My name is Rose Hamid.  I've lived in Charlotte, NC. since 1987.  I was born in Buffalo NY and grew up in Cleveland OH.  My mother is from Colombia, South America and my father is Palestinian.  I grew up in the Catholic tradition until just before Confirmation, when I left the church.  I got married to a Palestinian man in 1982, we didn't talk much about religion until we started our family.  I started to learn about Islam and found that it made sense to me and answered the questions I had growing up.   

From the time I started practicing Islam in 1986 I have sought to bridge the gap between Muslims and non-Muslims. Not to convert people to Islam, but in hopes that people could come to understand that the religion of Islam is one of the Abrahamic faiths; believing in the prophets of the Jews and Christians and praying to the same God.  

Some of my efforts included starting Girl and Boy Scout troops in the Islamic community, which allowed children to interact with those of other faiths while still maintaining and celebrating their own identities as Muslims. I was a board member of Mecklenburg Ministries, an interfaith organization in Charlotte, NC. I co-founded the Muslim Women of the Carolinas in 1998 with the mission of bringing the diverse Muslim women of Charlotte and the surrounding areas together so we could get to know one another and do good works. In 2012 I organized an event called Meet the Muslims of Charlotte, which allowed community leaders to meet with Muslim leaders, as well as a panel of diverse Muslim members of the community. I created a 30 minute DVD of the event and distributed thousands of them at the Democratic National Convention in Charlotte in 2012. In 2015 I was asked to submit monthly columns to the Charlotte Observer (see here for full archive).

On Jan. 8th, 2016, I attended a Trump rally with a group of friends for the purpose of standing in silent protest against hate-speech in general and Islamophobia in particular (read more about why I went to the Trump rally here). The protest didn't get the message across I was hoping for. Although people were nice to me before I stood up, and I was offered support and an apology when I was asked to leave, the rest of the people in the crowd were whipped into a hateful frenzy towards all protesters once they noticed us.

Instead of protesting, I've decided to use love to combat those hateful reactions.  God willing, I will be looking for opportunities to interact with attendees of the Republican National Convention in Cleveland OH July 13-21, 2016.  I will distribute flower pens in the hopes of starting conversations and breaking down barriers. 

If you are a Muslim who would like to join this effort click on the email button on this page or email Mrs.RoseHamid@gmail.com 

The purpose of this website is to provide simple to understand, reliable resources for those wanting information about Islam from the people who practice it.

Here you'll find some videos introducing you to some diverse, stereotype-busting, American Muslims.