Al-Tawhid Mosque (San Francisco, San Francisco County, CA)

Two years ago, when I first started assembling a list of mosques to visit, a friend of mine advised me to avoid this mosque.  If I visited it, he claimed, I'd be placed on a government list.  Well, I felt like I HAD to take a look, and it's a shame that it's taken so long.

I was flabbergasted by what I saw tonight.  Swarthy Semitic men wearing turbans and skullcaps were sitting on the floor, chatting in some foreign language or reading from books written in some unknown script.  I couldn't believe that this was going on in the middle of San Francisco, one of the most homogeneous in the world.  Welcome to Obama's America.

Clearly, I'm being sarcastic.  I saw nothing tonight to indicate the government should be using borrowed Chinese money to conduct surveillance here.  I give it the 30 Mosques seal of approval.

What I did notice about this masjid were the smells.  Scientists say the olfactory memories are some of the strongest humans develop.  Well, my nose helped me develop some great memories tonight.

The first thing which hit me as soon as I entered the masjid around Isha was the dinner the congregation had had earlier in the evening.  It smelled delicious, and it told me that this is a place where one can expect a proper iftar even on a weeknight.  The smaller mosques, given their limited resources, provide dates, but a full-blown dinner?  I can say with certainty that no masjid in the Bay Area will require you to bring your own date (haha).  Sorry if that's terribly cliche, but I'm a fan of DATEd material.

As I entered the prayer hall, I was hit with a medley of smells, which could be summed up in one word: man.  Tonight, the ventilation was turned off so we prayed taraweeh like the sahaba did: without the worldly comforts of Axe deodorant or Acqua Di Gio cologne (two of the more common smells at Desi mosques).  Felt like Arabia, I can tell you that.

This mosque has a rotation of imams to lead taraweeh, and they trade off after every four rakats.  Taraweeh here is the Arab-20, but I'm unsure about how many total imams lead taraweeh as I left after eight.  The third imam was just starting as I was leaving the building.  It's good to see multiple imams leading taraweeh, for many reasons, but most importantly so the imam has some backup in case he forgets the surahs he's supposed to be reciting.

Let the record show that this is a Yemeni mosque.  Trash Desis all you want, but at least we don't label our mosques as being "Desi mosques."  Mostly because we know that'd give the Arabs one more reason to hate us.

Date Visited: July 24, 2012

Location:
1227 Sutter Street
San Francisco, CA 94109

Tag-team taraweeh: Yes

Qirat: The starter was the best of the night.  The reliever struggled a tad and was slower.

Size of congregation: 50-75 people

Capacity of center: 100 men, unknown female capacity

Parking: All street.  Welcome to San Francisco.

Mihrab: Yes

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Ample, but I'm sure they get crammed during jummah

Building: Definitely looks smaller from the outside.  This facility is actually quite large, and I didn't have time to explore it tonight.  It is a true community center, and not just a prayer hall.

Friendliness towards women: Women are welcome here, but I can't tell you how welcome.  I didn't see any tonight, but I did hear children playing behind the wall somewhere.

Friendliness of congregation: Good people.  During the breaks they were tossing water into the crowd so we wouldn't get dehydrated.  Imagine feeling sweaty in San Francisco at night.  Yes, that's how warm it was tonight.

Musallah Darul Arqam (American Canyon, Napa County, CA)

I know what everyone's thinking, even the Bay Area natives.  Where the hell is American Canyon?

American Canyon is located on the border between suburban and rural Bay Area, just north of Vallejo and on the way to Napa.  It's an incredibly small city and, it not being located near a major interstate, is largely ignored by the vast majority of people here.

In the midst of this tiny community is an even tinier Muslim population.  I understand that there is a maximum of 20 Muslim families in the area.  If you're wondering why this small community would have their own little masjid, and not just merge with the Vallejo community, you have to ask yourself, wouldn't it be nice to have a neighborhood masjid instead of having to drive 10, 20 or even 30 miles to just pray one salat?

It is that philosophy which drove a gentleman to donate half his property to build a place for local Muslims to pray.  The gentleman lives in the house with his family, and has converted his stand-alone two-car garage into a mosque.  For a converted garage, it's remarkably well-developed and sophisticated.  The men's section and women's section were separated, and each had their own restroom.  They're currently working on expanding the back to add more space and wudu station.  You have to appreciate how much more space there is out here in rural America.  If you live in any of the urban or suburban cities you're a) lucky to have a garage and b) even luckier to have room to expand that garage.

