The Islamic Society of Boston (ISB) is an American nonprofit organization that adheres to Islamic principles. It owns and operates two mosques. The ISB mosque, located at 204 Prospect Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts, which serves approximately 300 people at weekly Friday prayers,s and the largest mosque in New England, the ISB Cultural Center (ISBCC), located in the historic inner-city neighborhood of Roxbury, Massachusetts, on 100 Malcolm X Blvd. The ISBCC serves approximately 1,700 congregants at Friday prayers each week. In collaboration with local mosques, ISB holds multiple prayer sessions to accommodate approximately 10,000 worshipers on major Islamic holidays. The ISB also owns residential property as part of its endowment. ISB won the Preservation Award from the Cambridge Historical Commission in 2023 for preserving the Cambridge property’s original architecture during renovations.
Mission and vision ISB’s vision is to build a community of leaders rooted in the Islamic tradition, committed to American ideals, and empowered to serve the common good. A diverse and substantial number of Muslims in Massachusetts helped establish and develop the ISB organization so it can fulfill its mission to teach and live Islam in America.
Origins of the ISB (1981–2000) After Congress passed the Immigration & Nationality Act of 1965, a new wave of students and professionals from more than fifty Muslim countries came to America to work and study in cities like Boston and Cambridge. To preserve their religious identity, Muslim international students and professionals traveled a long distance by train and bus to the first dedicated mosque built in Quincy, Massachusetts, the Islamic Center of New England. The center was founded in 1964 by American Muslims, whose parents had emigrated from Lebanon at the turn of the 20th century. The international students and professionals contributed their Islamic knowledge by volunteering to teach religion and Qur’anic Arabic at the Sunday school and by serving on the board of directors.
ISB's Cambridge mosque In 1982, a core group of Muslims officially incorporated the Islamic Society of Boston, a non-profit organization. In 1993, they purchased the Knights of Columbus building at 204 Prospect Street in Cambridge. In 1995, after completing renovations, the first mosque in Cambridge officially opened for prayer and was quickly filled with the growing Muslim community.
ISB's Roxbury mosque The Muslim Council of Boston (MCB), a non-profit organization, was incorporated in 1988 by Boston's African American Muslim leaders, Imam Al-Hajj Abdul Zahir Dawud Ahmad, Yusuf Abdul Hakim, Imam Taalib Mehdi, and Imam Abdullah Taalib Faaruuq. Under their leadershihp, the two historic, community mosques in Boston and Dorchester had reached capacity. They envisioned building a larger, newer mosque to encourage the spiritual and cultural development of Boston’s Muslim community.
In 1989, the MCB acquired a parcel (Parcel R-14) of abandoned land in Roxbury, an area of predominantly African American neighborhoods affected by urban blight and other issues. The land was part of the larger Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) redevelopment plan, led by the late Muhammad Ali-Salaam, the BRA's deputy director of Community Planning and Special Projects.
By 1998, the MCB had not raised enough money to build on the lot. Parcel R-14 remained undeveloped, and the MCB was at risk of losing the land. As ISB's Cambridge mosque was steadily outgrowing its facilities, the MCB and Muhammed Ali-Salaam approached the ISB leaders and other members of the Islamic Council of New England to help raise the necessary funds.
(2000–2009) Following the attacks on America on September 11, 2001, and the immediate national atmosphere of suspicion of Muslims, the ISB leadership, comprised mainly of Muslim graduate students and their families from more than 30 countries, became the targets of Islamophobic attacks from some vocal quarters. The Islamophobic group, consisting of self-proclaimed experts on radical Islam and Islamic terrorism, was joined by media outlets and reporters to embroil the ISB leadership in multiple lawsuits (2003 to 2007), which led to the suspension of construction on the abandoned land (Parcel R-14).
Reports of ties to radical Islam and terrorism have been controversial and disputed.Boston Herald October 23, 2003 The society had brought suit in 2005 for defamation against individuals and institutions issuing press and other reports of these ties. However, it abandoned the suit in 2007 when "one after another of the allegations made by the Islamic Society [in its suit] collapsed." According to prominent First Amendment lawyer Floyd Abrams, who served as defense counsel in the suit, documents revealed in the discovery phase of the lawsuit confirmed the accuracy of reports tying the Islamic Society of Boston to radical Islam and terrorism.
Groundbreaking ceremony (2002) The groundbreaking ceremony was attended by Mayor Thomas Menino, Boston City Councilman Chuck Turner, U.S. Representative Michael E. Capuano, and religious leaders, including Bishop Filipe Teixeira of the Catholic Church of the Americas, and Imam Talal Eid of the Islamic Center of New England in Quincy and Sharon, Massachusetts. By 2004, construction was underway.
Intercommunity Solidarity Day (2007) On June 27, 2007, an Intercommunity Solidarity Day was held at the site of the unfinished ISBCC building. Approximately 300 faith and community leaders, academics, civil rights leaders, and elected officials attended. The event included representatives from the cardinal, support from the Massachusetts Council of Churches, from dozens of Jewish leaders, rabbis, congregation members, the president emeritus of the Black Ministerial Alliance, the NAACP, city councilors, the then state senator, the ACLU, the ADC, and various imams of the Boston area. All spoke about the importance of intercommunity cooperation. A group of Jewish community activists who started the website Jewssupportthemosque.org presented the ISB with a $2,000 check of funds they raised online.
