Wayland: From a Cambridge Classroom to a Masjid on Route 20

Our town series heads west to Wayland, where 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 long record of open doors for neighbors. Here's its story and how to visit.

The Islamic Center of Boston is not in Boston. It sits on Route 20 in Wayland, a MetroWest town about four miles west of Route 128. But the name is a clue to where the community started, and to how far it has come. Our town series heads west this week to tell its story.

A September meeting in Cambridge

In September 1979, about ten families gathered in a rented space at the Martin Luther King School on Putnam Avenue in Cambridge. That founding meeting, as recalled in a 2009 Eid khutbah posted on the center's website, formed the first board of directors and elected the first president, Mudather Al-Sidiqui. The Pluralism Project at Harvard describes the founders as immigrant professionals who were worried about their children's Islamic education.

That concern shaped everything that followed. According to ICB's own history page, the Sunday school began in 1979 in a public school building in Cambridge. Every September since, the khutbah noted, the community has gathered again to start a new school year of religion and Arabic for its children.

Finding land on Route 20

As more families settled in the western suburbs, the community looked for a permanent home. In 1986, ICB bought a property at 126 Boston Post Road: a 12-room house on 1.75 acres, according to the center's history page. The school began operating there in 1988.

A new building went up in the early 1990s with more classrooms and a larger prayer area. The MetroWest Daily News reported in 2010 that the center built and moved into an eight-room mosque, community center and school in 1992. In 1999 ICB bought an adjoining plot to expand parking.

The biggest change came next. The membership approved a major renovation in April 2002. Construction started in 2004, and the center reopened in fall 2005. ICB says the project added 10,000 square feet to the existing 5,200-square-foot building, with educational space for 400 people, a new second floor, renovated prayer and social space, and a larger parking lot. That is the white building with patterned lattice panels and arched doorways that drivers see from Route 20 today.

ICB says people come from as far as New Hampshire and Falmouth, and that its membership "represents Muslims from all over the world." Its history page also describes the center as "a democratic association of equals" that does not make distinctions by race, ethnicity, sect, country of origin or wealth.

The Sunday school today

Education is still the heart of the place. ICB's Sunday Islamic School runs from kindergarten through 10th grade, every Sunday from September through June. There are two programs, a morning session from 10:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. and an afternoon session from 2 to 5 p.m. Every student takes two classes: Islamic Arabic, which includes surah memorization and the English meanings of those surahs, and Religion. Each program ends with congregational prayer.

The school says its goal is to raise "confident and compassionate American Muslims." Families do not need to be ICB members to enroll, though membership is encouraged. Registration and tuition are handled through the school's online parent portal.

Older students have their own space too. The ICB Youth Group is for students in grades 8 through 12, with registration open for the 2026–2027 school year on the center's website and updates posted on Instagram at @icbwayland.yg.

A neighbor across the road

Wayland's Muslims have built close ties with the town. On the other side of Boston Post Road, a four-minute walk away, is Temple Shir Tikvah, a Reform synagogue founded in 1978. The Jewish Journal reported in 2017 that after the September 11 attacks, members of the two congregations issued a joint statement of mutual support. Members of both communities later described what followed as a 15-year journey across the road, which they shared at a national Reform Jewish gathering in 2017.

ICB's Interfaith Book Club also began after 9/11, according to a 2017 Wayland Town Crier report. It marked its 25th anniversary on Oct. 17 with a celebration at the center, which we previewed earlier this month.

The center also works on access for people with disabilities. ICB says it has partnered with MUHSEN, a group that helps mosques become more accessible, and that ASL interpretation of the Friday khutbah can be arranged on request.

Services beyond prayer

Besides the five daily prayers and Jumu'ah, ICB lists Ramadan iftars and taraweeh, Eid programs, lectures, nikah ceremonies and family support. Its services page also covers funeral arrangements and a Muslim section at Forest Hills Cemetery. The prayer hall, social hall and kitchen can be booked for private events, subject to board review.

Visiting ICB

Non-Muslim neighbors, school groups and classes are welcome. According to ICB's outreach page:

Sunday visits include watching congregational prayer from September through early June, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.
Friday visits include Jumu'ah, 12:45 to 2 p.m.
Weekday group visits for schools and colleges can be arranged for up to two hours between 9 a.m. and 4 p.m.
Sunday and Friday visits can hold up to 25 people. There is a form on the website for each kind of visit, and another for requesting a speaker.

Dress as you would for any house of worship. ICB suggests clothing that covers the arms and legs, and women and girls may bring a scarf for the prayer hall if they like. Shoes come off only in the carpeted prayer hall, and the center notes that warm socks help in cold weather, since the rest of the building has tile floors. Visitors can sit in chairs at the side of the hall during prayer and don't need to stand.

Prayer times change through the year, so check the Prayers page before you go. The center's phone number is (508) 358-5885.

Halal food nearby

For a meal after your visit, neighboring Framingham and Natick are a short drive away. Our guide to halal restaurants in Framingham and Natick covers Route 9 biryani, kebabs and markets. You can also find ICB in the Mass Halal mosque directory.

From a borrowed classroom in Cambridge to a full center on Route 20, the Islamic Center of Boston has spent more than 45 years doing what its founders set out to do: teach its children, and open its doors to its neighbors.