List of mosques in the United States

This is a list of notable mosques in the United States.

History of mosques in the United States

A mosque, also called masjid in Arabic, is defined as any place that Muslims pray facing Mecca, not necessarily a building. By that meaning, there were mosques in the United States by 1731 or earlier. Job ben Solomon (1701–1773), an African-American Muslim kidnapped into slavery, was documented by his slave narrative memoir to have prayed in the forest of Kent Island, Maryland, where he was brought during 1731–33.[1]

Some sources assert that what is likely the first American mosque building was a mosque in Biddeford, Maine that was founded in 1915 by Albanian Muslims. A Muslim cemetery still existed there in 1996.[2][3]

However, the first purpose-built mosque building was most likely the Highland Park Mosque in Detroit, Michigan, opened in 1921. The mosque was located near the famous Highland Park Ford Plant, which employed "hundreds of Arab American men". This mosque, which included Sunni, Shia and Ahmadi Muslims, was funded by Muhammad Karoub, a real estate developer.[1][4]

The oldest still-standing mosque in the U.S. is the Al-Sadiq Mosque, built in 1922 in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago. However, the first "purpose-built" mosque, the Mother Mosque of America, was built in 1934 in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.[5]

In 1994, the Islamic Center of Yuba City, in California, was destroyed by fire set in a hate-crime, the first mosque destroyed by a hate crime in U.S. history. It had just been completed at the cost of $1.8 million plus sweat equity of the Muslims of its rural community, including descendants of Pakistani who immigrated to the area c. 1902. Its story, including its rebuilding, is told in David Washburn's 2012 documentary An American Mosque.[6]

It has been estimated that there were somewhat more than 100 mosques in the U.S. in 1970, but immigration of more than a million Muslims since then led to hundreds more being built.[1] By 2000, there were 1,209 U.S. mosques, which rose to 2,106 in 2010, an increase of 74%.[7]

A 2011 study, The American Mosque 2011, sponsored by the Hartford Institute for Religion Research, the Association of Statisticians of American Religious Bodies, as well as the nation's largest Islamic civic and religious groups, including the Islamic Society of North America and the Council on American-Islamic Relations, found that the U.S. states with the most mosques were New York with 257, California with 246, and Texas with 166.[7]

Through 2014, a building boom for mosques has been going on.[8]

