On Saturday, October 17, 2026, from 2:30 to 4:00 p.m., the Interfaith Book Club of the Islamic Center of Boston in Wayland invites neighbors of every tradition to a free 25th-anniversary celebration. The Wayland Post listing frames the afternoon as a thank-you to the friends who have kept showing up for a quarter-century of reading and conversation—and as an open door for anyone who wants to join that circle.
What and where
The celebration is at the Islamic Center of Boston (ICB), 126 Boston Post Road (Route 20), Wayland, MA 01778. Admission is free. As of October 9, 2026, the public listing does not publish a full program of speakers, book titles or RSVP rules for this particular afternoon, so treat it as a community gathering first: come to mark the milestone, meet regulars and newcomers, and ask the hosts how the club meets the rest of the year.
A club built after a hard season
Local reporting from 2017 traces the Interfaith Book Club’s beginnings to the months after the September 11 attacks, when organizers wanted a steady place for people of different faiths to learn from one another rather than only through news headlines. Shaheen Akhtar, then the center’s interfaith liaison, told the Wayland Town Crier the group hoped larger community reads would happen a couple of times a year while the book club itself met more regularly. Past public invitations featured titles such as The Faith Club and Getting to the Heart of Interfaith, and larger discussion afternoons at ICB have drawn well over a hundred people from across MetroWest. The anniversary language on the Wayland Post page—“building bridges,” “friends from diverse communities across Wayland”—fits that long arc.
About ICB Wayland
ICB itself is older than the book club. Founded in 1979 as a nonprofit, nonsectarian religious, educational and cultural organization, the center moved to the Boston Post Road property in the mid-1980s and later expanded classrooms, prayer space and parking. Today it lists five daily prayers, Jummah, a K–10 Sunday school, Eid programs, educational lectures and interfaith outreach among its services. Its aims include serving Muslims west and north of Boston and offering neighbors a clear window into Islam as faith and everyday practice. The anniversary celebration sits inside that second mission: a mosque that also hosts the town’s long-running interfaith bookshelf.
Getting there and first-time tips
ICB sits on Route 20 about four miles west of Route 128 / I-95. Drivers will find a large on-site lot; ICB’s outreach FAQ notes that the lot can fill at peak Sunday and Friday prayer times and points overflow visitors to Temple Shir Tikva across the street a little farther west on Route 20. A Saturday mid-afternoon celebration is usually quieter than Jummah, but arriving a few minutes early still helps. Dress respectfully—clothing that covers arms and legs is the usual guidance—and remove shoes only when you enter the carpeted prayer hall. Warm socks help in cooler weather. Expect most of the anniversary afternoon in classrooms or social space rather than during salah, but keep phones silent if you step into the prayer area.
How to learn more
Confirm the date and free admission on the Wayland Post event page. For address, main telephone and departmental emails, use ICB’s contact page at https://icbwayland.org/about/contact/ (main line 508-358-5885; general email info@icbwayland.org). The anniversary listing also shows 508-259-3653; older Interfaith Book Club notices used that same number, so it appears to be an organizer contact rather than the front desk—call if you need day-of details. Historic invitations pointed readers to bookclub@icbwayland.org; we could not independently confirm that address is still monitored in 2026, so pair any email with a phone check if you need a reply before the 17th. For ordinary group visits or speaker requests another day, use the forms on https://icbwayland.org/outreach/.
If your masjid, church, synagogue or civic group is hosting an interfaith read, open house or anniversary we have not covered yet, tip Mass Halal at https://masshalal.com/contact and we will check it for the Journal and the Coming Up list.