar was up against it all. But she persisted, circled back to her intentions and continued the work. And paths she had never expected opened up for her.
“Why can’t I believe it to be big?” she says recalling the internal dialogues she had with herself during the initial days, battling the challenges she was facing. “I had to look myself in the mirror and say ‘Cadar if no one is going to believe in you, you’ve got to believe in yourself!’… It was like: ‘Aint nobody giving you a shot, but all you ever needed was Allah (swt)!’”
Cadar got in touch with a young artist Wasima Farah from Minnesota and together they worked on building the brand, choosing the colors that conveyed their message and designing the logo. Everything in the branding and logo was very intentional. From the colors and the illustrations of the women in the logo, to the skin tones of each of the characters and the absence of the eyes in the illustration–there’s a story behind everything.
In January 2021, Cadar got a message on her Instagram from Muna Scekomar, who resided in Minnesota at that time and was interning with a popular NPR podcast. Muna was pitching ideas to mainstream producers to tell more stories about Muslim women but not getting a positive response from them. When she reached out to Cadar, she asked her if she had ever considered podcasting.
“She said ‘Hey, I really think you have the personality for this. I think what you are trying to do is very in sync and aligned with it,’” says Cadar recalling the conversation. “I said ‘Yeah! Let’s do it! Let’s do it tomorrow!’ I remember it was January, and in February we recorded our first episode.”
Muna now serves as the Senior Producer and Editor at The Digital Sisterhood and runs her own media production company called Beautiful Light Studios.
“We said we are going to create for Muslims, but we don’t want to niche,” says Cadar. “We want to be competing with Joe Rogan, Meghan Markle, you know? Because at the end of the day, Muslims are not niche. You know, we might be Muslims and we might practice certain things but our experiences are human experiences. They are global. Everyone experiences it. Whether that’s mental health, domestic violence. Whether that’s self love or finding God…Every human can relate, so we never wanted to be in this just top religious category. We wanted to be in the main game, because our work was that good and our stories were that good. That was always our intention. It’s a big climb.”
But behind those big goals, were also quiet conversations that kept them going.
“Me and Muna used to say, if only one person benefits, we did our job.”
The team got together to write scripts, narrate and edit stories, starting from the stories of those closest to them..
“Our first episode came out April 15 of Ramadan 2021 and by October 2021 we were at half a million downloads a month. So we grew exponentially in about seven months which is not really common for a podcast and we just kept going,” says Cadar. “And just this week we were number 2 in the UK charts just passing our good boy Joe Rogan, which was a dream of mine, so that’s checked off my list! So now, alhamdulillah that’s where we are. There’s obviously more of TDS now. Now we have different teams for different things – there’s a podcast team, there’s a company team, there is an operations team. Now we create products. It’s a start up, and it’s really starting up, alhamdulillah. It’s been a year and 5-6 months. for the podcast but TDS started August…the anniversary of the platform is Aug 11, 2020. so it’s been 2 years for the platform.”
To help support the cost of the operations, Cadar and her team also designed a product called Vibecheck – a prompt card game for single Muslims that helps them learn more about their potential spouse. The product sold out and already has close to 700 people on the waitlist for its next edition.
The topics featured in the podcast center around the themes of interconnectedness, empathy and belonging.
“We try to tell stories that don’t shy away from the ugly,” says Cadar. “I try to get stories from people who are open to share ‘Hey, this is where I came from, this is where I was at and this is how life opened up for me.’ I don’t want to tell the middle of someone’s story . It’s impossible for me to even tell the ending of anyone’s story because people’s stories are still living but for sure i want to tell the beginning of it. the very beginning and their way and so…people look at these stories and they see themselves in it.”
Cadar says they have kept the podcast only audio for a reason. “We do that to protect the women. Women, if we are not worried about how we look, we are worried about how we are judged,” she says. “I just want Muslim women to speak the truth, however they may look. You know that’s not the point. If we get stuck on the way people look , Wallahi we are not going to learn anything. Nothing. I just want people to hear the human and if I have to put a blindfold, I’ll put a blindfold.”
One thing any listener can immediately sense from The Digital Sisterhood podcast, is the authenticity in the stories and the discussions. The stories are raw, honest and vulnerable and many listeners can attest to a lot of tears.
“We do not milk it. We are very authentic and that’s our center,” says Cadar. “It’s where we find our truth, it’s where we explore truth and the way we inspire truth – it’s authenticity. that’s the word that would describe us, that’s the recipe, that’s our magic sauce.”
Talking about the challenges she has faced in the journey, Cadar says the biggest challenge has been finding funding. The company is looking for investors to invest in the business, but Cadar says she is experiencing a lot of difficulty because she is a woman founder.
“Because we have these incredibly high levels of barriers and there really aren’t spaces for us to get into business and to thrive,” she says. “Now, going into it, I see why. I see it. I see the barriers. It’s crazy and it’s daunting. Like to see it in practice. But alhamdulillah we are not quitters. I’m not gonna lie, I lean on my faith in these areas, this Yaqeen (belief) that Allah (swt) is going to provide me what He is gonna provide me. No one can take that away. And I have to lean into that especially when we are up against sexism and Islamophobia.”
Cadar was recently selected to be part of Inspirit Foundation’s Narrative Change Lab that is working on supporting the creation of new narratives for Muslims and by Muslims in Canada. She is part of a cohort of 17 creatives and three facilitators that have been holding bi-weekly virtual meetings to find collective ways of working to change the dominant narrative about Muslims in popular culture. The discussion about barriers and how to overcome them has been central to these meetings as well.
When I ask Cadar what keeps her going in the difficult times, her immediate response is: “Allah (swt). Allah (swt) keeps me going. He is the One I consult with, He is the One I ask from. He is the reason why I do what I do, it’s Allah (swt)…I want to die leaving something behind. I don’t want to live my life meaningless. I don’t want to just work, sleep, eat, breathe and die. I want to feel like I did something, that I worked hard, that I tried to benefit and help the ummah of the Prophet (saw).”
Going from just an idea and a longing in her heart to do something for the community to now having a successful podcast that is topping the charts worldwide, crossing 5 million listens, and gaining a following of close to 60k followers on Instagram and 17k on Twitter all in less than two years – the story of The Digital Sisterhood podcast is inspiring. It’s a demonstration of what can happen when you decide to take those steps towards your dreams, when you don’t let the obstacles stop you and when you persist while keeping your trust in Allah.
“It’s the courage,” says Cadar. “You know the thing is, it’s not even about whether it’s going to happen. It’s the bravery. Like you know what Allah (swt) wants from us is this Yaqeen, that if Allah is on our side, who do you need?”
“I can be the CEO of a Fortune 500 company tomorrow if Allah decides it for me and I believe it and moving in that bravery and that confidence, you know?” she reflects. “And doing it. I ask Allah (swt) to make us examples of that success…and that when we do get in those positions where people are like ‘how did these women do it?’, we can say the right thing and say the truth is that Allah (swt) gives us the success that we are after and that it is He that we should seek for those things and nobody else. Don’t even seek it from yourself. Because sometimes your cup is not full. Sometimes you are just not brave enough. Seek it in Allah.. And so, I just want it to be clear: Allah did this. We just took the leap.”
A leap we are all rooting for. And we look forward to seeing them fly higher.