The community does have very ambitious plans to build a proper masjid where the musallah is currently located.  Understandably, the project is moving along very slowly.  Makes sense, when you only have 15-20 families to rely on for donations, how quickly can you raise funds, anyways?

The small community, however, means that everyone knows each other, which gives it an edge over the big city congregations.  The expansion project may be moving along very slowly, but it's apparent to me that everyone recognizes the importance of having a proper masjid.  Also, given how expensive the Bay Area proper has gotten, I wouldn't be surprised if there's an influx of more Muslims who work in San Francisco but can't afford housing there.  It's good that they're planning a mosque that can handle that new population if it ever arrives.

Taraweeh was nice because there were so few people there.  This is an Arab-8 mosque, as opposed to a Desi-20, but the nice touch here is they rotate the imam schedule.  If you want to lead taraweeh here one night, you can sign up to take on that responsibility.  Nobody expects you to be a hafiz; tonight, the imam was using a Quran to guide himself through the prayer.  I have to admire this community's commitment to finishing the Quran by the end of Ramadan.  Smaller communities, I have seen, tend to take the easy route and complete 8 rakats as soon as possible.

I don't know if you'll ever have a chance to visit this musallah.  It really is out of the way; it's not located near any major interstates so you have to take a detour in order to swing by.  Also, once you're in American Canyon, you have to figure out which house it is off the highway.  I was a little intimidated by the lack of signage; out here, with rednecks around ever corner, you don't want to take a chance and knock on the wrong door.  Once you find the right place, however, they will make you feel welcome.

That tiny sign let me know that I was in the right place.  Keep in mind this building is about 30 yards from the border of the property and down a long driveway.  Before I saw the sign I approached with caution in case some redneck came out with his shotgun yelling at me to git off his property.

Date Visited: July 23, 2012

Location:
3853 1/2 Broadway Street (Highway 29)
American Canyon, CA 94503

Tag-team taraweeh: Not tonight, but I'm sure there's the option to

Qirat: Good

Size of congregation: 5-6 people

Capacity of center: 30

Parking: Plenty of parking on the property, but it is off-road, so make sure your car can handle it.

Mihrab: Yes

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Yes, but outdoors.  Left my flippy-floppies out there for maybe 2 hours and they were a little chilly when I slipped them back on.

Building: Converted two-car garage

Friendliness towards women: Women have an equitable space here.  The only downside is they close the doors to the women's section if there are any in attendance.  If you're not a fan of barriers, this isn't the mosque for you.

Friendliness of congregation: Very nice people.  Then again, the farther you get away from the cities, the more that holds true.

Jamil Islamic Center (Palo Alto, Santa Clara County, CA)

Disclaimer: this is a sufi mosque and the extent of my knowledge of sufism is what I gathered in a one semester course in college and a wild weekend in Konya, Turkey, resting place of Rumi.

There are many features in this musalla which distinguish it from the standard masjid, most noticeably the pictures of the saints on the wall.  This is generally considered to be a no-no in Islam because if you're hanging up pictures in a place of worship, you're skirting with shirk, which essentially boils down to glorifying beings other than God.  Of course, that's not how the sufis see it, but the concept of sainthood is a controversial one in Islam.

The other thing which will catch your eye is this puppy:

I don't mean to get all up in your bid'ahness, but why is there a coffin in your prayer area?

This is actually a pretty common sight in most of the sufi masjids I've been to, which admittedly isn't a lot.  First of all, there there's nothing in the coffin; the City of Palo Alto would I'm sure frown upon the housing of bodies in converted rug stores.  That said, this coffin is meant to represent the body of a saint, and I'm sure that body is displayed in a shrine somewhere in the Middle East, and that shrine is probably located in or near a masjid.

Empty coffins and saintly pictures aside, this is a standard masjid, and no, nobody was praying towards the saint, who was housed in the back of the room.  I arrived at the masjid 1 or 2 minutes before maghrib and I broke my fast with a very friendly gentleman who was the only one there at the time.  To date, it was the best iftar I've had this Ramadan.  How could you beat this?

Is that what the moon is supposed to look like on the fourth night of Ramadan?  Or is it the moon of the third night, given its size?

This is a great place to break your fast.  You can sit out on this second-floor balcony, surveying the 1% as they enjoy their 10-dollar burgers and other such overpriced food items.  On a good day you might catch a glimpse of Mark Zuckerberg ducking into Antonio's Nuthouse, although I hear he no longer frequents that establishment.  Given that it's summertime in Palo Alto and relatively far away from Stanford Junior University, it's not very crowded in the evening time these days.

