The Islamic Center of America (Arabic: المركز الإسلامي في اميركا) is a Shia mosque located in Dearborn, Michigan. Opened in 2005, it is the largest mosque in North America and the oldest Shia mosque in the United States. With its large Shia Arab population (consisting mostly of Iraqi and Lebanese), Dearborn is often called the "heart of Shiism" in the United States.
The Islamic Center of America is located at 19500 Ford Road in Dearborn. The institution was founded in 1963 by Muhammad Jawad Chirri, who remained its director until his death in 1994. The current Imam is Iraqi-born Sayed Hassan Al-Qazwini.
Famous quotes containing the words center and/or america:
“Death is someone you see very clearly with eyes in the center of your heart: eyes that see not by reacting to light, but by reacting to a kind of a chill from within the marrow of your own life.”
—Thomas Merton (1915–1968)
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