Wendy Díaz

Imagine the following scenario:

Recent discussions about the rise of artificial intelligence would have us believe that it is a somewhat recent phenomenon. However, AI has been in development since the 1950s.

Is your Islamic center Latino-friendly? It should be. Every Hispanic Heritage Month, I receive requests to write about Latinos in Islam, present a Latin American-inspired story time, speak about the Latino experience at a local masjid, or organize a special event celebrating Hispanic heritage.

“Necessity is the mother of invention,” as the proverb goes. In my case, I was quite literally a mother in search of a solution. When my first child was born in 2006, finding Islamic children’s books in Spanish was nearly impossible.

When the attacks on the World Trade Center occurred on September 11, 2001, I was only twenty-one years old. I was still a single college student living with my parents, but I had taken a gap year to work at a doctor’s office.

When I began practicing Islam in my early twenties, I found myself searching for a sense of community and connection. It was during this transformative period that I met Celina¹, one of the first Latina Muslims I encountered.

In the 1950s and 1960s, a psychologist named Harry Harlow conducted a series of experiments that demonstrated something remarkable about the power of touch.