MOSQUES AND THEIR RAPID SPREAD THROUGHOUT THE USA AND THE WEST
By Traveller
History of Mosques in America
The first mosque in America was built by Albanian Muslims in 1915 in Maine. By 1919, they had established another mosque in Connecticut. Polish-speaking Tatars build a mosque in Brooklyn, NY in 1926, which is still in use. African American Muslims established the first Mosque in Pittsburgh, PA in 1930. The Lebanese Community of Cedar Rapids, Iowa, opened its first mosque in 1935.
The State Street Mosque in New York City was established by Sheikh Dawood Ahmed Faisal in 1955. This mosque represents a special point in the development of the American Muslim community. The Dar-ul-Islam movement began from there.
Although the first mosque was established in America in 1915 but only few mosques were built till 1960. Greater growth of mosques began in the 1970s and the tempo of growth continues unabated. The vast majority of mosques (87%) were found since 1970. Thirty percent of all mosques were established in the 1990s and 32% were started in 1980s.
♦ Americas largest mosque, the Islamic Center of America, is in Dearborn, Michigan. It was rebuilt in 2005 to accommodate over 3,000 people for the increasing Muslim population in the region.
♦ According to the FACT survey, the total number of mosques in the United States increased 42 percent between 1990 and 2000. This is a considerable rate of new growth especially when compared with a 12 percent average increase for the study’s evangelical Protestant denominations, and a two percent average increase among old-line Protestant, and Catholic and Orthodox groups.
Dr. Jane I. Smith, co-director of the Duncan Black Macdonald Center for the Study of Islam, also located at Hartford Seminary, pointed out that in the 1980s and 90s mosques and Islamic centers were built with generous contributions from abroad. Now, she says, most are being constructed by American Muslims. "There now are many affluent Muslims in America—individuals with organizational skills and with sufficient financial means to build the mosques and Islamic centers that are now common all across our nation," Roozen noted.
♦ Are Mosques so different to Cathedrals or Synagogues ?
February 23, 2008, WorldNetDaily
An undercover survey of more than 100 mosques and Islamic schools in America has exposed widespread radicalism, including the alarming finding that 3 in 4 Islamic centers are hotbeds of anti-Western extremism..
The Mapping Sharia in America Project, sponsored by the Washington-based Center for Security Policy, has trained former counterintelligence and counterterrorism agents from the FBI, CIA and U.S. military, who are skilled in Arabic and Urdu, to conduct undercover reconnaissance at some 2,300 mosques and Islamic centers and schools across the country.
“So far of 100 mapped, 75 should be on a watchlist,” an official familiar with the project said. Many of the Islamic centers are operating under the auspices of the Saudi Arabian government and U.S. front groups for the radical Muslim Brotherhood based in Egypt.
Frank Gaffney, a former Pentagon official who runs the Center for Security Policy, says the results of the survey have not yet been published. But he confirmed that “the vast majority” are inciting insurrection and jihad through sermons by Saudi-trained imams and anti-Western literature, videos and textbooks.
The project, headed by David Yerushalmi, a lawyer and expert on sharia law, has finished collecting data from the first cohort of 102 mosques and schools. Preliminary findings indicate that almost 80 percent of the group exhibit a high level of sharia-compliance and jihadi threat, including:
* Ultra-orthodox worship in which women are separated from men in the prayer hall and must enter the mosque from a separate, usually back, entrance; and are required to wear hijabs.
* Sermons that preach women are inferior to men and can be beaten for disobedience; that non-Muslims, particularly Jews, are infidels and inferior to Muslims; that jihad or support of jihad is not only a Muslim’s duty but the noblest way, and suicide bombers and other so-called “martyrs” are worthy of the highest praise; and that an Islamic caliphate should one day encompass the U.S.
* Solicitation of financial support for jihad.
* Bookstores that sell books, CDs and DVDs promoting jihad and glorifying martyrdom.