Notable individual mosques

Group

S : Sunni Islam
SH : Shia Islam
AMJ : Ahmadiyya
U : Unknown Group

Name	Photo	Location	State	Year	Group	Notes
Islamic Community Center of Anchorage Alaska		Anchorage	Alaska	2010	S	Broke ground October 2010 in construction of Alaska's first masjid, school, and center.[9]
Islamic Community Center of Phoenix		Phoenix	Arizona	1982	S
Mosque Tucson		Tucson	Arizona	?	AMJ	Also known as the 'Yousaf Mosque'
Islamic Center of Tucson		Tucson	Arizona	1991	U
Baitul Hameed		Chino	California	1989	AMJ	The Baitul Hameed Mosque (English: House of the Praiseworthy) is the largest Ahmadiyya Muslim mosque in the Western part of the United States with an area of 19,000 square feet (1,800 m^2).
King Fahad Mosque		Culver City	California	1998	S
Islamic Center of Orange County		Garden Grove	California	1976	S	Asserted to be one of the largest Muslim centers in the Western Hemisphere, with almost 7,000 worshipers.
Islamic Center of Irvine		Irvine	California	2004	S
Islamic Center of Southern California		Los Angeles	California	1952	U	Very large.
Sacramento Islamic Mosque		Sacramento	California			Asserted to be the oldest mosque in the United States west of the Mississippi River.
Masjid Annur Islamic Center		Sacramento	California		S
Masjid Ar-Ribat al-Islami		San Diego	California		S
Islamic Center of Yuba City		Yuba City	California			Completed in 1994 at cost of $1.8 million and thousands of hours of sweat equity, including community members descended from Pakistani who immigrated to the area in c. 1902. It was then burnt by arson, in the first hate-crime destroying a mosque in the United States. The case received little attention at the time, but is subject of 2015 documentary An American Mosque produced by David Washburn.[6]
Islamic Center of Greater Hartford		Hartford and Berlin	Connecticut			Its president, Dr. M. Reza Mansoor is a Hartford Hospital cardiologist and "a long-time Trustee of the Hartford Seminary, the country's oldest center for the study of Islam and Christian-Muslim relations".[10][11] Berlin, CT, new mosque is also part of IAGH.[12] Mansoor was also founding president of the Muslim Coalition of Connecticut.[13][14][15]
Masjid An-Noor, Bridgeport, a.k.a. Bridgeport Islamic Society-Masjid An-Noor		Bridgeport	Connecticut			Its building purchased in 1991 was formerly a bank.[16] As the largest mosque in Bridgeport area, it was subject of questions in 2010 regarding any possible association of Faisal Shahzad, the May 1, 2010 Times Square bomber who lived in Bridgeport). Demonstrators from as far away as Texas confronted the mosque in protests in August 2010.[17][18][19][20][21][22][23][24]
Bridgeport Islamic Community Center		Bridgeport	Connecticut
Islamic Center of Connecticut		Windsor	Connecticut
Assalam Center		Boca Raton	Florida
Atlanta Masjid of Al-Islam		Atlanta	Georgia			Atlanta Masjid of Al-Islam, located in the historic East Atlanta Community, is the largest and oldest Islamic community in Metro Atlanta. Established when Elijah Muhammad purchased a property on Bankhead Hwy, moved later.
Al-Farooq Masjid		Atlanta	Georgia	1980		The Al-Farooq Masjid was established in 1980 as The Atlanta Mosque, a nonprofit, non-political, religious organization. Later due to a name conflict with another organization, its name was changed to Al-Farooq Masjid of Atlanta
Masjid Al-Muminun		Atlanta	Georgia			Masjid Al-Mu’minun is one of the most recognized religious buildings in the city of Atlanta, and a vast number of people from different cultures and backgrounds visit the Masjid on a daily basis. Al-Mu’minun is nationally known for advocacy of Muslims and Islamic Issues. The Masjid congregation and staff have been the subject of numerous religious programs and news features in recent years
Islamic Community Center of Augusta		Augusta	Georgia	2012	S
Masjid Al-Quba		Buford	Georgia	2010	S	Established first Masjid in vicinity of Mall of Georgia area
Honolulu Mosque		Honolulu, Oahu	Hawaii			Muslim Association of Hawaii
Mosque Foundation		Bridgeview	Illinois	1980		Mosque Foundation webpage
Mosque Maryam Muslim Temple No. 2		Chicago	Illinois	1972	NoI	Originally a Greek Orthodox church, purchased in 1972 by the Nation of Islam. Headquarters of the Nation of Islam and of Louis Farrakhan.
Baitul Jamay		Chicago	Illinois
Al-Sadiq Mosque		Bronzeville neighborhood, Chicago	Illinois	1922		Asserted to be the oldest standing mosque in the U.S.
Islamic Foundation		Villa Park	Illinois	1974		Islamic Foundation webpage
Islamic Foundation North		Waukegan	Illinois	2004		IFNoOnline website
Masjid DarusSalam		Lombard	Illinois	2013		DarusSalam Foundation webpage
Muslim Community Center		Chicago	Illinois	1969		MCCChicago webpage
Muslim Association of Greater Rockford		Rockford	Illinois	1984		MAGR website
Masjid Noor ul-Islam, Burmese Muslim Education and Community Center		Fort Wayne	Indiana	2015		The first Masjid built by the Burmese Muslim community outside their nation.[25] BMECC website
Mother Mosque of America		Cedar Rapids	Iowa	1934	U
Darul Arqum Islamic Centre	Darul Arqum Islamic Centre	Ames	Iowa	–	U	Darul Arqum Islamic Centre website
Masjid Omar Bin Khattab		Harvey	Louisiana
Baitur Rahman		Silver Spring	Maryland	1994	AMJ
Baitus Samad	Baitus Samad	Baltimore	Maryland	2017	AMJ
Diyanet Center of America	DCA mosque at dusk	Lanham	Maryland	1993	S	Mosque complex built with support of Turkish government.
Imam Mahdi Islamic Education Center of Baltimore		Parkville	Maryland	2003
Islamic Society of Western Maryland		Hagerstown	Maryland	1994
