Cedar Rapids, IA: An Interfaith Community in 1900s Middle America
By: Claire Boyle/Arab America Contributing Writer
Introduction:
What is the first thing that comes to mind when we think of the city of Cedar Rapids, Iowa (IA)? Perhaps it is the towering downtown skyscrapers, the numerous museums that dot the city’s landscape, the cornfields, the manufacturing factories, or the many businesses that call Cedar Rapids their home. These locations are only a small part of the city’s rich history where much of its impact upon the development of religion and culture in America may still be unknown to some people.
As a city, Cedar Rapids, IA has played a major role in the development of Islam in the United States (US) since the first mosque in the entire country was built there. The mosque, auspiciously named the “Mother Mosque of America,” was completed in 1934 and has the distinction of being the “oldest standing purpose-built mosque in the US.” I am sure that many people are aware of the Mother Mosque of America being the oldest mosque in the United States and the fact that Cedar Rapids continues to have a large Muslim community; however, my article will be going in a different direction. In this article, I will be exploring the historical origins of the special interfaith community that developed between Arab Christians and Muslims who immigrated to Cedar Rapids, IA to live in the United States.
Historical Origins:
In the early 1900s, many different groups were emigrating to the United States from their home countries to come live here permanently. These immigrants included both Arab Christians and Muslims. The first group to come over were Arab Christians who were typically from Syria (now modern-day, Lebanon), and later their Muslim neighbors came as well. These two different communities stuck together in a still-unknown country to them, and they assisted each other in building key structures throughout the city, patronized each others’ businesses, and they practiced their faiths harmoniously. For example, when the Arab Christians did not have enough resources to build their church, the Muslim community pitched in to help their neighbors build the St. George Orthodox Church. Essentially, both the Arab Christians and the Muslims created their own interreligious enclave within Middle America.
Eventually, an entire community was built up which included “grocery stores, gas stations, and salons. [These same grocery stores] thrived until the 1980s.” In the 1920s, the Muslims also realized that since their own community was enlarging, they, too, needed to build their own worship space. Thus, this was the impetus in building the “Mother Mosque of America which was completed in 1934.” As I mentioned above, the Mother Mosque holds the distinction of being the first building, also, in “North America to be built specifically as a mosque.” As you may recall, the Arab Christians who came to Cedar Rapids were helped by the Muslims in establishing their Orthodox church, and here, the Christians returned the favor by assisting the Muslims with constructing the Mother Mosque as well. This community in Cedar Rapids has continued its interfaith dialogue by action in supporting one another even to this day. In more recent years, the Arab Christians have come to the aid and defense of their Muslim neighbors who have been unfairly criticized and discriminated against, due to events like 9/11 as well as the verbal attacks and policy changes made under President Donald Trump’s administration by working through interfaith dialogue and local community groups together.
Connection to Interfaith Dialogue:
After I heard this story of both Christians and Muslims coming together to establish their own community in Cedar Rapids, I was reminded of my own experiences working in interfaith dialogue. In undergrad, I volunteered as a student leader for my campus’s interreligious dialogue group, Catholic-Muslim Dialogue for over two years. Our group’s purpose was to find commonalities in the two faiths through their religious texts by having members read a verse each meeting from both the Bible and Quran. We would then talk about religious questions and current events through the lenses of each faith with the goal of creating common ground and respect amongst our members. This is only a small notion of how interreligious dialogue works given that there are numerous forms such as diplomacy, peacebuilding, conflict resolution, and others; however, our group helped me understand the religious traditions of my fellow students better as well as empowering me to stand up against injustice and discrimination.
The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) defines interfaith dialogue as “people of different faiths coming together to have a conversation.” Furthermore, USIP mentions that “through interfaith dialogue, each faith group can make its own unique contribution to the common cause of creative co-existence.” Let us take a step back and think about how the community established in Cedar Rapids, IA in the twentieth-century was an early example of an interfaith dialogue group.
‘Creative Co-Existence’:
The United States Institute of Peace (USIP) also calls interfaith dialogue a type of “creative co-existence,” so thinking about this notion, how can we apply it to the community that developed in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. Typically, interfaith dialogue is just that, talking about differences, similarities, religious customs, and rites, but in the context of the Cedar Rapids community, we see it more as an action. This is because both the Arab Christians and Muslims already understood there were many similarities between them, including that they were immigrants and their belief in Abrahamic religion, but knowing that did not stop them from ‘dialoguing’ further. Instead, it prompted them to act and build up their community together. Taha Tawil, the Imam at the Mother Mosque, positions the interfaith dialogue of his community best when he said “Muslims and Christians were family, [and at the heart of it was both groups’ willingness to engage in] a sense of tolerance and acceptance” of one another.
What examples can we come up with here that illustrate interfaith dialogue as an action? The most basic one would be that both groups were seen as equals and respected one another. Additionally, the Arab Christians and Muslims supported each other both monetarily to build their worship spaces, and with the creation of the stores, stations, and other businesses that were equally patronized shows they became a thriving enclave that started out as a community of immigrants just trying to make it work. Finally, both groups created city spaces where the members of each religious community could practice their religion safely, peacefully, honorably, and when needed, they also protected each other from harm and discrimination. That, to me, is interfaith dialogue in action.
Conclusion:
To conclude this piece, we see how interfaith dialogue goes beyond just talking about one group’s differences. Interreligious dialogue can also be used to make meaningful solutions that benefit everyone. In the case of Cedar Rapids, when both groups came together, they built up a community connected by their beliefs which benefited the whole city since they created their very own commercial, residential, and religious enclave in Middle America. Essentially, they practiced early forms of diplomacy and peacebuilding by working and building this neighborhood together. We can also trace this to the fact that both the Arab Christians and Muslims came to this country, possibly, under similar circumstances, and they had to work together to survive. However, they did more than survive, in actuality, they thrived.
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