Maghrib was nice and intimate, with a total of three worshipers.  I was told most of the congregation was at either MCA or Stanford getting their grub on at the free iftars tonight.

Palo Alto is about 60 miles away from my home, and given the fact that they were going to start prayers at 10:15, I did the responsible thing took my leave after maghrib to handle prayers a bit closer to home.  I'm not blessed with the opportunity to take a Kickstarter-funded vacation in order to do this project and so have to be wise with my time.  Apologies if you were looking forward to reading my biased account of taraweeh here.

Date Visited: July 22, 2012

Location:

427 South California Avenue

Palo Alto, CA 94306

Tag-team taraweeh: Honestly don't know

Qirat: N/A

Size of congregation: Maghrib time had only 3 people in attendance.  I don't imagine this place gets crowded.

Capacity of center: 20-30

Parking: Street parking, of which there is plenty.

Mihrab: No

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Yes.

Building: The second floor of what used to be a rug store.

Friendliness towards women: No women were in attendance at maghrib time, but sufi congregations tend to be more welcoming than the average masjid in this regard.

Friendliness of congregation: I've never met a sufi who wasn't friendly and hospitable.

San Francisco Muslim Community Center (San Francisco County, CA)

The coldest winter Mark Twain ever spent was a summer in San Francisco.  Rest assured, though, if you make the trek to this mosque in the City by the Bay, the warmness of the people will negate the chilling effects of the cursed fog.

I've been on a lot of road trips this summer, visiting states like Nevada, Montana, Oregon and Alta California Sur.  All of them are purty in their own way, but none of them are home to something quite like San Francisco.  Just driving into the city is a treat for the eyes.  If you're coming from the north, you'll drive across the Golden Gate Bridge in all its splendor.  East?  From the Bay Bridge you can enjoy sweeping view of the financial district, which literally glitters at night.  There are many roads leading to San Francisco from the South, but my favorite is I-280, recognized as one of the prettiest interstate freeways in the entire nation.  US 101 North craftily springs downtown on visitors; you turn a corner around one of the 47 hills here and bam, skyscrapers.

This mosque is located in the southern part of this jewel of a city.  It's in a neighborhood called the Excelsior, which to this date has not yet been spoiled by the hipster menace.  Due to that, it is one of the few remaining affordable neighborhoods in the city.  Unfortunately, affordability and grittiness are directly proportional here in San Francisco.  Behold one of the windows of the masjid:

San Francisco taggers can't read.  That's fine, because I can't read what he wrote either.

I don't believe there have been any break-ins at this mosque, but every business I saw on this part of Mission Street either had bars on the windows or roll down gates.  Affordability, it seems, comes at a price.

When it comes to taraweeh here, throw out most of your pre-conceived notions about what you think it should be.  They definitely do things a little different here at this Black mosque (I saw W.D. Muhammad literature everywhere, so I'm guessing they're affiliated with that group).

I got to the mosque at 10 PM and they were already halfway done with taraweeh.  To put things into perspective, Isha had barely gotten started at 10:05 yesterday at Petaluma, and taraweeh at Belmont didn't get started till 10:30.  Isha time in San Francisco started at 9:55 today.  I'm not saying it's not possible to pray the four rakats of Isha and 4 rakats of taraweeh in in 5 minutes, but damn, that's fast.

It was apparent to me that for some of the congregants were new to prayer.  The imam was careful to explain everything he was doing to prevent confusion and educate the congregation.  This is something missing from the larger mosques, especially the ethnic mosques run by fobs.  It's no wonder there isn't more integration between the Black mosques and ethnic mosques; Arabs and Desis unfortunately operate under the assumption that their congregation was raised Muslim or, if they're new Muslims, have conquered the steep learning curve that comes after conversion.

The only issue I had was the imam misinformed the congregation about the proper way to lead witr.  Those who pray witr know that there's a dua before or after the final ruku.  The imam here lead witr 3 rakats of prayer with no dua.  My feeling is that since in no madhab is witr lead like that, he did them a disservice by misinforming them.  It's a strong argument for more integration and communication between masjids; all congregations could learn something from each other.

Date Visited: July 21, 2012

Location:
4760 Mission Street
San Francisco, CA 94112

Tag-team taraweeh: Nope

Qirat: Not great if you've been raised on classically-trained huffaz, as I have, but his accent was probably better than mine.

