The Al Sadiq Mosque was started by members of ChicagoвЂ™s Black community. Oftentimes they're sort of left out of that story.вЂќДЄhmadi Muslims are recognized as being the first to actively reach out to Black Americans who rejected Western Christianity, which they saw as rooted in white supremacy, Reese said. вЂњAnd Ahmadi Muslims are a sect of Islam from Pakistan and India, and it's a minority sect within Islam. вЂњIf you were to Google, вЂfirst mosque, America,вЂќ itвЂ™s not often listed, because it's an Ahmadiyya mosque,вЂќ Reese said. The large flow of immigration to the Detroit area stopped until the Act was lifted in the 1960s.ДЄnother notable yet frequently overlooked mosque is the Al Sadiq Mosque in Chicago. The biggest factor in the mosqueвЂ™s decline was the passing of the Emergency Quota Act in 1921, which barred immigration from most islamic countries to the United States. вЂњSo Friday services weren't as important to this community of Muslims.вЂќ So they really looked at the mosque more as a gathering place and a community center than maybe what the imam wanted it to be, which was the holy house of worship,вЂќ Reese said. вЂњThis group of immigrants, from Syria particularly, were much more secular. Plus, most work schedules clashed with the mosqueвЂ™s Friday services. First, many in the community left the area to move closer to the FordвЂ™s Rouge Factory in Dearborn. A number of factors contributed to the mosqueвЂ™s decline, Reese said. Though the Highland Park Mosque was highly anticipated - and even well documented by the Detroit News - it only stayed open for a year. The mosque opened during the Eid festival the following year. They raised funds and began construction in 1920. вЂњThe Karoub brothers really wanted Detroit to be the center of Isalm for the United States, and they felt like, to establish the community there, they had to do what the Christians did, which was build a house of worship,вЂќ Reese said. Mohammed was a real estate investor, and Hussein was an imam who was trained in Damascus. Among those immigrants, Reese said, were brothers Mohammed and Hussein Karoub. The other was the decline of the Ottoman Empire.ДЄs the empire fell with WWI and lost influence in eastern Mediterranean countries, many in those countries left Ottoman Empire territories in search of independence. One major factor was the booming auto manufacturing industry. Throughout the early 20th Century, Reese said, a wave of newcomers emigrated to Michigan from Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East. The only indication that a mosque once existed at the site is an Islamic cemetery that sits there today.Д¬onstruction began on the Highland Park Mosque just a few years later, in 1920. We just know that it was established in 1915.вЂќ вЂњWe donвЂ™t even have an ending date for the Mosque. вЂњWe donвЂ™t know a lot about the Mosque,вЂќ Reese said. The mosque was not a dedicated building, but was part of the company town. The next recorded mosque was founded in 1915 by a group of Albanian Muslims who were working at the Pepperell Counting House factory in Maine. вЂњIt did function like a mosque, but, to me, thatвЂ™s definitely not AmericaвЂ™s first Mosque,вЂќ Reese said. вЂњAnd so it was sort of like a Disneyland-esque exhibition that was made for a Western gaze, and wasnвЂ™t necessarily supposed to be authentic, but was supposed to fulfill the fantasy of what the Middle East was to an American audience,вЂќ Reese said.ДЇollowing the Exposition, most of those who worked in the mosque returned to their home countries, and the building itself was torn down. But, while it is thought to be the first building that was purposefully constructed to be a mosque, the site was more for tourists than for practicing members of the faith. The Cairo Street Mosque had an imam that was well-regarded, as well as a call to prayer five times a day. The earliest contender is recorded to have been part of the Cairo Street exhibit at the World's Columbian Exposition of 1893 in Chicago. However, Jillian Reese, the Michigan History CenterвЂ™s Curator of Exhibits, explained that several mosques claim to be the countryвЂ™s first. Some claim that Highland Park is home to America's first mosque. Southeast Michigan is home to the largest and most diverse population of Arab Muslims, with 40% of its population identifying as Muslim.

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