 |
Muslim community grows to overflowing in Seattle area
Thursday, September 7, 2000
By PHUONG LE
The pilgrimage begins just before 1:30 p.m. each Friday.
It starts as a trickle, then grows as more than 100 vehicles cram into the tiny parking lot of the Islamic Center of South Seattle in SeaTac.
Before long, the mosque is so crowded for jumua, or Friday prayer, that many of the hundreds of Muslims place small mats at the edge of the gravel driveway to pray in the rain. Some cannot find an open spot on the mosque's 1-acre grounds.
"There's no place for people," said mosque president Ahmed Nassar, directing cars that have spilled into the street for the most special of the day's five prayers. "There's no parking. There's no room for the kids.
"We have to make a new mosque. It's urgent."
Call it a sign of the times. From SeaTac to Bellevue, the Puget Sound's Muslim community is expanding faster than mosques can accommodate.
Seven mosques built or established in recent years are already overwhelmed. New ones are planned for Kent and Everett.
"We're outgrowing every mosque in Seattle," said Aziz Junejo, host of a public-access cable show, "Focus on Islam," as he left the crowded SeaTac mosque with a prayer mat tucked under his arm. "Every mosque is brimming."
The community's growth is evident beyond houses of worship -- from a new Muslim slaughterhouse and new preschool to the public-access cable show and new restaurants serving Islam-approved food.
"The community has established itself, it has its own infrastructure and is honoring its own tradition and culture," said Greg Gourley, a Bellevue immigration specialist who has observed the dramatic growth of the Muslim community on the Eastside.
According to the Council on American-Islamic Relations, there are 1.2 billion members worldwide, making Islam the second-most popular religion after Catholicism.
The Puget Sound region has become particularly attractive to Muslims who, like many others, are drawn to the hot high-tech job market and quality of life, as well as the region's tolerance of diversity.
By some estimates, there are 40,000 Muslims in the region.
Almost 90 percent of the area's Muslims are immigrants, said Nazeer Ahmed, editor of the Northwest Islamic Journal, which conducted a study several years ago. An average of 10,000 to 12,000 people move into the Puget Sound from overseas each year, often from countries such as India, Pakistan, Somalia and Cambodia, which have large Muslim populations.
"Seattle is an attraction," said Salah Dandan, 33, who moved with his family to Bellevue two years ago, lured by the region's booming economy. "It's a great place to live. It's also a friendly place for Muslims."
With more than 32,000 jobs added in King County each year, and job growth outpacing population growth, the Puget Sound has become a magnet for well-educated, highly skilled workers such as Dandan, who is from Dubai in the United Arab Emirates.
Dubbed Muppies, or Muslim urban professionals, many Muslims come to this country to study and are hired by high-tech firms. Others are recruited directly from overseas by companies who encounter a shortage of workers here.
Dandan was recruited by Teledesic Corp. to direct the Kirkland company's business development. In April, the attorney left to help start a firm that helps Internet companies develop overseas markets.
Like many new families in the area, Dandan, his wife and two children are changing the face of the community. This summer, he helped start Medina Academy, an Islamic preschool in Redmond. It opened this week, and among the 20 preschoolers enrolled is his 4-year-old son Kalil.
Medina Academy is named after the city in Saudi Arabia where the prophet Mohammed went after being kicked out of Mecca by the pagans. The school plans to add additional grades as enrollment grows.
Schools aren't the only institutions booming.
When the Bellevue mosque first opened in 1996, some thought it was too big.
"People were saying at the time, 'There are not enough Muslims in Bellevue,'" said Salim Dada, 42, an investment banker. "Now, you can see we have no room."
Western Washington's burgeoning Muslim community is young compared with those in Los Angeles, San Diego, Calif., Washington, D.C., and Detroit, where Muslim voter-registration drives, youth camps and advocacy groups are well-established.
But social institutions are sprouting in slow but noticeable ways.
Last month, a small group of Muslims from South Seattle bought a U.S. Agriculture Department-inspected slaughterhouse in Sumner. It will offer halal, or lawful, meat slaughtered in accord with Islamic dietary laws.
Last week, the 2-year-old Amigos Mexican Grill in the Redmond Town Center "went halal." It got rid of two pork dishes and now serves its burritos, quesadillas and tacos with halal meat.
"There were a lot of people asking for halal food -- that's why I did it," said manager Vill Shirazi. "People are very much eager to find a Mexican restaurant that serves halal."
The Islamic Journal's Ahmed marvels at how fast his community and newspaper have grown. Started in 1995 to educate the public about Islam, the newspaper quickly went from printing 2,500 copies to almost twice as many this summer.