Minaret capping ceremony (2007) After nearly two decades, the Muslim communities of Greater Boston and New England celebrated the capping of the minaret of its landmark mosque in Roxbury. Over 2,500 Muslims gathered outside the mosque to pray. A 5,000-pound copper canopy was hoisted by a crane and lowered onto the 140-foot-high minaret.
On September 28, 2007, the first prayers were held inside the ISBCC. Although the construction of the ISBCC was incomplete, the leadership received a temporary permit from the city to use the building for prayers during Ramadan. More than 2,000 congregants and supporters from across New England attended, including a delegation of students from the Harvard Islamic Society (HIS).
Inauguration ceremony (2009) The inauguration ceremony was held on June 26, 2009. It included an interfaith breakfast, a prayer service, and a ribbon-cutting.
ISBCC architecture and design The ISBCC is a 70,000-square-foot mosque and cultural center. The building houses a worship space, an Islamic Sunday school, a cafe, facilities for washing the deceased and Islamic funeral preparations, and a multipurpose space for community functions, programs, and events.
The ISB engaged Steffian Bradley and Associates, Inc (SBA), a Boston-based architecture firm, to develop the building plans. The firm hired a consultant, Sami Angawi, who created the building’s concept. Angawi intentionally integrated the mosque's architecture with the surrounding neighborhood and region. Alongside traditional Islamic architectural motifs such as pointed arches, a 140-foot minaret, and a gilded dome, the center is constructed of red bricks emblematic of industrial New England, in keeping with other historic buildings in the neighborhood, such as Roxbury Community College. The center’s location on Malcolm X Boulevard is unique because the street also features his Muslim name, El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz.
Cooperation of state and city officials (2010–2022) On May 23, 2010, Governor Patrick told more than 1,100 Muslims at the ISBCC in Roxbury that he would do everything in his power to combat discrimination and racial profiling and pledged to support Muslims in the state.
In 2013, nine days before Boston voters chose the city’s next mayor to succeed Tom Menino, John R. Connolly and Martin J. Walsh attended a debate at the ISBCC in Roxbury as part of their citywide campaign at churches and synagogues.
One of the largest audiences for Friday prayers gathered in 2015 at the ISBCC to hear the late Chief Justice Ralph D. Gants speak. On this occasion, he delivered his remarks speaking "as a Jew." His words, "You do not stand alone," were meant to be reassuring.
In 2016, the ISB organization hosted the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO) at the ISBCC to protest bigotry and intolerance. The rally drew an estimated crowd of 2,600. Speakers who pledged to stand against bigotry and abuse included clergy and political leaders, such as Mayor Martin J. Walsh and Senator Elizabeth Warren.
On February 25, 2017, after the Trump administration's executive orders on immigration, refugee status, and discrimination against Muslim countries, the ISBCC hosted a forum. Boston Mayor Martin J. Walsh attended and offered a passionate defense of immigration and religious diversity.
On February 1, 2019, weeks into his second term, Governor Baker was the first sitting Republican governor in Massachusetts to appear at a Muslim house of worship. He delivered a message of inclusion and the need to embrace community differences to hundreds of congregants at the Friday prayer service.
In 2022, after parking tickets had been issued to worshippers' cars at the ISBCC, Boston’s Mayor Wu relaxed routine parking enforcement around mosques on Fridays and Muslim holidays. A Muslim Boston City Council member brought it to Mayor Wu's attention, requesting that the mosque be afforded the same leeway as church attendees on Sundays.
Religious leaders of the ISBCC (2011–present)
Imam Suhaib Webb (2011–2015) The ISBCC's first official imam, was William Suhaib Webb. Imam Webb successfully modernized the mosque’s youth engagement and public image. New challenges of Imam Webb’s role surfaced in 2013, after the Boston Marathon bombing. With the focus once again on Muslim communities nationwide, and especially in Boston, Imam Webb engaged the media as the representative of Boston's American Muslims, who were "not just the other."
Shaykh Yasir Fahmy (2015–2019) In 2015, the Institute for Social Policy & Understanding (ISPU) published a case study on how the ISB organization effectively conducted a community-led search for a senior imam. The needs assessment of 20 distinct constituencies within the community reinforced the need for young American Muslim leadership. The ISB selected Shaykh Yasir Fahmy as senior imam, whose stated aims were to foster love and appreciation for the Islamic tradition among new generations of American Muslims.
Imam Abdulqadir Farah (2020–present) Imam Abdulqadir Farah joined ISB from a local mosque in 2020. Originally from Somalia, he arrived in Boston as a refugee, and has continued the tradition of diversity and scholarship at ISB. He leads programs in English. Imam Farah has led interfaith prayers for Mayor Wu's inauguration and other key city and state events.
Public health challenges (2020–2022)