Timeline

📅 Our History

Timeline

A journey of service, innovation, and global impact spanning over three decades.

1991
January 01
HADI Founded

Established as a 501(c)(3) nonprofit in California to advance education, charitable service, and scientific development. Founded by UCLA, Berkeley, and SIU alumni with diverse expertise.

1992
January 01
Operation ALM

Humanitarian aid initiative launched to support children in Iraq.

1993
November 03
Jordan Microfinance

Launched refugee family income program with Washington, DC–based Near East Foundation (NEF).

1994
November 02
ICT Centers in Europe

Established Information & Computer Training Centers in Albania, Bosnia & Croatia to empower local communities.

1995
November 05
IslamiCity Launch & Islam.org Domain

Launched IslamiCity, among the first Islamic web portals; registered Islam.org in February. To date, IslamiCity has served over 325M+ visits globally.

1996
January 01
Islamic Development Bank Website

Designed and hosted the first official website for the OIC-based Islamic Development Bank (IDB).

1997
January 01
World’s First Synchronized Audio Qur’an Online

The first online Qur’an experience combining synchronized Arabic text and audio recitation.

1998
January 01
Top Media Recognition

Named one of the Top 100 Sites by Yahoo! Internet Life; featured on front page of Los Angeles Times: “God Is Everywhere on the Net” (Dec 14).

1999
October 01
Wall Street Journal Feature

IslamiCity featured in WSJ “Religion: God Goes Online” (Mar 26). Also streamed live Taraweeh & Hajj coverage online via satellite downlink.

2000
October 01
Halal Finance Partnership

Formed a partnership with iHilal and Rasmalah Group to promote halal Islamic finance tools and education.

2001
June 01
Harvard Finance Database

Built web-based Islamic finance research tool for the Harvard Islamic Finance Project (HIFIP). IslamiCity archive also included in Library of Congress (2001, 2003).

2002
January 01
Time Magazine Feature

IslamiCity recognized in Time Magazine (May 17) for Quran contests and growth to 1M monthly users post-9/11.

2003
January 01
MSNBC Feature

IslamiCity surpasses 50M visitors; profiled by MSNBC on rise of online Islamic portals.

2004
January 01
ABC News Feature

Profiled by ABC News: “Muslims log on to a cyber congregation.”

2005
January 01
International Islamic Finance Forum

Served as media partner for International Islamic Finance Forum (IIF) in Dubai. Launched earthquake housing relief in Kashmir and tsunami response in Aceh.

2006
November 01
StreamingMedia Recognition

Praised as a model of effective and cost-efficient web-based programming.

2007
November 01
CLASSRoad Launched

Founded CLASSRoad (Center for Languages, Arts & Societies of the Silk Road) for cultural and language education.

2008
November 01
STARTALK National Grants Begin

Received competitive U.S. STARTALK grants for Arabic teacher training with CSU San Bernardino and University of Maryland.

2009
November 02
Cultural Education Tours

Initiated educational tours to Spain, China, and Turkey.

2010
November 01
IslamiCity Milestone

Surpassed 150M total visitors by 15th anniversary.

2011
November 01
Voice of America Feature

Recognized by VOA as a global Islamic content leader.

2012
November 01
Online STARTALK Teacher Training

Expanded to Arabic, Persian, and Chinese, fully online.

2013
November 01
IslamiCity 2.0 Revamp

Overhauled 50,000+ pieces of content to modernize IslamiCity portal.

2014
November 01
LangCred

Launched interactive teacher certification portal for U.S. world language educators.

November 05
Al-Masdar Language Portal

Created Arabic education platform in collaboration with Qatar Foundation International (QFI).

2015
November 01
Zakat Tools Upgrade

Released improved zakat calculator and automation features on IslamiCity.

2016
November 01
STARTALK Create

Released curriculum authoring platform for world language educators.

2017
November 01
IslamiCity Visitor Growth

Surpassed 250M cumulative visitors.

2018
November 01
Cal OES Civic Education Grant

Awarded California Governor’s Office of Emergency Services (Cal OES) grant to promote civic education with CLASSRoad & National Humanities Center (NHC).

2019
November 01
SHIP Launched

Launched Student Housing & Internship Program (SHIP) in Culver City. Purchased real estate parcel for future HADI Community Center.

2020
November 01
Islamic Wills Platform

Launched U.S.-based Islamic estate planning tools in partnership with Shariawiz.

2021
November 01
United Nations DGC Collaboration

Signed agreement with United Nations Department of Global Communications for global news dissemination.

2022
November 01
World’s First Qur’an on Blockchain

Through Ummah.Network, deployed the full Qur’an on the Ethereum blockchain (NFTs) and published a mosque-centered halal finance white paper.

2023
November 01
HADI Relief Launched

Launched HADI Relief as a standalone humanitarian arm and signed an LOI with the International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM) for academic and content partnerships.

2024
November 01
HalalX & ChatILM AI

Introduced HalalX in partnership with American Halal Institute (AHI), creating a halal directory and marketplace ecosystem. Deployed ChatILM, the first Islamic AI assistant rooted in values-aligned proprietary intelligence.

2025
November 12
IslamiCity 3.0 Revamp & FILM AI

Marked 30 years of service and launched revamped IslamiCity. Launched FinanceILM (FILM), a next-generation Islamic finance platform powered by AI for personalized, faith-aligned tools and empowerment.

2026
April 08
IslamiCity Academy Launched

Established an online academy combining accredited education powered by Brigham Young University (BYU), alongside Al-Azhar-approved Arabic and Islamic Studies.