New mosque rises in North Philadelphia

As Islam faces hostilities from the White House, the religion is growing in Philly.

The future Philadelphia Ahmadiyya Muslim Community mosque, under construction at West 13th Street and Glenwood Avenue. Photo: Provided

Turn onto North Broad Street around the corner from Joe Frazier’s old gym, and emerging on the skyline is a new architectural feature: the dome of a mosque.

“This will be the first mosque built in Philadelphia from the ground up,” said Mujeeb Chaudhary, president of the Philadelphia Ahmadiyya Muslim Community. “There are 47 mosques in Philadelphia, but nothing like this, a mosque rising from the ground up, pointed to qibla [the direction of Mecca], with windows like that.”

Leaders of the Philadelphia Ahmadiyya Muslim Community outside their current mosque. Second from left, president Mujeeb Chaudhary, third from left, imam Bilal Abdus Salaam, and second from right, vice president Ahmad Nuruddin. Photo: Sam Newhouse

An estimated 200,000 Muslims live in Philadelphia. Some of them identify as part of the Ahmadiyya sect of Islam, founded in India in 1889 and now represented in 207 countries, with 76 chapters in the U.S., four of those in Pennsylvania… read more at source: http://www.metro.us/philadelphia/a-new-mosque-rises-in-north-philly/zsJqbe—6dv3NRKzLM9/