Islamic Center of Bloomington, Indiana
The Islamic Center at 1925 East Atwater, on the corner of the Indiana University campus is considered one of the most beautiful buildings in Bloomington, the woodland of the Hoosier State. The dream of hundreds of Muslims to have a mosque took more than a decade of hard work to come to light. For a few years, the MSA used the International Center and other places to perform Friday prayers. It proved very inconvenient for Muslims. In December 1975, the MSA bought a house on East 8th Street from a local church and converted it into an Islamic center. The two prayer halls, library and basement were used to their maximum but not without problems. Though the center was in a prime location, it was hard to maintain and had only 8 parking spaces for almost 500 students. In June 1984, the MSA made a historic decision when it bought property for the purpose of building a mosque. The money was provided by Dr. Abdullah Naseef, the secretary general of the Muslim World league.