The Muslim Youth Camp of California has been a place for unique American Muslim living and learning experiences since 1961. What started then with a small group of young Muslim families is now a yearly event reflecting the changing face of American Muslim society. Every year for one week, from the Fajr adhan to the late night campfire, MYC aims to create a living Muslim community.

MYC was founded by Marghoob Quraishi and his wife Iffat Quraishi to provide a yearly spiritual retreat for Muslim families in North America, at a time when the American Muslim community was so small that differences in ethnicity and madhhab (school of thought) were easily overcome by a shared basic Muslim belief in God, the creator, and Muhammad as the last messenger. As the Muslim community in America has grown, MYC, now in its fifth decade, has maintained its original commitment to learning what is shared and what is different among Muslims. Over the years, with the help of countless committed volunteer workers from among the founding generation, the family camp grew and attracted more leaders, teachers and participants, ultimately providing generations of campers with unique social, educational and counseling experiences intended to help develop Islamic religious consciousness and positive Muslim identity in America.

MYC convenes each summer for one week in a beautiful California campsite. For much of its history, MYC operated under the umbrella of the non-profit Islamic Education Institute, one of the many projects and services of the Quraishi family. In 2005, MYC was independently incorporated as the Muslim Youth Camp of California as an institutional legacy of Marghoob and Iffat Quraishi, with a next-generation Board of Directors comprised of long-time campers taking on the leadership responsibility to carry on the special quality that is “the MYC Experience.”