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Those who identified themselves as Muslim doubled from 1980-2000

Russell Ledbetter | .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) | April 30, 2008

To hear Statesville’s Salahuddin Husan attempt to quantify the Islamic populace in Iredell County is to understand that Muslims by their very nature cannot be measured.

“A Muslim is someone who submits himself to the word of God,” Husan said. “And if you’re a Christian, Mahatma Gandhi said you’re a good Muslim.”

It is not in the realm of Islam to measure numbers, the former Statesville imam said. “People live here and work here and they don’t talk about their religion. Islam is not like a church — ‘Who’s on the books at the local church?’ — you don’t join like that.

“If I leave Statesville tonight and move to another city, I simply walk in on the day of prayer and begin to worship with whomever is there that day.”

Husan, who grew up a Baptist in rural North Carolina, converted to Islam “around 1970.”

Statesville Muslims began organizing formally around 1978, and Husan served as imam in Statesville for 14 years before resigning due to health reasons.

From 1980 to 2000, Muslim affiliation in Iredell County doubled, according to the Association of Religious Data Archives.

“A few people here and there and we started praying and that is how it worked out. We’ve even had ones who have been to Mecca from here,” Husan said, describing Islam’s holiest city in Saudi Arabia. One of the pillars of Islam commands that every able-bodied Muslim visit Mecca.

Formal Islamic prayer observances are held in a masjid (more commonly known as a mosque) on Fridays, the holiest day of the week for Muslims. Local Muslims worship at Masjid Al-Muminum on Wilson Boulevard in Statesville, a nondescript building the size of a home with a sign out front.

“There probably is at least one more in Mooresville. There are some million-dollar masjids on Lake Norman among the more affluent Saudi homes there,” said Masjid Al-Muminum Imam Tamir Mutakabbir.
Worship for Muslims isn’t always restricted to a certain place, he explained.

“A masjid can be anywhere. We say the whole earth is a masjid. Often times there are no signs or anything and there may be a masjid there,” Mutakabbir said. “I think we’re going to be getting a larger number of transplants than some of the other religious communities. People are coming down from Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and from up North who already have roots here.”

There are plans for a formal mosque to be built at the corner of Rickert Street and Garner Bagnal Boulevard some time this year.

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