Islamic Society of Baltimore		Catonsville	Maryland	1969		Visited by former US president Barack Obama in 2016.
Allston Congregational Church		Boston	Massachusetts			A mosque meets in former Congregational church.
Islamic Center of Boston (ICB Wayland)		Wayland	Massachusetts	1979
Islamic Society of Boston		Cambridge	Massachusetts
Islamic Society of Greater Lowell		Chelmsford	Massachusetts
Quincy Mosque		Quincy	Massachusetts	1963
Sharon Mosque		Sharon	Massachusetts			Was established by Lebanese American immigrants.
Worcester Mosque		Worcester	Massachusetts	2005
Islamic Center of America		Dearborn	Michigan	2005	U
Dearborn Mosque		Dearborn	Michigan	1937	U
Muslim Temple No. 1		Detroit	Michigan	1931	NoI	First mosque of the Nation of Islam.
Al-Islah Mosque		Hamtramck	Michigan	2000		Following the Sunni tradition. It was founded by immigrants from Bangladesh.
Islamic Center and Mosque of Grand Rapids		Grand Rapids	Michigan	1986
Islamic Center of Mississippi-Starkville		Starkville	Mississippi
Daar-Ul-Islam		Ballwin	Missouri			One of two mosques of the Islamic Foundation of Greater St. Louis
Islamic Center of Central Missouri		Columbia	Missouri	1983		First ever Islamic Center in Missouri.
St. Louis Islamic Center		St. Louis	Missouri	2010		a Bosnian mosque
Masjid As-Sabur (As-Sabur Mosque)		Las Vegas	Nevada
Islamic Association of Long Island		Selden	New York	1974		Also known as the Selden Masjid
Islamic Society of Central New York		Syracuse	New York	1981		Sunni mosque and community center
Masjid Al-Mamoor		Jamaica	New York			Also known as the Jamaica Muslim Center, includes a Mosque, a school, a place for religious gathering, and eating facilities, and is one of the largest multi-purpose Muslim establishments in the U.S. Located in a Bangladeshi-American neighborhood.
Masjid Hamza		Valley Stream	New York
Mid-Hudson Islamic Association		Wappingers Falls	New York			Also known as Masjid Al-Noor (Arabicمسجد النور)
Mosque No. 7		New York City	New York			Where Malcolm X preached in a storefront until he split from Elijah Muhammad and left the Nation of Islam in 1964. Destroyed in a bombing in 1965, after Malcolm X's assassination. Rebuilt later as a proper mosque and known as Malcolm Shabazz Mosque or Masjid Malcolm Shabazz.
Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood		New York City	New York			Successor to the Sunni Muslim mosque that was named Muslim Mosque, Inc., which was started by Malcolm X after Malcolm X split from Elijah Muhammad in 1964
Hazrati Abu Bakr Siddique		New York City	New York
Masjid al-Ikhlas		Newburgh	New York		1992
Islamic Cultural Center of New York		New York City	New York	1991		Also known as "96th Street Mosque"
Park51		New York City	New York	2011 (temporary facility)		Proposed mosque, also known as the "Ground Zero mosque", a plan that became subject of controversy in 2010. Currently a museum, not a mosque, is planned. But in September 2011, a temporary 4,000-square-foot (370 m^2) Islamic center opened in renovated space at the site.[26]
Beit El-Maqdis Islamic Center		New York City	New York
Noor Islamic Cultural Center		Columbus	Ohio	2006	U
Islamic Society of Greater Dayton		Josie Street, Dayton	Ohio		Sunni
Islamic Society of Greater Toledo		Toledo	Ohio
Islamic Association of Cincinnati		Cincinnati	Ohio	1970		Community members donated their funds and skills to design and build a new facility... The new mosque officially opened in 2003
Portland Rizwan Mosque		Portland	Oregon	?	AMJ	[27] Posted: 07/19/2010 9:03 pm EDT
Islamic Center of Pittsburgh		Pittsburgh	Pennsylvania	1989		Largest mosque in Pittsburgh, with 600–750 attendees at Friday prayers[28]
Mosque of Shaikh M. R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen		Philadelphia	Pennsylvania	1984
Masjid Al-Islam		North Smithfield	Rhode Island
Islamic Center of Murfreesboro		Murfreesboro	Tennessee	2012
East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC Masjid)		Plano	Texas
Islamic Association of North Texas		840 Abrams Rd, Richardson, Texas	Texas
Islamic Center of Greater Austin		Austin	Texas	1977
Islamic Center of Irving		Irving	Texas	1991
Baitus Samee Mosque (Houston)		Houston	Texas	2002	AMJ	Visited by Mirza Masroor Ahmad in 2018.[29]
Al-Noor		Houston	Texas
Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center (Arabic: مركز دار الهجرة الاسلامي, English: Land of Migration)		Seven Corners area of unincorporated Fairfax County, Virginia	Virginia
Islamic Center of Washington			Washington, D.C.	1957	U
Fazl Mosque, also called the American Fazl Mosque		Washington, D.C.	Washington, D.C.	1950		Established by the Ahmadis in 1950. Served as the American headquarters of the Ahmaddiya movement in the United States until 1994
Islamic Society of Northern Wisconsin		Altoona	Wisconsin
Toledo Masjid of Al-Islam		Toledo	Ohio	1953		Building built by the Syrian Lebanese immigrants in 1953. First Masjid (Mosque) built from the ground up in the State of Ohio and City of Toledo. Formerly the Islamic Center of Greater Toledo. Purchased in 2010 by Toledo Masjid of Al-Islam under the leadership of Imam Ibrahim S. Abdul-Rahim. Masjid Al-Islam is the name of many Masajid established by followers of Imam W.D. Mohammed of the Mosque Cares Ministry. Once called The American Muslim Mission.
Masjid Al-Jamia of Philadelphia		Philadelphia, Pennsylvania	Pennsylvania	1988	S	Founded in 1988, originally by Muslim students from the University of Pennsylvania; now independent; located in the building of the former Commodore Theatre, a cinema built in the Moorish (Spanish colonial) architectural style in 1928

