The Mosque Up The Street

This is Musalla Ahlus-Sunnah wal-Jama'ah, a traditional Sunni mosque located five blocks from my doorstep in a section that is home to a growing and thriving Muslim community. Five blocks in the opposite direction would probably lead you to only a few Muslims. I will, one of these days, find out the longer history of this interesting old building (and perhaps step inside it), but what I can attest to now is that women are said to play active roles in the running of the mosque, and that as an outsider, I have never felt any unfriendly signals coming from its members. This is not true of all the mosques in the city. In other words, this mosque sees me as a non-muslim neighbor as I walk past, whereas in other cases I might sometimes feel like an outsider who would not be acknowledged or spoken to.

Across the street are a local favorite Halal eatery (which I made a point of patronizing regularly in the weeks following 9/11) and a very new Halal bakery & cafe in a long-empty bank building. Within a few blocks of this spot there are several new Halal cafes, and an all-night Halal food market where I always go for the best lamb and goat meat around.


Another pleasant mystery of West Philadelpia!