Worcester, Massachusetts, is New England's second-largest city, and its Muslim community has two homes. One is a century-old church on Laurel Street. The other is a large center on East Mountain Street that members helped build with their own hands. Our town series heads to central Massachusetts this week to tell the story of both.

A Finnish church on Laurel Street

The first chapter starts with a building that was never meant to be a masjid. According to the timeline published by the Islamic Society of Greater Worcester (ISGW), the church at 57 Laurel Street was finished in 1909 for a Finnish Evangelical congregation, at a cost of $15,000. It later became Faith Lutheran Church. In 1977, the congregation disbanded, which the timeline puts down to money troubles, aging members and a declining neighborhood.

In 1979, the church was sold to the North American Islamic Trust for $27,000, and a masjid opened inside. ISGW was formed as a sub-chapter of the Islamic Society of North America. The same timeline notes that halal meat became available there that year, which it calls a first for central Massachusetts. A 2023 Telegram & Gazette report said the community began with two Worcester Polytechnic Institute students from Kuwait meeting in the basement, and grew from 15 to 20 people at the start. The Worcester Islamic Center's own history page says the first congregation had fewer than 50 people.

Change came slowly. In 1980 the pews came out and the second floor became the main prayer hall. A first Sunday school opened in 1983, the same year the building was listed with the Worcester Heritage Preservation Society as historically significant. Over the 1980s the community bought neighboring lots for parking, and in 1987 it finished a renovation that added a women's section and classrooms. In 1993, members voted to start a full-time Islamic school.

Outgrowing the old church

By 2001, the Worcester Islamic Center (WIC) says, it was clear the community would soon outgrow Laurel Street. Two members, Dr. Ziad Ramadan and Mairaj Ahmad, put forward a vision for a much larger masjid, and the community adopted it. WIC dates the groundbreaking at 248 East Mountain Street to the summer of 2002; Archnet, the Islamic architecture archive, gives 2003 and lists construction as running from 2003 to 2005.

What makes the story memorable is who did the work. WIC's history page says Dr. Ramadan supervised construction from the first day, with help from Tahir Ali, and that community members broke ground, laid the iron mesh, poured the footings and built the wooden forms for a 20-foot foundation wall. Youth and women took part, the page says, and volunteers worked "from dawn to dusk," sometimes finishing in the dark by the light of their car headlights. The names of the people who helped were etched into the building's concrete pillars. The center estimates that volunteer labor saved more than $250,000.

ISGW's timeline records that the congregation moved to the new center in 2006 and the Laurel Street masjid closed. It did not stay closed. The old building reopened in 2007, and a major renovation in 2008 added more space for women, a new roof and new bathrooms, and put a crescent on the old steeple.

Two masjids, one growing city

Today Worcester has both. WIC says its building can hold more than 5,000 people and is one of the biggest Islamic centers in New England. When the Telegram & Gazette visited in 2016, the center said it drew 400 to 500 worshippers for a regular Friday and as many as 6,000 on the two Eids. That year it invited the public to a "Meet a Muslim" open house with food, Arabic calligraphy and henna.

The Laurel Street masjid is still busy too. In 2023, ISGW board member Ihab Dabbagh told the Telegram & Gazette that the Greater Worcester Muslim community had grown to more than 10,000 people, and that Laurel Street gets 200 to 300 people on Fridays.

Life at the Worcester Islamic Center

WIC's resident scholar is Shaykh Vajid Pathan, who grew up in Connecticut and graduated from the College of Shari'ah at the Islamic University of Madinah. His assistant imam, Hafiz Othman Ladan, has led the center's daily Quran program since 2021, according to the center.

Attached to the center, and using its prayer hall, cafeteria and gym, is Alhuda Academy, a pre-K through 8th grade Islamic day school founded in 2001. The school says it serves about 100 students and is accredited by the New England Association of Schools and Colleges.

The center's website also lists:

  • Al-Itqaan Sunday School for boys and girls ages 6 to 15, with Quran and Islamic studies and financial aid available.
  • Isma'il Quran Academy, a weekday Quran program for ages 5 to 17, Monday through Thursday, 4 to 6 p.m.
  • Friday night halaqas after Isha, with dinner, livestreamed on the center's Facebook page and YouTube channel.
  • Sisters programs, including an Arabic halaqa, Quran and hifdh classes, and weekend hikes.
  • A youth group, with a weekly Saturday halaqa for boys and monthly meetings for girls.
  • A new Muslim program that pairs people who are new to Islam with mentors.

The center's social services team lists a weekly free health clinic, zakat and financial help, and housing referrals. After many Afghan refugees arrived in Worcester, WIC set up a program pairing local families with newly arrived Afghan families, along with a food pantry and English classes.

Visiting

The Worcester Islamic Center is at 248 East Mountain Street, Worcester, MA 01606. The phone number is (774) 420-2636 and the email is contactwic@wicmasjid.org. Prayer and Jumu'ah times change through the year, so check the WIC website or call before you go. The center also posts parking rules, which are worth reading before a busy Friday.

The Islamic Society of Greater Worcester is at 57 Laurel Street in Worcester.

Halal food nearby

Worcester has plenty to eat after prayer. Our neighborhood guide to halal food in Worcester runs from Water Street to Shrewsbury Street. You can also find WIC in the Mass Halal mosque directory.

From a Finnish church bought for $27,000 to a center whose foundations were poured by its own members, Worcester's Muslims have spent more than 45 years building places to pray. And on Laurel Street, the crescent still sits on the old steeple.