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This month, Muslims in Milwaukee are celebrating the 25th anniversary of their Islamic Society.
It’s more than a religious institution. Over the years, this Islamic center, has expanded in size and the services it offers to the local community.
Milwaukee's Muslim community has grown considerably over the last three decades. Janan Najeeb can tell from the number of Muslims attending prayers now and back then.
"I remember when I was only about 10 or 12 years old when we would have for example our Eid prayers, there would be about 80 or 100 people. Now, 25 years later, sometimes we have as many as 5,000 people."
Twenty-five years ago, Othman Atta was a law student at a local university. He says finding a place to do their weekly Jumaa prayers was a challenge for the dozens of Muslim students attending college in Milwaukee.
(Othman Atta, President of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee)
"We actually prayed our Friday prayers, the Jumaa prayers, in the basement of a church which was across the street from the major university that's in town
It was around that time, he recalls, that a group of Muslims decided to set up a place that would meet the religious needs of the local Muslims. "It was an old Milwaukee public school building.
Atta, now a lawyer, serves as President of the Islamic Society of Milwaukee. He says the current building is very different from the one they bought more than two decades ago.
"From that period of time, in 1982, we expanded it many times over. So the original building was 16,000 square feet. Then we added the prayer hall, the masjid area, for the men and the women and a hall. That added 24,000 square feet. Then we added classrooms and a gymnasium and so forth. And that added another maybe 50 – 60,000 square feet. And so that's what we have right now."
The expansion of the Islamic Society's building over the years reflects the growth of Milwaukee's Muslim community.
"Certainly our predecessors, those who founded the association, never could imagine that we are so large, so diverse, such an active community,"
Isa Sadlon who converted to Islam over 20 years ago is the Society's Executive Director.
The early settlers were few in number immigrants.They came mostly from the Middle East, (a) few from Southeast Asia. And today, Milwaukee has a Muslim population of some 15,000 people. About one-third of them are indigenous Americans who have converted to Islam over the past 20, 25 years, maybe another third from South Asia. The rest from the Middle East."
The center’s school, the Salaam School, serves children from kindergarten through 8th grade. 18 year old Douaa Ali, who is now attending a public high school, was a student there.
"That school instilled in me the knowledge and the morals and the values that I needed to be confident going to a public high school here, being a minority, but being a Muslim, so it really helps me"
Many of the activities at the center are made possible by society members who volunteer their time, like 32 year old software engineer Mohamed Sandid.
"Recently, for the past year, I'm involved in teaching Arabic to new Muslims who are not Arabic speakers on Sundays on a voluntary basis. In addition of course in helping and assisting for events that take place here..”
Among those events are dinner banquets held during the fasting month of Ramadan, and social gatherings where local officials and national figures are invited to talk with community members. The society also organizes public service events at the center, like blood drives.The Islamic Center just completed another successful drive with a great turn out.
Islamic Society Executive Director Isa Sadlon explains it was one of many and programs held to celebrate the center’s 25th anniversary this month. Other events included a dinner in honor of the founders of the center, a picnic for the Muslim community members, and an open house for the community at large, so they could tour the center.
"About 1500 people visited. They saw displays about Islam and had good food, had a chance to meet people. Of course often people are very curious as to what goes on in these buildings, who are these people, what's it really like? So we encourage people to come and visit and talk to us. We really have an open door."
Over the last 25 years, Sadlon says, Muslims in Milwaukee have built strong relationships with many churches, synagogues and government agencies in the city. In the future, he hopes they will become even more involved in the community, and he promises the center will expand further to meet the needs of the growing population.
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