♦ Mosques and the 911 hijackers
Some of the 9/11 hijackers received aid and counsel from one of the largest mosques in the Washington, D.C., area. Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center is one of the mosques identified by undercover investigators as a hive of terrorist activity and other extremism. It was founded and is currently run by leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood. Imams there preach what is called “jihad qital,” which means physical jihad, and incite violence and hatred against the U.S.
♦♦ There are over 1500 mosques in America ♦♦
♦ In Canada
In 2008, the Muslim population was estimated at 784,000.
Canada's largest mosque complex in Calgary is the 48,000-square-foot Baitun Nur.
Expansion in Ottawa-Gatineau (2007 )
The Omar mosque in Bells Corners has already excavated part of the foundation for a complex featuring a mosque, gym, school, community centre and seniors' residence on a four-acre property it recently bought. The complex will replace a Bells Corners home that in turn replaced space in a United Church. The mosque, which is expected to house up to 1,000 worshippers, includes a JK to Grade 8 school, as well as a gym that doubles as a community centre and a library.
The Assunah Muslims Association has bought some land near Bank Street and Hunt Club Road in Ottawa South, where they plan to build a mosque to replace the space they currently rent.
The Outaouais Islamic Centre in Gatineau has begun construction on a 1,200-square-metre mosque at Lois and St. Jean Bosco Roads, to replace a small prayer hall.
The Bilal Masjid mosque in Ottawa's Orléans neighbourhood is looking to expand.
The Kanata Muslim Association is fundraising and seeking a larger location to replace the space it now rents at a community centre.
By the time all the construction is completed in about 10 years, Ottawa will boast eight major mosques, in addition to more than 20 community halls or “musallahs” where people gather for prayers
♦ Some figures:
Notes about figures:
Some European countries have ‘prayer rooms’ as well as mosques.
The numbers below are a combination of both.
1550 in the USA (2010)
600 in the UK (2008)
35 in Canada
25 in Australia
2 in the Czech Republic. (2004)
450 in Holland (2004)
1300 in Bulgaria (2005)
600 in Spain (2005)
17 in Scotland (2005)
600 in Italy (2005)
1600 in Germany (2007)
261 in Austria (2007)
♦ Recent News:
DUDLEY ENGLAND 29TH July 2009: Dudley mosque is given the go-ahead by the high court, despite protests and a petition signed (at the time) with over 55, 000 signatures.
This fight continues to this very day by the brave members of the EDL and others.
♦ MARYLAND USA 4th Jan 2010: Islamic Community Center of Laurel marked the beginning of an expansion project designed to alleviate overcrowding at the center, which is seeing its number of users growing regularly..
♦ VIRGINIA USA: 2nd April 2010: Reps. Gerry Connolly, D-Va., and Jim Moran, D-Va., have "trashed their oath to protect and defend the U.S." by agreeing to attend the annual banquet for Dar al-Hijrah Islamic Center. This Saudi-funded mosque is tied to the 9/11 hijackers and the Fort Hood shooter, among other Islamic terrorists.
♦ DENMARK 2nd April 2010: A grand mosque will be at the centre of a 124,000m² (406 000 sq ft) development, which is being part-managed by the Muslim Council of Denmark. The 4500 m² (1 4763 ft) mosque incorporates a prayer hall for 3000 people, shops, conference facilities, a gallery, an auditorium and an Islamic library. The mosque spirals 46 metres (151 ft) towards the sky.
♦ OHIO USA 5th April 2010: A historic Islamic building - the first mosque in Toledo and the ninth in the United States - is coming back to life again as a house of worship. The near-downtown building has been vacant for several years and was sold last month to Toledo Masjid al-Islam.
♦ TENNESSEE USA 13th April 2010: Several Muslim families have submitted plans to the city of Brentwood to build a mosque. On the first reading, the Brentwood City Commission passed a request Monday night to rezone about 15 acres of land off Wilson Pike for the Islamic Center of Williamson County. The 12,000-square-foot building, which will include a domed prayer hall, will serve about 40 families, mostly from the immediate area in their religious and social activities.
