Our Story

In the early 1970s the Portland immigrant Muslim community was relatively new to the area. It was small, dispersed, and without a mosques. Muslims tended to socialize primarily within their individual ethnic groups. In 1975, five young Pakistani families with small children began meeting bi-weekly to study the Qur’an and talk about practicing Islam within an American context. They also got together for tennis and shared many meals. Through these gatherings they sought to deepen their own religious commitments and to instill Islamic values in their American-born children. This was also a way for them to bring the comforts of their cultural traditions to their American homes and children. The adults had grown up Muslim, but had not formally studied Islam.