|
Muslim
community grows to overflowing in Seattle area
By Phuong Le, Seattle
Post-Intelligencer, September 7,
2000
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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.
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
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.
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."
More about Islam
Islam, like Judaism and Christianity, is a monotheistic faith. Its followers are
called Muslims.
Muslims believe Mohammed was the final messenger of God, the last in a series
of prophets that included Abraham, Moses and Jesus. The Koran, the holy book of
Islam, is said to have been revealed to Mohammed over a period of more than 20
years.
- About 10 percent of Muslims are Arabs. The religion is also popular in
Southeast Asia, India, North Africa, East Asia and Europe.
- A locally produced television program, "Focus on Islam," airs at
10:30 p.m. Sundays on public access cable, channel 29 or 77, in the Seattle
area.
- The five pillars of Islam are:
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).
|