♦ CAIRNS AUSTRALIA 19TH April 2010: Cairns Regional Council gave approval for the building to be used as a mosque in late March for prayers and ceremonies and since then many of the region's 40 Muslim families have visited it.But the opening comes after several years of protests against the building being built as well a court case opposing its construction in the Planning and Environment Court.
♦ WEST BROMWICH ENGLAND 20th April 2010: A new mosque and community centre could be built in the Black Country under plans revealed today. Sandwell Council has received a 326-signature petition from the West Bromwich Bangladesh Muslim Welfare Association and Islamic Centre, stating land at Dartmouth Street and Chapman Street is their preferred site for the scheme.
♦ ONTARIO CANADA 27th April 2010: The Masjid Bilal mosque on Innes Road will soon be getting its outer shell as construction on the building is scheduled to resume this week. The work is expected to take four months to complete weather permitting. Once it's completed, the mosque will be able to accommodate up to 400 worshippers in the main prayer room. The women's room and the overflow prayer room downstairs will be able to accommodate an additional 300 people for a total capacity of 700.
♦ EDMONTON CANADA 29th April 2010: The local chapter of the Muslim Association of Canada recently paid $5.2-million for a two-storey strip mall at the corner of 172nd Street and Callingwood Road. The association hopes to renovate the building for a variety of uses, including a mosque, day care, youth centre and retail businesses. It also proposes to transform part of the space into a full-time Islamic elementary school with room for up to 150 students.
♦ SOUTH CAROLINA USA 6th May 2010 : A Mosque and Islamic centre is set to rise in downtown Rock Hill. Construction is set to begin next month on the Islamic Center of South Carolina, a building that will house men's and women's prayer rooms and meeting space. The former grocery store site sits just west of Wilson Street near the Pilgrims' Inn.
♦ UTAH USA: 3rd May 2010: The Utah Islamic Center moved one step closer Sunday to raising money needed to build a new mosque and school in south Salt Lake Valley.
A fundraising dinner and auction Sunday evening netted about $100,000, bringing the total raised to more than $300,000,.An estimated 25,000 Muslims live in Utah, mainly along the Wasatch Front, according to Utah Islamic Center.
♦ NEW YORK USA: 5th May 2010: The old Burlington Coat Factory building on Park Place has sat shuttered and empty since the landing gear from a hijacked plane crashed through the roof on 9/11. Now, a Muslim group hopes to build a mosque and cultural center there, replacing what they see as the worst of Islam with the best.
“We have a vision that is opposite the vision of the extremists,” said Daisy Khan, executive director of the Cordoba Initiative, the group behind the center. “We want to be a driving force for the rebuilding of Lower Manhattan.”. Community Board 1’s Financial District Committee embraced the center’s message of tolerance and voted unanimously Wednesday night to support the project.
♦ WISCONSIN USA 5th May 2010: A group of Muslims in Sheboygan County will soon learn if they will be able to have a mosque in the Town of Wilson. It has been a controversial issue for some in the area who fear that the Mosque could be used as a spot for terrorist activity. The Islamic Society of Sheboygan County says they've purchased a building, are in compliance with state code, and are hoping Town of Wilson leaders grant them a conditional use permit for a mosque. Some in Oostburg hope that doesn't happen.
(Sources: wiki.org, hartfordinstitute.org, Ghazali.net, cbc.ca, mosques.co.uk, 2muslims.com, explorehoward.com, toledoblade.com, wnd.com, dudleynews.co.uk, constructionweekonline.com, fox6now.com, nypost.magazine.com)
Photo Captions:
Top left: Americas largest Mosque in Dearborn MI.
Top Right: Canadas largest Mosque in Calgary.
Bottom Left: Englands Baitul Futuh Mosque in London.
Bottom Right: Australias Auburn Mosque in Sydney.
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