Our story
An imam's answer to a question he faced every Friday
How do you give one khutbah to a jama'ah that doesn't share one language? Minbar Translate began on a minbar in Erie, Pennsylvania.
Why we built it
The khutbah belongs to everyone in the masjid
In many mosques, the khutbah is given in the language of the community that built the mosque, while the rows fill with converts, guests, students and a younger generation more at home in English. Too often, they sit through the most important teaching of the week without understanding it.
Interpreters are hard to find every Friday, and general translation apps were made for business meetings, not for a khutbah with Qur'an, hadith and du'a woven through it. Minbar Translate is built for exactly that: the imam keeps speaking in his own language, and every worshipper follows along in theirs.
Our principles
- The words of the khutbah are an amanah. Translations can be prepared and reviewed by the imam before Jumu'ah.
- The Qur'an is shown as revealed. Recited verses appear exactly as written, never re-translated by a machine.
- Simple enough for any mosque. A phone and the TVs you already have. Nothing to install.
- Privacy by default. The imam's voice is translated as he speaks and isn't recorded.
The founder
Ten years on the minbar, six years making software trustworthy
Adem Garic has served for more than ten years as imam, religious educator and community leader for the Bosnian Muslim community in Erie, Pennsylvania. He composes and delivers khutbahs and lectures in both Bosnian and English, designs Islamic curriculum for children, leads life-cycle ceremonies and pastoral counseling, and writes ilahija (nasheed) lyrics performed at community gatherings.
He holds a B.A. in Theology from the University of Sarajevo, with formal training in Qur'anic studies, hadith, fiqh and Islamic ethics.
Alongside his work in the masjid, Adem is an AI quality engineer. He builds evaluation systems for AI: tests that catch made-up facts, unfaithful answers and broken guardrails. That is exactly the discipline a khutbah translation needs, where getting it nearly right is not good enough.
Along the way
- 2006 – 2011B.A. in Theology, University of Sarajevo
- More than ten yearsImam and educator for the Bosnian Muslim community in Erie, Pennsylvania
- 2019 – todaySoftware quality: test automation for web, mobile and APIs, then AI evaluation
- 2025 – todayM.S. in Information Technology, University of the People
- 2026Minbar Translate, first used in his own masjid
وَمَآ أَرْسَلْنَا مِن رَّسُولٍ إِلَّا بِلِسَانِ قَوْمِهِۦ لِيُبَيِّنَ لَهُمْ
“We have not sent any messenger except in the language of his people, so that he might make the message clear to them.”
Surah Ibrahim 14:4