THE PEOPLE BEHIND

CelebrateMercy

Meet the team helping guide our mission
and bring CelebrateMercy’s work to life.

OUR LEADERSHIP TEAM

A dedicated team with a shared commitment to sharing the life, character, and teachings of the Prophet ﷺ through knowledge, education, outreach, and community initiatives.

Founder & Executive Director

Tarek El-Messidi

Tarek founded CelebrateMercy: a non-profit that teaches about the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ through educational programs and social campaigns that "respond evil with good."

  • Tarek El-Messidi is a Muslim American social entrepreneur and activist.

    In 2012, Georgetown University listed him as one of the 500 Most Influential Muslims worldwide. Between 1998 and 2006, he pursued Islamic studies at programs in the United States, Morocco, Egypt, and Jordan.

    In 2010, a few years after earning an MBA and beginning work as a manager at Procter & Gamble in Ohio, Tarek founded CelebrateMercy: a non-profit that teaches about the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ through educational programs and social campaigns that "respond evil with good." In 2017, CelebrateMercy mobilized Muslims to raise $162,000 to repair vandalized Jewish cemeteries, and in 2018, they raised over $200,000 for victims of the Pittsburgh synagogue shooting. In the last several years through CelebrateMercy, Tarek has led over ten similar campaigns for the victims of various tragedies. He currently lives in New Jersey.

Head of Marketing

Afifah Khawaja

CelebrateMercy has made the Prophetic tradition accessible in ways that touch both the mind and the heart. One of our core values — beauty — is especially close to me. The Prophet ﷺ said, 'Verily, God is Beautiful and loves beauty.' (Sahih) I strive to bring that spirit into my work, so that every project and program reflects the beauty of Allah and His Beloved ﷺ into our world.

  • Afifah Khawaja serves as CelebrateMercy’s Head of Marketing, helping shape how the organization shares the timeless truth, mercy, and guidance of the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ with communities around the world. Her work brings together purposeful strategy, heartfelt storytelling, and meaningful experiences that invite people to discover the Prophet ﷺ and develop a personal connection with him — rooted in knowledge and, above all, love.

Operations Director

Hasnaa Agouzoul

I love that CelebrateMercy is a place where I’m reminded of the Prophet ﷺ every day, where I can serve Allah while doing meaningful work, and where even our small efforts may transform lives, families, and, inshaa Allah, generations to come. I truly can’t imagine doing anything else.

  • A native of Casablanca, Morocco, Hasnaa Agouzoul earned her Master’s in Industrial Engineering in France before beginning her career with Procter & Gamble in R&D and IT in Frankfurt, Germany. She later relocated with P&G to Paris, where she went on to work for Hewlett-Packard and launch her own import/export business, bringing handcrafted Moroccan furniture to the United States.

    That venture eventually brought Hasnaa to Cincinnati, Ohio, where she earned a Master’s in Quantitative Analysis and joined Nielsen as a Senior Analyst in market research. In 2012, she made the decision to leave the corporate world and dedicate herself fully to CelebrateMercy and its mission of helping people know, love, and follow the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ.

    As Operations Director, Hasnaa oversees CelebrateMercy’s internal operations, including HR, finance and audit, IT, and the systems and processes that help the organization and its team run smoothly and effectively.