This Community Center Is Creating a Space for Latino Muslims

Could you describe your opening day on Jan. 30? What was it like?
On the day of the event, over 450 people showed up. The Musallah is 5000 square feet so it was packed. We had many activities — a bouncy house and face-painting for the youth and henna for the ladies. It was a very diverse event. We had young and old people come together.

This center is a trial for us. We had people fly in from all over to come and see this — we had Latino leaders from New York, New Jersey, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Chicago, Atlanta and California.
People flew to be here because everybody has been dreaming for this day. When they saw this — they saw it as the first model that all hope to mimic. We hope to build many Spanish Islamic centers, one in each state. Our dream is to build huge centers like the Turkish Center and the Bosnian Center to serve our people.

But we are not segregating ourselves. The need is here. There is a niche for it. We want to educate our own reverts about Islam. We are working with the many Latino leaders who came to the grand opening form across the nation to hold the first Latino conference later this year, insha’Allah.
We have the passion and the drive. Many want us to be the pioneers and create more of these centers and the only way for us to do that is for more people to support the cause.