"Last month, we were scrambling, looking for copies to send out to people," said Ahmed, a computer consultant who became the paper's editor four years ago.
Gourley, the immigration specialist, said the Muslim community's growing presence in the region helps people shatter stereotypes.
"What it means for the non-Muslim population is more significant," Gourley said. "The more we get to know about the Muslim community, the better we understand."
Large numbers of Muslims have immigrated as refugees from war-torn countries such as Somalia, Cambodia and Vietnam and settled in South Seattle.
Distinct communities of Somalis and Cham, a Muslim minority in Cambodia, have emerged, and a drive along Martin Luther King Jr. Way reveals several new halal markets and restaurants.
From his popular Olympic Restaurant in Rainier Valley, Alavy Les has watched as more eateries like his have cropped up in recent years. When his father opened Olympic eight years ago, few restaurants served halal.
"The Muslim community grew, and the need for halal grew," said the 24-year-old owner, who was born in Vietnam.
Now, halal restaurants in the neighborhood offer everything from lamb curry and Vietnamese pho noodles to gyros and fried chicken.
"I come from a very strict religious family," said Les, who wears blue jeans and a baseball cap turned backward. "There was no girlfriends, no KFC, no McDonald's."
He studied four years at the Islamic University of Medina in Saudi Arabia and has made the pilgrimage to Mecca five times.
Making the pilgrimage is one of five pillars of Islam. The others are: declaring there is no God but Allah and Mohammed is his servant and messenger; prayer; fasting during the month of Ramadan; and alms giving.
"Islam is a way of life," said Les, who has set up an area in his kitchen to pray five times daily.
"Islam is every day, every hour and every moment."
1. Testimony of faith, or shahadah.
2. Five formal daily prayers (before dawn, noon, afternoon, after sunset and evening).
3. Fasting during the month of Ramadan (the ninth month of the lunar year).
4. Alms-giving (zakat). Muslims must give at least 2 percent of their savings to the needy.
5. Pilgrimage (hajj). Muslims who are financially able must go to the faith's spiritual center, Mecca, Saudi Arabia, during the month of Hajj (12th month of the lunar year).
P-I reporter Phuong Le can be reached at 206-448-8336 or phuongle@seattle-pi.com
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER
Several worshipers come by taxi -- and the drivers as well as passengers stay for the service. Others come on foot, some with work ID badges still clipped to their shirts. Others have small children in tow.
Muslim men greet one another after prayers at the Idriss Mosque on Northeast Northgate Way in Seattle. With mosques throughout the region overcrowded, new buildings are planned in Kent and Everett.
Grant M. Haller/P-I
The Islamic expansion in Western Washington is part of a national trend, fueled by immigration and high conversion rates that have made Islam one of the fastest-growing religions in the United States, where there are an estimated 6 million Muslims. 
At the Idriss mosque, a Muslim father who gave his name as Essam, reads the Koran with his sons. To his right are Adil, 16, and Mahand, 13. To his left, Sasa, 5, and Abed Alayz, 6.
Grant M. Haller/P-I
At the Islamic Center of the Eastside in Bellevue, where Dandan's family worships, the mosque had become so crowded during Friday prayers that, six months ago, the community leased additional space in an old Redmond school. Now, mostly Microsoft workers pack the rented facility in Redmond.
The Idriss Mosque, like all others in the region, is crowded for Friday prayers, which begin at 1:30 p.m. Women pray upstairs, and an overflow crowd uses the basement.
Grant M. Haller/P-I More about Islam
Islam, like Judaism and Christianity, is a monotheistic faith. Its followers are called Muslims.
· Multibillion-dollar rail, bus plan is up to voters
· Fire engulfs Alki Beach home
· Tribal pacts' legality backed
· Youth anti-gang initiative offers chance for a fresh start
· Gregoire's Puget Sound push doesn't quite float
· Study considers how to make cents of the Sound
· Stricter criteria for the state's graduates?
· Blogs help cancer patients cope with disease
· Developers plan 4 towers on site north of Qwest Field
· Divers to clean up Green Lake's junk
· Burglar beaten by would-be victims
· Coast Guard warns false calls are a federal crime
more
101 Elliott Ave. W.
Seattle, WA 98119
(206) 448-8000
Home Delivery: (206) 464-2121 or (800) 542-0820
seattlepi.com serves about 1.7 million unique visitors
and 30 million page views each month.
Send comments to newmedia@seattlepi.com
Send investigative tips to iteam@seattlepi.com
©1996-2008 Seattle Post-Intelligencer
Terms of Use/Privacy Policy
