Quincy: A Masjid on the Hill Above the Shipyard, in the City of Presidents

Stand on South Street in Quincy Point and look toward the water, and it is easy to picture the cranes. For most of the 20th century, this neighborhood lived by the Fore River Shipyard. It is also where, in 1964, a handful of families with roots in Lebanon and Syria opened a masjid on a hill overlooking the yard: the Islamic Center of New England.

The Mass Halal Journal's daily town series began in Sharon, home to ICNE's larger campus. For our second stop, we go back to where that story started. Quincy, a city of 101,636 people at the 2020 census, is known as the City of Presidents. For Muslims in Massachusetts, it is also a birthplace.

Shipyard Families on South Street

The shipyard moved to Quincy Point in 1901, according to the New England Historical Society, and drew workers from many countries, including Lebanon and Syria. The Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center's history committee names eight Muslim patriarchs who arrived between 1895 and 1914 to work at the yard, among them Abdullah Abraham, Toufic Derbes, Mohamed Omar and Selman Allie.

A Patriot Ledger report, later republished by the U.S. State Department, says many Quincy Muslims once prayed in the basement of Ma's Lunch, a Quincy Point restaurant popular with shipyard workers. In 1934 the families formed the Arab American Banner Society, a charitable group that met in a house on South Street, writes Harvard scholar Diana L. Eck.

Building a real masjid took about three decades. The ISBCC history says contributions came mostly from Christian and Jewish neighbors, customers, clients and students. The building at 470 South Street was dedicated in 1964. ISBCC calls it the first dedicated mosque in New England.

Fatima Allie, then 66, told the Patriot Ledger: "We were friendly with all of the neighbors in Quincy Point."

Growth, a Fire and a Second Home

Almost as soon as the doors opened, a new wave of immigration arrived. Eck writes that the community tripled between 1964 and 1974. In the early 1980s it hired its first full-time imam, Talal Eid, who came from Lebanon after studying at al-Azhar University. "The Islamic Center of New England is a small replica of the United Nations, with more than twenty-five different nationalities," he told Harvard's Pluralism Project.

There were hard years too. In March 1990, a fire attributed to arson caused an estimated $500,000 in damage, Eck reports, and members spent a year rebuilding the dome, much of the prayer hall and the education wing.

In 1993, with South Street bulging at the seams, ICNE expanded to Sharon, the subject of our first installment. When the Quincy masjid marked its 50th anniversary in 2014, the Patriot Ledger reported that a congregation founded by seven families from one country, Lebanon, had grown to more than 1,000 member families representing 36 nationalities.

ICNE Quincy Today

The original masjid is still busy. ICNE lists Shaykh Sherif Shabaka as imam of the Quincy masjid, and its Quincy prayer schedule shows two Jumuah prayers, at 1:00 and 1:50 p.m.

ICNE's online calendar lists a weekly fiqh halaqa on Wednesdays, 10 minutes after the Maghrib iqama, running into early February; a Fajr Quran circle for brothers with Shaykh Sherif on Sundays; and a weekly drop-in Islam 101 class on Sunday afternoons. Quincy also has its own Saturday and Sunday schools at 470 South Street. Members from both centers vote in ICNE's board election on Nov. 8.

Where to Eat and Shop

Fittingly, given the community's roots, one of Quincy's halal options is a Lebanese grill. Quincy International Food Co., at 529 Washington Street, sells halal meat along with shawarma, kebabs and falafel. Zabihah reports that the owners are Muslim, that the food is fully halal and that a halal certificate is on file.

On Scammell Street, Sweetgarden Grill, at No. 15, describes its menu as fresh halal Middle Eastern and Mediterranean food. El Refaey Market, at No. 35, calls itself a halal-focused Mediterranean grocery. Halal Meat Boston, a butcher at 139 Water Street, says its zabihah meat comes from its own farm in Framingham.

For coffee, MOTW Coffee & Pastries opened at 279 Willard Street in West Quincy in February. The name stands for "Muslims of the World." "Everything is halal," owner Ali Javid told the Patriot Ledger. Parking is behind the shop, off Bates Avenue. Halal status can change, so ask before you order.

The City of Presidents

Quincy was first settled by the English in 1625, became the North Precinct of Braintree in 1640, was incorporated as its own town in 1792 and became a city in 1888. It is named for Colonel John Quincy, Abigail Adams's grandfather. John Adams was born here in 1735 and his son John Quincy Adams in 1767, according to the National Park Service. John Hancock was born here too.

Adams National Historical Park's 2026 tour season runs through Oct. 31. Start at the Visitor Center at 1250 Hancock Street, open Wednesday through Sunday. The birthplaces are closed this season for a landscape project, but guided tours of the Old House at Peace field continue. Nearby, the crypt at United First Parish Church, 1306 Hancock Street, holds the tombs of both presidents and of First Ladies Abigail and Louisa Catherine Adams. Tours there run through Nov. 11, with a suggested donation.

Granite, Ships and the Shore

The state calls Quincy Quarries Reservation the place where America's large-scale granite quarrying industry was born and the source of the stone for the Bunker Hill Monument. The Granite Railway, which began operating on Oct. 7, 1826, nearly 200 years ago this month, is popularly called the country's first commercial railroad.

At Fore River, some 32,000 people worked over the course of World War II, according to the New England Historical Society. The yard closed in 1986.

The state's Quincy Shores Reservation includes the 2.3-mile Wollaston Beach, with a walking and biking path along Quincy Bay. To the north, Moswetuset Hummock was a summer campsite of the Massachusett people in the 1600s.

Quincy has four MBTA Red Line stops: North Quincy, Wollaston, Quincy Center and Quincy Adams. A subway ride costs $2.40.

Where It All Began

Quincy today is big, busy and diverse, but the masjid on South Street still stands on its hill above the old shipyard. Sixty-two years on, the community those families started has two centers and members from dozens of countries. It began here.

Tomorrow, our series moves to its next town.