This is a listing of notable mosques in the United States (Arabic: Masjid, Spanish: Mezquita), including Islamic places of worship that do not qualify as traditional mosques, sorted in alphabetical order by state.
History of mosques in the United States
Summarize
Perspective
Number of mosques per million residents in each U.S. state and the District of Columbia as of 2020
A mosque, also called "masjid" in Arabic, is defined as any place where 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, which 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 earliest mosque of the Ahmadiyya Muslims Community is the Al-Sadiq Mosque, a two story building purchased by Mufti Muhammad Sadiq in 1922 in the Bronzeville neighborhood of Chicago, the original building was torn down and a purpose built mosque was constructed at the site in the 1990s. 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 a 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 Pakistan who immigrated to the area c. 1902. Its story, including its rebuilding, is told in David Washburn's 2012 documentary An American Mosque.[6]
Growth in the 21st century
Estimated proportion of Muslim Americans in each U.S. state, the District of Columbia, and Puerto Rico as of the 2020 U.S. Religion Census
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] Also, the number of mosques in America has grown to 2,769 in 2020.[8]
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]
Since 2014, there has been a building boom for mosques.[9]
Established in a former segregated high school for African American students. A dedicated mosque, community center, and private PK-12 Islamic school.[10]
First purpose built mosque in Little Rock. A new larger mosque, community center, and Islamic school are currently under construction 6.2mi (10.0km) northwest of the original mosque.[12]
The congregation was founded in 1952. The current mosque dates to the late 1970s.[15] One of the largest mosques in the United States.[citation needed]
Established in a residential building and a pair of trailers in 1987. A dedicated mosque, community center, and Islamic school were constructed on the site between 2001 and 2010.[19]
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]
First women-led Muslim house of worship. Offers monthly khutbas (sermons) to women and children (including boys 12 and under) of any Islamic denomination.[22][23]
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".[24][25]Berlin, CT, new mosque is also part of IAGH.[26] Mansoor was also founding president of the Muslim Coalition of Connecticut.[27][28][29]
Masjid An-Noor, Bridgeport, a.k.a. Bridgeport Islamic Society-Masjid An-Noor
Its building purchased in 1991 was formerly a bank.[30]
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.[31][32][33][34][35][36][37]
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-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
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.
Formerly known as Mosque No. 7 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. 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. The mosque is located at 102 West 116th Street.
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 (370m2) Islamic center opened in renovated space at the site.[52]
Masjid King Khalid was the first and only Masjid in the US that was built from a donation from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia to a private baptist University.[54]
The original mosque at the site was built in 1929 by immigrants from what is now Lebanon and Syria. A modest replacement mosque was built in 2005, although it was built for historical purposes and is rarely used.[55]
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.
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
One of the largest mosques in the United States established in 1991 with 3,000 weekly worshippers. The mosque holds an event every Sunday for those wanting to learn more about Islam. [61]
The Islamic Society of Denton (ISD) is a non-profit religious organization founded to serve the Greater Denton area community. The Masjid (Mosque) was built, primarily, by residents and students attending both the University of North Texas and Texas Woman's University. ISD opened in 15 August 1981, making it the first Masjid built in Texas.
All Dulles Area Muslim Society is a mosque in the United States, located in Sterling, VA and serving 5000 Muslim families. ADAMS offers a wide variety of services.
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