About One Light
We exist to empower Muslims worldwide, cultivate leaders, and establish dawah-centered, God-conscious communities. We do this not through management from a distance, but by raising the local leaders who carry the work forward themselves.
Our vision
Our mission
The model
One Light works through three integrated pillars: leadership education, adaptive community outreach, and new-Muslim integration, delivered by daʻīs trained to hand the work to native leadership, not manage it indefinitely. Our aim is a community that is self-sustaining before we leave, not a program that depends on us to survive.
Why we raise leaders
Leaders fit to carry this work are rare. That scarcity is why we do not wait to find them: we raise them, sifting the few from the many and lifting up daʻīs drawn from the very communities they go on to serve.
Where we work
Our Phase 1 proof-of-concept is in Malawi, where traveling daʻīs pair with local partners to establish a hub built to run on its own. The model, built on a community-power analysis, periodic deployment during peak engagement windows, and a local leadership pipeline, is designed to be replicated as we grow, region by region.
Governance
Strategic direction and fiduciary duty sit with our Board of Directors. A Shura Council provides scholarly oversight and reviews program content for doctrinal soundness. A Legal Committee and Finance Committee oversee compliance and financial controls. Our governance and compliance policies are covered in full on our Transparency & Governance page.
- Brandon Estes, Chief Executive Officer. Author of How the Bible Led Me Home.
- Omar Karim, President. Holds two bachelor’s degrees: Business Technology Administration from the University of Maryland, and Fiqh from the College of Shariah at the Islamic University of Madinah.
- Muhammad Bamba, Vice President and Chief Legal Officer.
Founders: Brandon Estes, Omar Karim