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Wednesday, June 6, 2012

Mega-mosques: Muslim tradition with US convenience, Islam and the West, NewAgeIslam.com

Islam and the West
Mega-mosques: Muslim tradition with US convenience
Miral Fahmy I Reuters
Saturday 6 September 2008 (06 Ramadan 1429)

To accommodate the overflow, which also results in traffic jams when prayer is over, US Muslim congregations have set up satellite places of worship, again following the lead of the Christian mega-churches. That is just one way in which US mega-mosques are decidedly American. They also offer worshippers a progressive form of Islam, in line with the profile and desires of many Muslim Americans.

While more than two-thirds of Muslim Americans are immigrants, mainly from the Middle East, they are also “decidedly mainstream in their outlook, values and attitudes,” a report published last year by the Pew Forum on Religion and Public Life said.

They have embraced what is often called the Protestant work ethic and believe, as do many Americans, that hard work pays off.

And Muslim Americans reject extremism by larger margins than do Muslim minorities in western European countries, the Pew report said. One mega-mosque in Virginia even rents space from a synagogue.

“This mosque, this branch, is part of a synagogue. Where have you seen that, a synagogue and a mosque? It’s a completely American experience,” Muslim prayer leader Mohamed Magid said.

http://newageislam.com/mega-mosques--muslim-tradition-with-us-convenience/islam-and-the-west/d/717


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