Delaware County Mosque Unites Muslims from Around the World

June 29, 2005

Source: News of Delaware County

http://www.zwire.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=14778048&BRD=1725&PAG=461&dept_id=45529&rfi=6

On June 29, 2005 the News of Delaware County reported, "What has become Delaware County's largest mosque was founded about 1998 when a small group decided to organize a place to pray for the growing international Islamic community in Upper Darby. 'We started in a basement, but we never used to have Friday worship,' said Mohommad Mujeed [a member of the board of trustees that manages the mosque]. 'From the basement, we started to look for a place. We heard this place was being sold at auction. We spent over $100,000 on this building [fixing it up].'... The building serves not only as a place of prayer, but as a community center where immigrants study English, people exchange housing and employment information and families come for conflict resolution and other assistance... One of the challenges facing Delaware County's Muslim immigrants, Mujeed said, is hold on to their religious traditions and, at the same time, integrating into American society. 'We have lots of children who were born in this country,' says Mujeed. 'We find our kids getting more Americanized. As they grow up, we want them to know that Islam can help them be better Americans.'"