Size of congregation: 10 men, 10 women.  This is a commuter mosque, in that most of the people who pray here don't live here.  Therefore, it's really only crowded during jummah.  I was told they have a total of 100 families participating in programs throughout the year.

Capacity of center: 50-60

Parking: Street.  Worse yet, all of Mission Street is metered.  Welcome to the big city.

Mihrab: No

Minbar: They had a lectern, does that count?

Shoe shelves: Yes.

Building: Used to be a 99 cent store, and a Google search reveals it was once also Mayor Ed Lee's campaign headquarters.

Friendliness towards women: Women were praying behind men, obviously, but there were no barriers between the men's and women's section.

Friendliness of congregation: As the only congregant who wasn't black, I stuck out like a sore thumb.  However, everyone was very friendly and welcoming.  A few of the people took the time to educate me about the background of the masjid, and I'm sure if I'd shown up there at sunset they would have fed me.

Islamic Center of Petaluma (Sonoma County, CA)

Welcome to Wine Country.

Sonoma and Napa Counties grow grapes that are on par with Europe.  Tourists from all over the world come here to tour the wineries and vineyards.  Nestled between these gardens of haram is an oasis of halal: the Petaluma masjid.  No, you can't see any grapevines from the mosque, but give how tiny Petaluma is, you know they're not too far.  One also wonders, given Petaluma's relatively small economy, how many local Muslims work for the vintners.

The first thing you notice about this masjid is that it used to be a church.  Unfortunately, the qibla (northeast) and where the altar used to be are almost perpendicular, so the room looks a little strange at first.  That said, they have done an excellent job of making this masjid look beautiful.  Chandeliers hang from the ceiling, calligraphy adorns the wall and the mihrab is an impressive wooden affair.

The community seems very tight-knit, very tight-knit and extremely Desi.  Everyone seemed to know each other, and so, unlike larger mosques, there was no need for someone to give announcements before or after prayer because everyone already knew what's up.

My one complaint as an outsider was the state of the women's section.  The prayer hall is huge, and the men were using barely 25% of the space allocated to them.  Women, however, are relegated to a dim corner of the room and have to pray behind high partitions.  What is it about mosque leadership that automatically gives women less space to pray than the men?  It'd make sense at a crowded mosque (see: MCA, Belmont, et al.) but if you have space to spare, why not make the spaces equitable?  The women's section, in my opinion, was a little claustrophobic; it's a red flag when prayer areas are the size of college dorm rooms.

On my way out I noticed a list of rules and regulations, undoubtedly to a) keep the TJs in check and b) cover their bases in case the government comes a-knockin'.  For your reading pleasure:

My favorite is Rule 8. What kind of a mother raises a son who needs to be reminded to not enter the sisters' section/use the women's restroom?

Date Visited: July 20, 2012

Location:

222 Bassett Street

Petaluma, CA 94952

Tag-team taraweeh: To the best of my knowledge, no.  This is a strict Hanafi mosque, which meant while literally everyone else prayed 20 rakats, this guy bounced after 8.

Qirat: I liked it.  Rapid-fire Desi recitation ftw.

Size of congregation: 40 men.  0 women (small wonder)

Capacity of center: 300-400

Parking: Street.  It's in the middle of a residential neighborhood so it may or may not get tight.  It is Petaluma, after all (population: > 60,000) so I doubt it's too much of an issue.

Mihrab: Yes

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Yeah, and sufficient.  Wasn't walking over anyone's shoes today.

Building: I'm convinced it's a converted church.  If not a church then maybe a synag...no, this Petaluma, it had to be a church.

Friendliness towards women: +1 point for having a rule requiring all men to respect the women's privacy. -1 point for making the women pray in a dark corner of the mosque behind tall partitions.

Friendliness of congregation: If you're a Desi male, you'll fit right in.  All others may not feel as welcome or blend in too well.  Shoot, I'm Pakistani but I was wearing kafir clothes (polo and jeans) and I felt self-conscious in a sea of kurtas.

Yaseen Foundation (Belmont, San Mateo County, CA)

"Belmont?  What are you going to do, write about their shoe racks again?"

My editorial board can be kind of sarcastic sometimes.

The Belmont masjid is a little different every time I see it, which, admittedly, is not that much.  In my defense, whenever I'm heading out to dinner in San Francisco, I never say, "hey guys, let's go to Belmont instead, that's a real happening town."  Therefore, I only visit once a year during Ramadan, and my impression of it changes each time I do.

