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Unforgettable Stories From Hajj | Imam Tom x Shaykh Elshinawy

May 27, 2026
Tom Facchine

Eid Mubarak to everyone celebrating around the world!

To mark this blessed day, Imam Tom Facchine sits down with Sh. Shinawy to talk about what Hajj actually does to people. The tough guy who rolled his eyes at everyone crying at the pilgrimage — and came home a different person. The family that sacrificed everything across three generations just to reach Mecca once. The stories that don’t make it into the Friday sermon but stay with you forever.

If you went this year, this will feel like home. If you haven’t gone yet, this might be the conversation that changes that.

From our family to yours — Eid Mubarak. May Allah accept from all of us.

Tom Facchine

Tom Facchine

Tom Facchine (pronounced fa-KEEN-ee) converted to Islam in 2010 as he was finishing his BA in Political Science. For the next few years he studied Islam and Arabic with local teachers while working with Muslim youth, founding and directing youth groups in two different communities. In 2015 he was accepted into the University of Madinah and is now close to completing a bachelor’s degree in Islamic Law. In addition to youth group activities, for the past two years Tom has directed an after school program for young Muslims called the Ramadan Academy, which operates out of the GCLEA mosque in Cherry Hill, New Jersey. Tom’s academic and personal background brings a unique dual ability to relate to mainstream Western cultural norms and engage them from a traditional Islamic perspective. His unique teaching style is highly interactive and brings high-level concepts to a level that even children can understand. He is passionate about building relationships with Muslim youth and giving them the tools and confidence to live as observant, well-adjusted people of faith in our times.

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