Islamic Center of Fremont (Fremont, Alameda County, CA)

Point Richmond, a neighborhood of Richmond, is where I live and work (play? No).  It's one of the oldest neighborhoods of Richmond and developed a symbiotic relationship with the refinery founded by Standard Oil in 1902.  Folks who worked at the refinery lived in Point Richmond and even today a great number of Chevron employees will crowd Point Richmond's restaurants during lunch.

Chevron does its best to be a good neighbor by implementing a variety of safety measures designed to protect residents of Richmond.  One of those is their warning siren, which is tested on the first Wednesday of every month at 11:00 AM.  It started going off at around 6:15 PM last night.  The first thing I did was check the clock.  No, it's not 11 AM.  I check the date.  No, it's not Wednesday.  Something was very wrong.

I immediately checked Twitter and found out that there was a fire at the refinery.  I didn't even wait for details; I packed my things and in 5 minutes and 10 seconds I was out of there.  I spent the extra 10 seconds taking the picture below.  Yes, the refinery is less than a 10-minute walk from my apartment.

Hope no one uses TJ triangulation technology to figure out exactly where in Point Richmond I live.

I didn't know what was burning but I wasn't going to wait around to find out.  Shelter-in-place warning be damned, I was not going to spend the night a mile away from what could be an oil fire.

Two things.  First, Point Richmond was very lucky in that the wind was blowing east, thus sparing the neighborhood from the brunt of the fire, though I noticed today ash was sprinkled on all the cars left here overnight.  Second, I'm blessed to have a car and the means to get out of Richmond at will.  My thoughts are with those Richmond residents who had to breath ash all night.

I scrambled south to spend the night with my aunt.  We had iftar, but my nerves were still a little shot, so I decided to pray taraweeh to relax.

I tell you what, if you're trying to get your mind off a refinery fire and the poison it's potentially seeping into your apartment, you can't go wrong with praying taraweeh at ICF.  Forget all the negatives about ICF which people may or may not tell you.  The recitation there is superb, and it was just the thing I needed to take my mind off the refinery.  ICF hafiz school, keep doing what you do.  We need more gifted imams to help congregations take their minds off of worldly problems or help them put those worldly problems into perspective.

ICF is in a unique location because it is at the epicenter of the Desi community in the Bay Area.  Walk through this part of Fremont and a good chunk of the people you'll see will be of South Asian descent.  There's plenty of diversity, sure, but ICF is one of the few masjids located such that you can pray, have dinner and grab groceries without moving your car.  There are Muslim-owned businesses a-plenty in this neighborhood of Fremont.  If you're missing the motherland, you can't go wrong with spending an evening in Irvington.

Date Visited:

Location:
4039 Irvington Avenue
Fremont, CA 94538

Tag-team taraweeh: Yes

Qirat: Very good.  They train huffaz well here.

Size of congregation: 100-200

Capacity of center: 200 or more, they had uncles praying outside in the parking lot.

Parking: The masjid has a lot and they provide congregants with a handy map of where they can and can't park in the neighborhood.  They have partnerships with Muslims businesses and local churches to use their lots at certain times.

Mihrab: Yes

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Yes

Building: One-story affair which seems a little cramped given the size of the community.  Praying outside only works in the summertime, you know?  Good thing they have about 10 years before Ramadan moves back into the rainy season.

Friendliness towards women: Women have their own space to pray, but it's a separate room entirely.  I have no idea of how large it is, but judging from the noise emanating from it it seemed a little cramped.

Friendliness of congregation: Lots of nice people go here.  This masjid is open to all.

Lighthouse Mosque (Oakland, Alameda County, CA)

I’m a huge fan of this masjid.  It’s small, intimate, the people are ever-so-friendly--it truly is a community mosque.  It doesn’t look like much from the outside, but step inside and you’ll feel the warmth.

This mosque is located in a neighborhood which has seen better days.  It’s practically buttressed against a freeway and the buildings which surround it are shabby.  The sidewalks are cracked, the streets are lined with tar because the city won’t repave them and most of the vegetation growing in the neighborhood is wild and unkempt.

Despite this, Imam Zaid has built a masjid which is extremely popular with the locals and non-locals alike.  Folks drive here from miles around, eschewing the convenience of a local mosque to share in the collective experience that is praying at Lighthouse Mosque.

