The speed dating event that is transforming everyone involved.

Hana Assafiri is a force of nature.

Her physical presence is a surefire indication of what’s to come: she’s petite with an explosion of wild brown curls, hands that dance around her as she talks, and a laugh that bellows out with unrestrained joy. This is no wallflower.

I mean, people who don’t even live in Melbourne know who she is: “Oh, that lady from the Moroccan Soup Bar?” they beam, “She’s amazing.” They always have a personal anecdote – sitting and listening to Hana debate with a customer, or giving a hearty pep talk to someone waiting in line. Attending one of her feasts. Chatting with her over a strong black coffee.

My first encounter with the famous Hana, however, was via a newspaper article with the unlikely title of, ‘Speed Date a Muslim.’

And, like everyone else who is lucky enough to cross her path, I was hooked.

The more I researched, the more I found. The Hana Assafiri Dating Service had, for lack of a better term, gone viral.

Speed dating a Muslim, as I was to find out, has nothing to do with pina coladas and long walks on the beach. The concept is actually very simple: local Muslim women are connected with local Anglo/ Western folks to answer all of their questions about Islam. Like a date.

With more than 800 people registering their interest for each event (which only accommodate 50 or so), questions vary from "Why do you wear a hijab?" to "How do Islam and feminism co-exist?" to "Do you sleep in your hijab?"

It provides an opportunity for any citizen - young, old, man, woman, hairy biker or Bieber-loving teen - to ask anything they like. Hatred is born from fear, and fear is born from ignorance - so Hana Assafiri is actively nipping Islamophobia right in the bud.

I needed to know more.

Fast forward a few weeks and I had set up an interview with Hana at her much-loved institution, The Moroccan Deli-cacy in East Brunswick, Melbourne.

I was fresh from a night she had hosted the Thursday prior - the inaugural 'Conversation Salon' (more on that later) - and I was ready for a fast and furious interview about her Muslim Speed Dating sessions, a quick coffee, and back on the road.

Four hours later, I walked out with several hours of video footage, a belly full of her vegetarian delicacies, and a promise to take her work to Sydney.

Cripes, this woman was good.

'Speed dating a Muslim', as it turns out, works off this exact premise: human hospitality. In an age of clickbait activism and blank consumption of media, Hana Assafiri is lighting a fire underneath us with her human touch. Hana isn't interested in asking you to sign a petition or share a Facebook post - she wants you to sit down, eat her food, and listen.

The concept behind 'speed dating a Muslim' is deceptively simple: you are literally connecting a question with the answer, without any political bias in between.

It's dragging Islamophobia out of the headlines and into her cafes, where she (lovingly) demands it be addressed. Invariably, attendees walk out with empathy, connection, and a greater understanding for the Muslims who live as their neighbors.

"Speed dating is an occasion where Muslims and non Muslims can come together," says Hana.

"To converse and have dialogue in the hope that we can break down some of the misconceptions which are readily held, when it comes to Muslim women in particular....that either they are someone to be rescued from their oppression, or they're someone to be feared."

"So our quest was simply to humanise the very thing that people seem to judge and are afraid of."

Like wildfire, Hana and her concept went viral. In the weeks and months since the first article on the sessions went out (February of this year), Hana has been fielding media requests from interstate and abroad, with people as far as Canada wanting to know how they too could set up a Muslim Speed Dating session.

But why choose to give these gatherings such a provocative name?

Hana grins and you can see that 'provocative' is high on her agenda.

"When one is speed dating," explained Hana, "you approach the interaction and the engagement in a way that is open...open of heart, and mind, and attitude - that is necessary to get to know another human."

So no plastic name badges and stop watches, then?

Hana notes that she wanted to "...do away with the subconscious bias and pre-existing judgement" that would come if she simply opened her doors to, 'come meet a Muslim'. In a country where the relationship between Muslims and non-Muslims has become increasingly tense, Hana is using love and good old hospitality to break down those walls.

When Hana and I spoke, she was overwhelmed with demand. People far and wide could see the logic in what she was doing, and saw an opportunity for their own community. I asked Hana how we could look to replicate these sessions in other communities.

Would she be penning a 'Speed Dating Muslims For Dummies?' Giving up her hospitality career to become a full time speed dating facilitator? Perhaps start running Youtube tutorials?

In all seriousness, though: how do we take her East Brunswick genius and share it with the world, whilst protecting it from the xenophobic bigots who can't wait to trash yet another Muslim gathering?

The answer it seems, is women.

By taking the public discussion of Islam away intimidating male Muslim leaders preaching Sharia law, and into the hands of young, smart, progressive Muslim women; a safe discussion space is created. People can ask questions they thought were stupid, expell their fears, and share a meal with someone who - by the time they put down their knives and forks - they will understand is just like them.

In a hijab.

Feminism is central to Hana's mission. Since their inception, her Moroccan cafes have been staffed by women who have found themselves in difficult circumstances. She has long been known as providing not only a voice, but a safe shelter for women of all races, all ages, and all situations.

In what seems like a natural move for a community stalwart like herself, Hana is now running regular 'conversation salons' where she invites anyone and everyone to gather for a meal and, well, a conversation.

(If you're in Melbourne, check out the next one here.)

Inspired by the old-fashioned salons of the 17th and 18th centuries in Europe, Hana has opened her doors once a month to discuss everything from politics to art, religion to pop culture - all through the lens of women.

"It's like a room of one's own. Where women have the space to contest ideas, to discuss, to formulate, to contemplate.

I find that no matter how far we progress, we're still struggling to find that environment and space - so that women may, so that WE may - develop a better version of ourselves. A freer version of ourselves."

The night I attended, we listened to Malaysian lawyer, and female rights activist Datu Noor Faridah Ariffin speak.

I was one of a handful of anglo women in attendance, surrounded by beautiful smiling young Muslim women. They bantered about various aspects of the Qur'an, and voiced their concern over the spread of 'Arab' extremist Islam. In our corner of the room, my 42 year old friend, a lesbian and daughter of a Western Muslim convert, challenged to the young Muslim school principal to my left about her views on homosexuality in Islam.

It was enriching and exciting. Conversation lept from laughter at our awkward hellos, to tears as two women in our group - from polar opposite backgrounds -  realised that they were both victims of sexual abuse as children, and had both lost babies in their marriages.

I told Hana about my experience when I interviewed her the following week, and she smiled. She knew.

"An idea starts with one conversation at a time," she said quietly.

"Once a door is open - or even just made ajar - with an idea, that idea will take hold. It's only a matter of time. And in my view? That's how society will change."

Video courtesy of Janelle Meager. 

You can follow Hana Assafiri and her event updates on the Moroccan Deli-cacy Facebook page, here.