I am fairly disappointed that the Belmont masjid still hasn't raised enough money to move into a larger space. Last night I had to clamber over a mountain of shoes (not enough shoe racks!!) just to get into the facility.  Men who couldn't find space in the prayer hall were praying in the hallway (blocking the emergency exit, mind you).  Women who couldn't find space to pray were being told to wait in the car (I'm guessing).

Yes, prayer real estate is at a premium here in Belmont.  If you find a spot inside, you best stay there the entire night or else you will lose your spot.  This isn't a showing of The Dark Knight Rises; you can't just throw down a jacket on a theater seat to claim a space.  That would create a gap in the prayer line, and if you're not praying shoulder-to-shoulder, feet-to-feet, Satan's praying next to you.  And the last thing the Belmont board of directors wants is for Satan to pray with them.  Although, wait, Satan and his minions are chained up during Ramadan...

On a serious note, I learned something last night.  Taraweeh is prayed in sets of 2 rakats.  Last night, the imam prayed a set of 3 by mistake.  Confusion reigned.  After the set ended, men got up and started exclaiming at each other in Arabic.  A mistake was made, shabab!  Ya'ni, It had to be fixed, habibi!

I still have no idea of what really happened.

You know why I don't?  Because everyone was speaking in Arabic, and the imam proceeded to fix his mistake by praying a 1-rakat unit of taraweeh (unheard of, I thought).  Belmont, that was a teachable moment.  Someone should have taken the time to explain what happened in English, and why they fixed the mistake with a 1-rakat set.

Still have a lot of love for this masjid, though.  I just wish they'd focus their fundraising and find a bigger space.  Yeah, it's tough to raise money, but honestly, if you keep overcrowding your small space you will inevitably become a nuisance to the neighbors.  The only neighbor who would potentially be sad to see you go is the ampm convenience store down the street.  Apparently, that's the crack spot in this neighborhood where kids bored with taraweeh go to blow their parents' money on junk food.  Point being, there's no room in this masjid to provide the youth a safe and healthy space to spend their Ramadan nights.

I have faith that Belmont will get there someday.  They've already began addressing the space issue by renting out the Belmont Sports Complex for taraweeh prayers on Fridays and Saturdays.  Excellent first step, let's just hope their long-term solution isn't to rent out the Sports Complex 7 days a week.


Date Visited: July 19, 2012

Location:
621 Masonic Way
Belmont, California 94002

Tag-team taraweeh: Yes. They flew in one imam from Egypt and the other they imported from Detroit (ha).  Kind of a shame that they're not using prospects from the Fremont hafiz farm system, however.

Qirat: Good stuff.

Size of congregation: 100 men, 40 women

Capacity of center: 150 maximum

Parking: Very tight.  They have a lot, but it's clear this neighborhood can't support the parking crush Ramadan brings.

Mihrab: Yes

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Not enough shoe shelves!

Building: Great little building located relatively close to the freeway and a major peninsula thoroughfare.  The location is great, the space is just too small.

Friendliness towards women: Women are welcome and treated with respect and dignity.

Friendliness of congregation: Very congenial and diverse group of men, I must say.  The fact that it was the first night of Ramadan had everyone in a good mood as well.  The gentleman making the announcements was in such good cheer he wished everyone Ramadan AND Eid Mubarak.

Year 3: Prologue

The great debate raging in the Muslim community this year is whether The Dark Knight Rises opens on the 30th day of Shaban or the 1st day of Ramadan.  This tiny detail has far-reaching implications for many Muslims in America.  Those who abstain from frivolous entertainment during this holiest of months are are in for a tense Thursday night.  Pre-ordered movie tickets clutched in their hands, they will nervously check their iPhones for updates, praying that some party-pooper in Hawaii or Alaska doesn't see the new moon.

You see, there are two kinds of Muslims these days: moonsighters and calculators.  To a calculator, hearing a moonsighter wonder when Ramadan will begin is like hearing a tourist ask a Disneyland employee what time the 3:00 parade is.  The calculator, of course, has already informed his boss that he won't be in to work on August 8, 2013 because of Eid.

The practice of calculations has allowed some to determine that the first night of Ramadan will be on Batman Day Eve.  And yes, it will be the night I relaunch 30 Mosques in 30 Nights.  I've already been around the block a couple times, but there's so much more to see, and even more to revisit.  I promise to visit with an open mind, and ask that you welcome me with open arms.