Isha prayer last night started at 9:45, a little less than 90 minutes after sunset.  These days, one of the eternal debates in Ramadan is whether mosques should give their congregants enough time to eat after a long day of fasting or allow their congregants to get home to sleep a little earlier after a long night of taraweeh.  Start earlier, get home earlier.  Start later, and you don’t have to scarf down dinner to get to the masjid on time.  It’s a debate that is unlikely to be concluded anytime soon, and both sides have merit.

Isha and taraweeh were led last night by a young man who did a fine job.  He appeared to be a budding hafiz whose knowledge of the Quran isn’t as concrete as that of a grizzled veteran.  I tip my hat to his backup, a non-hafiz in the congregation who was following along in his own copy of the Quran.  The backup, despite not being a hafiz, still needed the laser-sharp focus of a hafiz to catch mistakes and help out the imam when he was stuck.

One of the nicest aspects of taraweeh here is that after 8 rakats, Imam Zaid Shakir gives a short lecture on an aspect of Islam.  Last night, he used a book on hadith as a guide to educate (or remind) the congregation about the importance of generosity, especially in Ramadan.  It was fabulous, and I was awed by the fact that I was literally sitting at the feet of a man who can pack a convention center when speaking at a conference.  If you want some personal time with Imam Zaid, come to Lighthouse.

But don’t you all come at once!  The masjid is admittedly very small and it was probably at fire-code capacity last night.  I’m unsure of whether or not they plan on purchasing or renting a larger facility, though I doubt it.  I’ve been coming here on-and-off for the past 5 years and over time they’ve made major improvements to the mosque.  Given how much money they’ve invested on interior design, I doubt this masjid is going anywhere.


Date Visited: August 5, 2012

Location:
4606 Martin Luther King, Jr. Way
Oakland, CA 94609

Tag-team taraweeh: No

Qirat: Very nice

Size of congregation: 25-30

Capacity of center: 30-40

Parking: Only street.  Fair warning, this is Club territory.

Mihrab: No

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Yes

Building: A former retail location located on a relatively quiet section of one of Oakland's major thoroughfares.

Friendliness towards women: Women are welcome here and encouraged to participate in the programs.

Friendliness of congregation: There's very few mosques in the Yay with a nicer congregation.

Muslim Community Association (Santa Clara, Santa Clara County, CA)

Santa Clara has long been home to an organization which had aspirations to expand their operations in the city.  They formulated a plan and presented it to the city council.  Despite a small but vocal opposition, they were successful in their cause and began building a behemoth-sized facility.

I'm speaking, of course, of the San Francisco 49ers, whose billionaire owners have put Santa Clara taxpayers on the hook for paying off an $850 million dollar loan and have taken $30 million from the County, $30 million which could have been used to educate our children but hey, football 8 days a year is more important.  In exchange, the San Francisco 49ers will be changing their name to the Santa Clara 49ers.  Wait, they won't?  The San Francisco 49ers of Santa Clara, then.  No?  Wow, the taxpayers are getting a raw deal, aren't they?

I bring this up because the main issue surrounding the stadium was the financing (along with the noise, traffic and shootings which come with NFL games).  Mosques, especially large ones like MCA, face similar quandaries when it comes raising money for their programs and facilities.  MCA, being a Muslim-focused organization, isn't eligible to apply to the vast majority of foundations in the United States for funding.  They can't apply for funding from abroad in a post-9/11 world because who knows what kind of terror connections the government will find.  They're then forced to rely on individual fundraising to meet their goals, which has been tough since the Great Recession hit.

The Silicon Valley boomtimes, however, are back, somewhat.  The MCA is seeking $1 million dollars to purchase a facility to expand its Islamic school and build a youth and senior center.  It's a noble cause and it's something the community sorely needs.  I say the boomtimes are back (somewhat) because they began the fund-a-need at $100,000 and it took someone all of 10 seconds to commit it.  My jaw dropped; I've been fundraising in Richmond for too long, clearly.  There were comparatively very few mid-range donations ($10,000-$50,000) but they still ended up with $300,000 in pledges.

The bid of the night, however, came from one Waxmaster Will.  Verily, he exalted the Almighty, led by example and gave unto the cause from his own wealth.  And it was good.

