Twenty-five years ago, in the uneasy months after Sept. 11, 2001, a small group of neighbors sat down with a book at the Islamic Center of Boston on Route 20 in Wayland, Massachusetts. They have not really stopped since. On Saturday, Oct. 17, 2026, the center's Interfaith Book Club celebrated its 25th anniversary with a gathering at its home on Boston Post Road, open to people of every faith and none, under a motto that says almost everything: "Come as a neighbor, leave as a friend."

The milestone was reported last week by The Wayland Post, the town's independent local news site. It is a quiet story, without a ribbon-cutting or a fundraising goal. But for Muslims across Massachusetts, it is a reminder of what steady, patient neighborliness can build over a generation.

A club born in a hard season

The club's founder, Shaheen Akhtar, told The Wayland Post that the idea dates to the aftermath of the 9/11 attacks, a time of national grief and religious tension. She said she turned to the Quran's teaching about people of different backgrounds coming to know one another, and founded the club to encourage understanding across traditions and to challenge prejudice through conversation.

Many readers will recognize the verse behind that idea. In Surah al-Hujurat, Allah says that He made humanity into nations and tribes "that you may know one another," and that the most noble in His sight is the most righteous (Quran 49:13). Akhtar's version of it, quoted by the Post, is practical: "To live together, build together, and to thrive together, we must make the conscious effort to get to know one another."

Akhtar has spent more than three decades in interfaith outreach, according to the Post. What began as a reading group has grown into a wider community, with hundreds of people connected through the club's email list. Some come to every meeting; others follow the discussions from a distance. "Every discussion has been a bridge built to understand someone else's story," she said.

A friendship that started at the first meeting

One of those bridges runs straight to Mary Ann Borkowski. A Wayland resident of more than 36 years and a member of the town's Lutheran church, Borkowski came to her first meeting at the Islamic Center in 2001 with, as she put it to the Post, "a lot to learn." She has kept coming for a quarter century, and along the way became a close friend of Akhtar's.

Borkowski told the Post that the books pushed her to think about what religious freedom means in a country where Christian traditions often dominate public life. "It's critical to me that we have religious freedom in our country," she said. Looking back on the anniversary, she called the club "quite a life's work" for Akhtar, and then corrected herself mid-sentence about whose journey it has been. "I'm happy that I've been able to be a companion in her journey," she said. "Our journey."

What they read

Over the years, the club has read books on Islam, Christianity, Judaism and religious diversity, according to the Post. Three titles mentioned in the coverage make a good starter list for any group:

  • "The Faith Club" by Ranya Idliby, Suzanne Oliver and Priscilla Warner, a memoir of three mothers, one Muslim, one Christian and one Jewish, whose honest and sometimes tense conversations turn into real understanding. It was one of Borkowski's favorites.
  • "Twelve Steps to a Compassionate Life" by Karen Armstrong, the religious historian, on putting compassion into daily practice.
  • "Sacred Ground: Pluralism, Prejudice, and the Promise of America" by Eboo Patel, founder of the interfaith group now known as Interfaith America. Akhtar told the Post it prompted a larger community discussion.

Part of a long record of open doors

The book club is one thread in a longer story. As we wrote in our Wayland town feature last week, the Islamic Center of Boston grew from about ten families meeting in a Cambridge school in 1979 into a Route 20 center with a K–10 Sunday school, a youth group and a habit of welcoming neighbors.

That habit is written into the center's outreach page today. ICB invites groups to observe congregational prayer on Sundays (September through early June, about 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.) or on Fridays (about 12:45 to 2 p.m.), with up to 25 visitors at a time. Schools and colleges can arrange weekday visits, and the center takes requests for a Muslim speaker at a class or event. Its advice to visitors is simple and kind: dress as you would for any house of worship, take your shoes off for the prayer hall, and bring warm socks in cold weather because the rest of the floor is tile.

Start one where you live

Akhtar told the Post she hopes the anniversary encourages people "in Wayland and beyond" to create similar spaces for conversation, and that meaningful exchanges do not need a big organization. That is an invitation worth taking up from Pittsfield to the Cape.

A few ideas for masjids, MSAs and neighbors who want to try:

  • Keep it small and regular. A monthly evening, one book, tea and dates is enough.
  • Partner with one congregation first. A nearby church or synagogue that already does community work is a natural co-host.
  • Pick books that invite stories, not debates. Memoirs and history travel better than polemics.
  • Use the library. Many Massachusetts public libraries host book groups and can help with copies and a room.

To learn more or arrange a visit, contact the Islamic Center of Boston at 126 Boston Post Road, Wayland, Massachusetts, 508-358-5885, or info@icbwayland.org, or use the forms on the center's outreach page at icbwayland.org/outreach.

Twenty-five years is a long time to keep a conversation going. Congratulations to Shaheen Akhtar, Mary Ann Borkowski and every reader who has pulled up a chair.