About Us
Sakina Wilderness
Faith-Fueled Journeys into the Wild
Sakina Wilderness organizes guided multi-day backpacking trips designed specifically for the Muslim community. We blend the physical and spiritual benefits of outdoor travel by incorporating Islamic reflections, nature appreciation, and community-building into every trip. Whether you're brand new to backpacking or a seasoned explorer, our trips are built to be welcoming, meaningful, and deeply connective, both to the land and to your faith.
The Experience
Our trips are relaxed and camper-centered. We adapt the pace and energy based on the group. Sometimes things are high-energy and dynamic, and other times they're calm and reflective. We’re not rigid, we intentionally build in breathing room so people can rest, explore, or reflect at their own pace. There's always structure to keep everyone safe, but we don’t micromanage. It’s about creating a space where people feel free and supported.
As of now, we run multi-day backpacking trips only. These trips typically include hiking into the backcountry with all gear, setting up camp, and spending several days immersed in nature, away from cell service and everyday stress. In the future, we may expand to include day hikes, workshops, and family-friendly options.
Safety & Training
All trips include at least one leader with Wilderness First Responder (WFR) training, and all guides are experienced backpackers who’ve been trained by outdoor professionals.
Our spiritual mentors are people grounded in Islamic knowledge, either graduates of Islamic seminaries or current students in structured study programs. They bring both insight and presence to the trip, helping participants engage deeply with their faith in a natural setting.
Founder
Yassine
Yassine is a lifelong lover of the outdoors, a software engineer, and a dedicated community builder. He started Sakina Wilderness after being deeply impacted by his own experiences on spiritually guided backpacking trips with the Tayseer Seminary's intro to backpacking course. Those trips opened his eyes not just to the beauty of backpacking, but to the powerful link between nature and Islamic spirituality. Beyond the outdoors, Yassine has over five years of experience in education, working in science education and interpretation with learners of all ages and backgrounds. He brings a passion for teaching, curiosity, and accessible learning into every experience he leads.
Sakina was born out of love—love for the land, love for our deen, and love for helping others experience both together. After realizing that there was no organization offering something like this in the Pacific Northwest, despite it being one of the global capitals for outdoor adventure, Yassine decided to take initiative. His vision is to create a deeply intentional space where Muslim identity and outdoor life are not in tension, but in harmony. Through Sakina, he hopes to reconnect people to the land, their Creator, and each other.
View founder profileWhat makes us unique?
We don’t separate the spiritual from the physical. Our trips are designed to be spiritually integrated, meaning that religious identity and outdoor exploration are not two different tracks. They're one and the same. We bring along knowledgeable spiritual leaders, people who’ve studied the Islamic tradition, to help us connect the awe of nature to the remembrance of Allah. While many programs focus solely on outdoor education, we preserve and celebrate our deen in every step of the experience.
This is not just an outdoor retreat, it’s a chance to realign with your purpose and connect with your Creator through the signs in His creation. We intentionally design our trips to center Muslim identity, rooted in both tradition and reflection. We create space for dhikr, for reflection, for group discussion, and for solitude under the stars.
Who is it for?
Young Muslims in the PNW, college students, grads, and early-career folks who may not have had an outdoors experience that truly speaks to them.
Any Muslim, of any background or level of experience, who wants to explore the outdoors in a way that strengthens their connection to the land and to Allah is welcome.
FAQ
Participants just need to register and show up with a good attitude. That’s it. We help take care of the rest, gear planning, safety, meals, and more, so you can focus on what really matters: the experience itself. It’s not a stress-free activity, but we aim to create a worry-free environment where people feel held, supported, and free to be present.