Islamic Society of Boston

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File:Islamic Society of Boston.jpg
Islamic Society of Boston headquarters in Cambridge,Massachusetts

The Islamic Society of Boston[1] (ISB) is a mosque and cultural center for Muslims in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The ISB offers daily, weekly and annual programs for Muslims including Arabic and English classes on religious and secular topics as well as a religious school for children and holiday programs. The society also organizes trips and summer camps for children and classes on Islam for new and non-Muslims. The Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center[2] is a related mosque and cultural center in Roxbury, Boston.

Aims and activities

According to its website, the Islamic Society of Boston was established to serve two main purposes.

First, the ISB intends to help local Muslims to “preserve their Islamic identity” and to “observe their obligations as Muslims.”[3][4] The Islamic Society of Boston strives to “embody the 'middle path' to which the Qur’an calls—a path of moderation that is free of extremism.”[4] Towards this goal, the ISB offers a number of activities for Muslim living in the Boston area that help them “to make positive, effective, and organized contributions towards the well being and enhancement of the social and cultural environment in which they live.”[3]

Secondly, the ISB strives to act as an information resource by promoting a comprehensive and balanced view of the Islamic religion.[4] It intends to raise awareness of “the Islamic point of view on issues of contemporary relevance.”[3]

History

The society was founded in 1981 by Muslim students as a consolidation of Muslim Students' Associations at Harvard University, Boston University, Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Northeastern University, Wentworth Institute of Technology, Suffolk University, and Tufts University. The organization's first location was a hall reserved at MIT where they held prayers and weekly seminars and classes. In 1991, the ISB purchased a Cambridge building as a community center and in 1993 purchased a second location and began to renovate it. In 1994 they opened the second location as a mosque. The ISB has also purchased a rental property to provide income for the annual operating expenses of the center.

Reports of ties to radical Islam have been controversial and disputed.[5] The society has brought suit for defamation against individuals and institutions issuing press and other reports of these ties.[6] This mosque shares many of its members and teachers with the nearby mosques of Islamic Center of New England[7]

Boston Marathon bombing controversy

The ISB came to national attention when newspaper reports noted that it had been occasionally attended by Tamerlan Tsarnaev, an Islamic extremist since 2009, and, less frequently, by Dzhokhar, the two brothers accused of committing the Boston Marathon bombings. Tamerlan "was thrown out" of the Cambridge mosque, and Boston "authorities believe the Chechen brothers ... got their ideas largely online."[8] The organization Americans for Peace and Tolerance has alleged that several former members of ISB are convicted terrorists and claims that the mosque teaches "a brand of Islamic thought that encourages grievances against the West, distrust of law enforcement and opposition to Western forms of government, dress and social values."[9] However, William A. Graham, dean of Harvard Divinity School, has said that "the phobia about it that is generated by a lot of the fearmongers in our community is highly exaggerated"[10] and the mosque has been praised by Christian religious leaders as "an American Muslim institution, well respected in Cambridge, contributing positively to the community at large."[11]

Building project

Islamic Society of Boston mosque in Roxbury

In the summer of 2009, the ISB opened a new building in Roxbury, called the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, on land purchased from the city of Boston adjoining the campus of Roxbury Community College. The ISB agreed to compensate the city for some of the cost of the land through community service by donating books to and sponsoring lectures about Islam for the college, as well as a 10-year agreement to maintain local parks; in exchange they were able to purchase land valued at $401,187 for $175,000.[12] The building project was surrounded by controversy, such as concerns about the land purchase deal and the dual role of Boston Redevelopment Authority Deputy Director Mohammad Ali-Salaam as both the official overseeing and managing the sale on behalf of the city, and principal fundraiser for the Islamic Society of Boston.[6] Issues related to the legality of the sale and the public's access to information surrounding the sale were the subject of two lawsuits, both of which have failed.[citation needed] The facility can accommodate 3000 individuals in its sanctuary, includes an Islamic school for children, an Islamic library, a morgue with burial preparation facilities, administrative offices, a media center, store, a women's gymnasium, a kitchen, a hall for events, and an underground parking garage. Opening events included an interfaith breakfast with appearances by Boston mayor Thomas Menino and the local heads of many Christian denominations, as well as a Muslim congressional representative.[10]

Outreach

The ISB is active in dawah, or educating the public about Islam. As part of this, the community engages in an interfaith project with Temple Beth Shalom in Cambridge. The organization participates in civil rights work with the ACLU, and has received a grant from the National Conference for Community and Justice (NCCJ) for civil rights and civics training for the Muslim community in Boston.

Notable members

Several people who attended the Islamic Society of Boston mosque and its sister mosque, known as the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, have been investigated for alleged ties to extremist and terrorist groups.[13] With the exception of Tsarnaev, the Islamic Society of Boston has contested the involvement of these individuals.[14]

Tsarnaev brothers

Abdurahman Alamoudi, one of 20 or more students who helped found the mosque[16] and its first president.[15] Alamoudi went on found the American Muslim Council, a lobbying group, and consulted for the Pentagon, advised President Bill Clinton, met with President George Bush, and worked with leading conservatives such as Grover Norquist. In 2004 he was sentenced to 23 years in prison for his role in a Libyan conspiracy to assassinate then-Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah.

Yusuf al-Qaradawi, was listed as a mosque trustee from 1998-2003 due to "his scholarship and high esteem in Muslim circles".[13] A prominent Egyptian Islamic theologian, al-Qaradawi is best known for his programme, al-Sharīʿa wa al-Ḥayāh ("Sharia and Life"), broadcast on Al Jazeera. In 2004 he was also a trustee of the Oxford Centre for Islamic Studies. However, he was banned from the U.S. after issuing a fatwa that permitted the killing of U.S. soldiers in Iraq; he was also banned from entering the U.K. in 2008 and France in 2012 over alleged terrorist ties.[17][18] In 2004 Qaradawi was mentioned among the “sheikhs of death” by the 2,500 Muslim intellectuals who signed a petition addressed to the UN to raise awareness of the manipulation of religion for violent purposes.[19]

Several mosque attendees and officials were listed as “non-indicted co-conspirators” in the Holy Land Foundation case, including:

  • Jamal Badawi, an emeritus professor at Saint Mary's University in Canada and a former trustee of the Islamic Society of Boston Trust. and one of the fundraisers of the Holy Land Foundation.
  • Osama Kandil, who has chaired the ISB board, is one of the founders and once vice-president of the Muslim Arab Youth Association, a group identified in a U.S. Muslim Brotherhood memorandum as connected with the Muslim Brotherhood[19]
  • Walid Fitahi, a former ISB trustee who resigned after his anti-Semitic statements came to light.[19]

See also

Islam in the United States

References

Notes

  1. ↑ http://islamicsocietyofboston.net/
  2. ↑ [1]
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 http://islamicsocietyofboston.net/?page_id=2
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  5. ↑ Boston Herald October 23, 2003
  6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  7. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  8. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  9. ↑ Dorell, Oren. "Terror suspects, fugitives and radical speakers have passed through the Cambridge mosque that the Tsarnaev brothers are known to have visited", USA Today )April 24, 2013)
  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  15. ↑ 15.0 15.1 Boston bombers’ mosque tied to ISIS, New York Post, September 7, 2014
  16. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  17. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  18. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ 19.0 19.1 19.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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