Islamic Society of Boston

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 and terrorism have been controversial and disputed.[5] The society had brought suit in 2005 for defamation against individuals and institutions issuing press and other reports of these ties.[6] 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.[7]

This mosque shares many of its members and teachers with the nearby mosques of Islamic Center of New England[8]

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. Boston "authorities believe the Chechen brothers ... got their ideas largely online."[9] 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."[10] 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"[11] 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."[12]

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.[13] 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. 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.[11]

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.

Persons who attended the mosque with alleged ties to extremist and terrorist groups

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.[14] With the exception of Tsarnaev, the Islamic Society of Boston has contested the involvement of these individuals.[15]

Tsarnaev brothers

Abdurahman Alamoudi, one of 20 or more students who helped found the mosque[18] and its first president.[16] 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".[14] 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.[19][20] 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.[21]

See also

Islam in the United States

References

Notes

  1. ↑ http://islamicsocietyofboston.net/
  2. ↑
  3. 1 2 3 http://islamicsocietyofboston.net/?page_id=2
  4. 1 2 3 "Islam: Islamic Society of Boston | Cambridge Office of Tourism". www.cambridgeusa.org. Retrieved 2016-01-06.
  5. ↑ Boston Herald October 23, 2003
  6. 1 2 Miller, Judith. "A SLAPP Against Freedom". City Journal. The Manhattan Institute. Retrieved 2007-10-10.
  7. ↑ Abrams, Floyd (2007-06-06). "Be Careful What You Sue For". Wall Street Journal. ISSN 0099-9660. Retrieved 2016-05-20.
  8. ↑ "Moderate imam reveals how radicals won battle for soul of Boston mosques". FoxNews. Retrieved 23 July 2015.
  9. ↑ "Boston Muslims struggle to wrest image of Islam from terrorists". The New York Times. June 15, 2015. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  10. ↑ 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)
  11. 1 2 Paulson, Michael (June 25, 2009). "A call to prayer, a long quest fulfilled; Celebration follows years of controversy". The Boston Globe. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  12. ↑ Smith, Daniel (April 14, 2015). "Cambridge mosque unfairly cast in negative light". Boston Globe. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  13. ↑ "Praised as beacon, mosque project stalls amid rancor; allegations said to harm funding for Roxbury center". The Boston Globe. December 18, 2005.
  14. 1 2 "Mosque that Boston suspects attended has radical ties". USA TODAY. Retrieved 2016-01-07.
  15. ↑ Valencia, Milton (September 10, 2014). "Cambridge mosque distances itself from terrorism suspects". The Boston Globe. Retrieved November 25, 2015.
  16. 1 2 Boston bombers’ mosque tied to ISIS, New York Post, September 7, 2014
  17. ↑ Tangel, Andrew; Powers, Ashley (2013-04-20). "FBI: Boston suspect Tamerlan Tsarnaev followed 'radical Islam'". Los Angeles Times. ISSN 0458-3035. Retrieved 2016-05-20.
  18. ↑ "ISB Slams ISIS; Sets the Record Straight" (PDF). Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center.
  19. ↑ "Brotherhood Ideologue Qaradawi Expelled From Islamic Council | Clarion Project". ClarionProject.org. Retrieved 2016-01-07.
  20. ↑ "Should QIB be judged by the company it keeps?". stopterrorfinance.org. Retrieved 2016-01-07.
  21. ↑ "Islamic Society of Boston | Clarion Project". ClarionProject.org. Retrieved 2016-01-07.

External links

Coordinates: 42°19′51.2″N 71°5′36.1″W / 42.330889°N 71.093361°W / 42.330889; -71.093361

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