The rise of social media use has given everyone the power to express themselves very easily. Trends became a part of everyone’s day and among that is everyday negativity looming online. Mustafa Hussain got inspired to make his own efforts to bring positivity into people’s lives through random acts of kindness. The 24-year-old Muslim YouTuber aimed to capture people’s most genuine moments and reactions, hoping it can make his audience smile, and it did.

His YouTube channel then gained thousands of subscribers as he continued posting videos inclined with his advocacy. Mustafa Hussain is becoming one of the largest content creators in the Muslim community. He aims to use this platform to change the stereotypes formed against Muslims by showing their positive side through different acts of kindness to strangers. Read further to learn more about his story:

Positivity Through YouTube Videos

YouTube has become a host of all kinds of videos. Makeup videos, different tutorials and DIYs, reality shows, TV show clips, and various types of vlogs – video blogs or video logs in an informal or conversational style – and other types of videos are now on the website.

With all these different niches, representing optimism through videos is quite a challenge. It requires passion, altruism, and inspiration to exert efforts to make people happy genuinely. Mustafa used this inspiration to team up with his best friend Ahmad Atieh, to make videos that spread happiness for the audience and the people in the videos themselves.

In his first viral video, “Making Strangers Smile (Guaranteed to Make You Smile),” which was uploaded three years ago, Mustafa and Ahmad handed out Hershey’s Milk Chocolate bars with sweet notes like “Smile. You deserve to be happy” around their campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey. They echoed their passion through performing acts of kindness to strangers. Their video sent a simple yet important message for everyone: Anyone can make anyone smile with the simplest of gestures.

What Inspired Mustafa’s Videos

The friends who were then studying at Rutgers University in New Jersey felt inspired to exert their efforts to make the people around them happy. In each of their videos, they wish to inspire others to help people in their community or do the smallest acts of generosity and empathy. It clearly happened when many people e-mailed Mustafa about how they got inspired by his videos to do good to their community. They continued making videos about different Muslim related random acts of kindness until “Making Strangers Smile” led to Mustafa’s YouTube break.

The Big YouTube Break

“Making Strangers Smile” served as Mustafa’s ticket to his big break. The video now has 1.8 million views on YouTube and more than 20 million views through different pages that reposted it on Facebook, including 12.5 million views on Unilad’s Facebook page. The video also hit the front page of Reddit, 9gag, and many more sites, and it was aired on different TV stations around the world. It went so viral that Hershey commented on the YouTube video and even sent Mustafa merchandise and chocolate. They also posted a tweet about it and soon contacted Mustafa and Ahmad to collaborate for a social media advertisement and a TV commercial.

After the channel’s rise to fame, Mustafa published other viral videos in his channel such as “Muslim Paying for People’s Groceries on Thanksgiving” with 4.9 million views, and “Paying for People’s Meals in Ramadan” with 1.6 million views.

The Muslim entertainment industry is steadfastly thriving as more and more Muslim YouTubers are getting known for their different crafts and fields of expertise. The gain of support to personalities such as Mustafa Hussain is paving the way for a future where Muslim personalities thrive.

Follow Mustafa Hussain on his YouTube journey here: www.youtube.com/itsmustafa