Due to the fundraising, taraweeh started rather late.  The ball didn't get rolling till around 11, but it was sublime as per usual.  I've been around the Bay more than a few times at this point and I still maintain that this is the best taraweeh here.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not denigrating the teenage huffaz who sprout from the local Quran schools.  There's just something about the timber and deepness of Sheikh Jibreel's voice that the youngsters can't match because their voices haven't completely dropped yet.

One wonders if they're using Muslim labor to put the finishing touches on the expansion. It's good to give Muslims business, but doing construction work during Ramadan in the summertime must be extremely hard.

Date Visited: August 4, 2012

Location:
3003 Scott Boulevard
Santa Clara, 95054

Tag-team taraweeh: Nope.

Qirat: Lovely.

Size of congregation: In the hundreds

Capacity of center: In the thousands

Parking: The masjid has a good-sized parking lot, but there's also plenty of street parking.  Lousy Muslims also park illegally in the neighbors' parking lots.

Mihrab: Yes

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Not enough if the center is at capacity.

Building: Old Hewlitt-Packard R&D facility.  The masjid has its eye on a facility next door to expand the school and build a new senior and youth center.

Friendliness towards women: Women dominate the volunteer corps here.  There hasn't been a female president here yet, but I'm sure there will be in the next 10 years.

Friendliness of congregation: It's really rather quite large, so it can be a little intimidating.  In this sea of strangers, though, you'll find plenty of friendly faces.

For more on MCA, read my previous years' posts.

Masjid Al-Rahman (Richmond, Contra Costa County, CA)

Not too many people know too much about Richmond, and what little they do know comes from the major news outlets.  More than a few Bay Area natives don't even know where it is.  Self-centered San Franciscans assume I'm referring to the Richmond District of the city when I say I live and work in Richmond.  Others snicker at the fact that the city has one councilmember named Butt and another named Booze.

The word most commonly associated with Richmond is crime, perhaps murder, given that in 2010 it was considered the third-most dangerous city in America.  However, the crime rate is down, and things are on an upswing here.  The city will soon be home to the second campus of the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, and many green tech companies are headquartered here.  Chevron's investing more money into the community than it ever has, and the much-maligned local school district is also showing signs of improvement.

That said, the city has problems, and I don't mean to sugarcoat them.  If you take a look at the crime map, you'll definitely see some activities you won't see in the wealthier cities of Contra Costa County.  This masjid isn't located in the worst neighborhood in Richmond, but it also isn't located in the best, either.

This is why it troubled me to see youth goofing off around the masjid last night.  While messing around is never desirable in any masjid, it is obviously a lot safer to do so in a suburban masjid.  You don't want your kid to be outside when there could be criminals lurking in the dark.  There's a very good reason why all the houses on the street are dark at night and nobody lets their children play in the yards after sunset.  Also, not to be too morbid, but one of the reasons why some Richmond streets have speed bumps is to prevent drive-bys.  For those reasons, the people who bring their kids to the masjid need to corral them and make sure they're either praying next to them or engaged in some activity INSIDE the mosque.  To the best of my knowledge, no Muslim has been harmed going to-and-from the masjid, but that's not a good reason to not take preventative measures and teach the kids discipline.

The community does do a lot for the kids, though.  One of the main expenses for the masjid is their Sunday school, which might be smaller than the one in say, San Francisco, but it's become an institution in the community.  That's how I know the Muslims here have their heads on straight.  If you want to establish an Islamic presence, the first thing you build is a masjid (check) and the second thing you build is a school (check).

I don't spend too much time at the masjid during Ramadan because since I moved here I've been 30Mosqueing, but I always try to grab iftar here when I can.  I haven't had the chance to have dinner here yet, but the people I meet at iftar are some of the most genuine and generous men I have ever met.  The Ramadan spirit shines through strongly here.

Congregation praying.  Absent: youth having a water fight in the restroom, which has a door exiting into the parking lot.  That's not unsafe at all.

Date Visited: August 3, 2012

Location:
1110 36th Street
Richmond, CA 94804

Tag-team taraweeh: No

Qirat: Very good.  I was mighty impressed.

Size of congregation: 75-100

Capacity of center: 100-150

Parking: A tiny lot, but mostly street.  Fair warnings, many cars have been broken into over the past six months, according to the City of Richmond's crime map.

Mihrab: No

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Ample

Building: A decent-sized center located very close to the interstate.  Good location for that reason.

Friendliness towards women: Women have their own prayer space and entrance.  It's welcoming towards women.

Friendliness of congregation: Very good people.  Everyone seems very convivial whenever I come here.