See also

• Islam in the United States
• Lists of mosques (worldwide)
  • List of mosques in Canada
  • List of mosques in Brazil
  • List of mosques in Mexico
  • List of mosques in the Americas (Latin & South America)
• List of the oldest mosques in the world
• Religious buildings and structures in the United States

References

1. Edward E. Curtis IV (August 29, 2010). "Five myths about mosques in America". Washington Post.
2. Queen, Edward L.; Stephen Prothero; Gardiner H. Shattuck Jr. (1996). The Encyclopedia of American Religious History. New York: Facts on File.
3. Ghazali, Abdul Sattar (August 4, 2001). "The Mosques in America: A National Portrait by CAIR: The number of mosque attendants increasing rapidly in America". American Muslim Perspective. Archived from the original on September 28, 2007.
4. The mosque was sold to the city of Highland Park in 1926, who then sold it to a fraternal organization."Highland Park Muslim Mosque". detroit1701.org. Archived from the original on 2019-03-16. Retrieved 2019-01-23.
5. "8 Oldest Mosques in the United States". oldest.org.
6. "An American Mosque".
7. "Islamic places of worship in U.S. up 74% since 2000 – USATODAY.com". Usatoday30.usatoday.com. 2012-02-29. Retrieved 2014-08-03.
8. Tamara Audi (August 14, 2014). "A New Mosque Rises—in Alaska: Construction Is Part of a Building Boom Nationwide as Muslim Population Rises". Wall Street Journal. (see intro)
9. Masjid Building Flyer Archived 2015-02-01 at the Wayback Machine
10. this recent Fairfield Daily Voice article re speaker event
11. Fairfield Citizen article
12. Search hits in Fairfield Citizen
13. Hartford Courant article on panel event including Mansoor
14. WTNH article quoting Mansoor in July 2015.
15. February 2015 Hartford Courant article citing Mansoor
16. Salatomatic.com listing
17. dnainfo Archived 2017-09-06 at the Wayback Machine
18. NY Post
19. this Fairfield Citizen article
20. CT Post article
21. Aug 12 CT Post
22. "Texas Demonstrators Plan to Gather at Mosques Through Ramadan" NBC CT article
23. Pamela Geller anti-islamic site article
24. New Haven Register Aug 9
25. Sara Wagner (May 24, 2015). "Fort Wayne mosque makes history around the world".
26. Abbie Fentress Swanson (September 21, 2011). "Park 51 Opens Renovated Space with Photo Exhibit of NYC Immigrant Children". WNYC Culture. Archived from the original on September 24, 2011. Retrieved October 3, 2011.
27. Nancy Haught (July 19, 2010). "Ahmadi Sect Struggles For Recognition, Respect From Other Muslims". Religion News Service / Huffington Post.
28. Iati, Marisa (September 25, 2014). "Muslims in Islamic Center of Pittsburgh demonstrate little-known facets of their faith". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved November 3, 2018.

External links

• Mosques and Centers, by U.S. state, a directory of addresses & phone numbers, at BLDUSA.COM (a commercial business links directory)
• Mosques and Islamic Centers in Greater Chicago, at the Council of Islamic Organizations of Greater Chicago (CIOGC)
• Lecture: Brief history of Islam in America, YouTube video
• The History of Islam in America – By Sulayman Nyang, YouTube video
• Islam in America, YouTube video