Our Story
The Islamic Center of America is one of North America’s oldest institutions. It has been serving the needs of Muslims in the greater Detroit area and throughout the United States.
The Islamic Center of America has a long and rich history that embodies the Muslim American Community’s search, struggle and triumph to find a place to belong. The story began in 1949, when Imam Mohammad Jawad Chirri, a religious scholar who could not speak or understand English came to America at the request of a small group of people who where yearning for Islamic guidance. That humble beginning culminated into a Center that has become more than a place of worship but an Institution and a beacon for Islam in North America.
The Islamic Center of America traces its rich history back to the 1950s. The Muslim community in the Dearborn- Detroit area was growing like other small communities that came to the United States in search of a better life.
It was then that a committed group of young Lebanese-Americans worked to establish Michigan’s first Shia mosque. Imam Chirri was invited to lead the newly-formed Islamic Center Foundation Society which evolved into the Islamic Center of Detroit (ICD) in 1963.The Detroit mosque was largely financed by devoted Shia Muslims, some of whom pledged their homes and businesses as collateral, to support the building of the mosque. The ICD broke ground in November 1962.
A year later, the mosque, which only had a prayer room, lecture hall, kitchen, and an open office space.
Over the years, it soon became evident that the ICofA building located on Joy Road and Greenfield in Detroit did not meet the needs of the burgeoning Muslim community. In 2005, the current Center was inaugurated and became known as Islamic Center of America. The ICofA’s 120, 000 sq. ft. facility is the largest mosque in North America and the oldest Shia mosque in the United States.
The ICofA accommodates a large and magnificent meeting hall, industrial kitchen, a spacious prayer room, meeting rooms, and a library. Glazed bricks were used to veneer two decorative domes at the main entrance and the round mosque at the center of the building. Additionally, two 110-foot towers (minarets) were erected to add to the architectural layout.
The ICofA is renowned for its wide range of religious, educational, and public programs. It has long been recognized as one of Dearborn’s most vibrant and influential Muslim entities. The ICofA continues to be a pillar of cultural understanding of the pious religion of Islam.
