HISTORY

There are indications that Muslims have lived in Minnesota since the turn of the century. The Muslim Students Association at the University of Minnesota dates back to the year 1946, and is one of the earliest Muslim student associations in North America.

In 1969, a group of Muslim students who chose to make their permanent home in Minnesota formally started the Islamic Center of Minnesota. With financial assistance from King Faisal of Saudi Arabia, the Muslim community purchased the first Islamic center building in the Dinkytown campus area of the University of Minnesota.

With the growth of the Muslim community, and with a generous donation from the Abu-Khadra family, the Muslim Community purchased the facility in Columbia Heights in 1978. In 1987, the Muslim community purchased a school building in Fridley.

Today all three facilities are still used by the Muslim community. The Fridley building is used by fulltime Islamic school during the weekdays, a Saturday school on Saturdays, and a Sunday school on Sundays, and houses the Islamic Center of Minnesota Main offices.

There are an estimated 150,000 Muslims in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area, some seven million in the United States ( CAIR Report 2001), and some 1.3 billion worldwide.