Al-Medina Education Center (Newark, Alameda County, CA)

Huffaz grow on trees in Fremont.  The masjid here in Newark has plucked 3-4 of them from their native habitat in Fremont to lead taraweeh.  It's a win-win: the huffaz naturally want to lead taraweeh because it allows them to enjoy the fruits of their labor and the community's giving young huffaz a chance to blossom.  It's also of course the community's hope that the huffaz plant themselves in the area and grow roots.

The produce...er, huffaz (got lost in my own agriculture metaphors) have a swagger that can only come after memorizing 6,200 verses of a book written in a non-native language.  The section of the front row in front of the mihrab is reserved for them; their groupies block off the area so nobody else can pray in this prime real estate.  The huffaz are practically children, but it's clear they're command a lot of respect in this community.  You of course have to respect them for taking time away from their families to come out to this masjid to lead taraweeh.

At first glance, this appears to be a Desi masjid, given the ethnicity of the huffaz and and the crowd in the room.  However, this masjid is actively working to shatter the stereotype of being an ethnic masjid, a stereotype born of the fact that most mosques in this part of the East Bay were founded on ethnic lines.  This mosque is actively trying to merge ethnic groups and welcome new Muslims into the fold, an important mission given the fact that few mosques have the capacity to properly educate new Muslims about Islam.

This has drawn the ire of some of the older uncles in the community, especially since the masjid leadership tries to describe themselves as progressive.  When the old aunties and uncies of any Muslim community hear the word progressive in conjunction with Islam, visions of gay Muslims and female imams dance in their heads.  Gay Muslims and female imams, of course, will have a hard time being accepted by mainstream Muslims, if they ever are (just a plain fact, no personal opinion here).  However, by describing themselves as progressive, the leadership here only means to indicate that they are open to all Muslims and are willing to give females a say in masjid operations, something lacking in many ethnic mosques.


Date Visited: August 2, 2012

Location:
5445 Central Avenue
Newark, CA 94560

Tag-team taraweeh: In full swing tonight.  The starter lead the first 8 rakat, and then a reliever took over because the starter's ayat count was getting too high.  The reliever struggled a bit, but with help from the bullpen he was able to pull through.  The closer was the best.

Qirat: As mentioned earlier, the closer's recitation was the best.  All of them had very good recitation, however.

Size of congregation: 50-ish, dropped down to 25 after 8 rakats

Capacity of center: 100-200 if you crammed folks in there

Parking: Lot and street

Mihrab: Yes

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Some

Building: Located towards the back of a light industrial/commercial park.  It looked like they've taken over two units in the building.  Space wasn't too much of an issue tonight, but they are doing Eid prayers somewhere else, which means their community is larger than their mosque.

Friendliness towards women: Female leadership is welcome and encouraged.  Women have an equitable prayer space.

Friendliness of congregation: Quite high.  Unlike a lot of ethnic mosques in the East Bay I felt at home here (kind of hard to feel at home when someone starts speaking in Dari, stops, looks at you resentfully, and starts speaking in English for your benefit).

Masjid Tasbeeh (Oakland, Alameda County, CA)

My friends ask me (sometimes with mild concern) how I find some of the mosques I do.  I have my sources, but sometimes my sources aren't reliable and I'm genuinely concerned I'll arrive at an address to find a non-existent masjid.  This isn't a big deal if I'm in suburbia, but it is something to ponder when traveling to urbia, as I did last night.

I rolled with a friend last night for (mostly psychic) protection.  Figured it'd be better for two brown men to be looking for a masjid in East Oakland instead of just one.  We parked our cars and my friend warned me I was footing the bill if his was broken into.  Based on the ferocious bars on all the storefront windows, it looked like his fears were somewhat justified.

Thankfully, we found the address, and there were Muslims inside.  They looked at us with suspicion.  Crap, I thought, they think we're G-men!

"Assalamu alaikum"
"Walaikum assalam"

Damn, they still think we're FBI agents!  I had to ask something an informant probably wouldn't ask.

"Do you pray taraweeh here?"

Dynamite.  No informant would possibly make that their first question.

It turns out they don't pray taraweeh here, citing a lack of a hafiz.  They did, amusingly, invite me to lead taraweeh if I wanted to.  Only two people have ever experience a Zuhair-Saadat-led taraweeh, and I wasn't about to put these nice people through that, so I declined.

The community is actually very nice.  They were obviously very surprised to see two Pakistani men randomly show up to pray in this neighborhood, but they welcomed us and told me on my way out that I needed to come for iftar soon.

The lack of taraweeh did mean this was an extremely short visit, but it was nice regardless.  The streets of Oakland are a little rough, to say the least, and it was nice to be in an oasis of comfort and dignity.  I want to say this was the only storefront on the entire block with its lights on, which isn't too surprising given the high crime rate here.  Obviously, I don't know this community well at all, but it seems as if they'd welcome almost anyone who stopped by.

The inside of the masjid. Quite inviting, as you can see.

The outside of the masjid.  Quite uninviting, as you can see.

Date Visited: August 1, 2012

Location:
5403 Bancroft Avenue
Oakland, CA 94601

Tag-team taraweeh:  N/A

Qirat: Very good.  The imam clearly went to school to learn how to recite the Quran, or definitely has taken lessons.

Size of congregation: 8-10

Capacity of center: 15-20

Parking: Street

Mihrab: No

Minbar: No

Shoe shelves: There was a shoe organizer hanging from a bookshelf.  Most people use the floor for convenience's sake.

Building: A storefront property in East Oakland

Friendliness towards women: While there was only one woman there last night, I'm sure this masjid is open and friendly towards women.

Friendliness of congregation: Very high, once they got over the surprise of seeing people like us pop in through the door.  If you show up for iftar, they will feed you, I'm sure.

Islamic Center of Vallejo (Vallejo, Solano County, CA)

First, some context.  In 2008, the City of Vallejo became the second-largest city in the US to declare bankruptcy.  At the time, it was also the largest city in California to declare bankruptcy, till Stockton became jealous and this year became the largest city in the US to declare bankruptcy.

The point is, things here are bad--to put it lightly--even as the city emerges from bankruptcy.  Crime has skyrocketed, thanks in part to a police department that's shrunk to 93 officers from a high of 158 in 2005.  Foreclosed homes line the streets, spoiling neighborhoods with their dark windows and overgrown weeds.  Unemployed youth roam the streets, looking (or maybe not looking anymore) for something better to do.  Parts of the city look like scenes from The Grapes of Wrath, except instead of forlorn Okies and Arkies meeting your gaze, you see Californies (oh, the irony).

The Muslim community here has taken advantage of the economic conditions and purchased a property which used to belong to a church.  I'm unsure of why the church moved away, but honestly, it's a great time to be buying property right now and so the mosque's board of directors can't be blamed for pulling the trigger on the deal.

When I visited last night, it was clear that the Muslims have a lot of work left to do when it comes to making the new masjid work for them.  It looked like the only major changes they've made to the building are move the pews from the nave and remove the crosses.  Carpet runners line the eastern side of what used to be the nave, and the hallway has a wooden screen to separate the men's section from the women's section.

Considering the size of the community, the church was a good purchase for them.  The congregation last night filled about a quarter of the room during prayers, so there's lots of room for future expansion.

The community is wonderfully friendly.  I broke my fast in Richmond and headed over to Vallejo after maghrib to do some advance scouting (basically needed to make sure of the address).  When I arrived, they were in the middle of dinner, but they pulled out their extra pizza boxes and stuffed me with halal Round Table Pizza.  Ramadan really does bring the best out in people; all the pizza that night was donated by one person.  There's also no other time of the year outside of Ramadan a hungry man can show up to the mosque and count on being fed.

Hmm, I'm pretty sure Muslims DON'T worship at 11:00 AM. An artifact left by the previous tenants. 

 Looks kinda purty.  Too bad this wall is the qibla wall, which means they'll probably be getting rid of the stained glass windows soon.

Pews being used as common cafeteria benches...in a mosque??  Welcome to Obama's America...

Date Visited: July 31, 2012

Location:

1181 Lewis Ave

Vallejo, CA 94591

Tag-team taraweeh: No

Qirat: I liked this guy.  His speed was average in Isha, and then he kicked it into hyperdrive for taraweeh.  'Tis a true skill to recite the Quran that quickly.

Size of congregation: 75-100

Capacity of center: 200-300, counting all the rooms available in this church.

Parking: Lotsa parking in the lot.  Street parking is kind of tight since it's in the middle of a residential neighborhood.

Mihrab: They just inherited the church, and churches aren't exactly known for their mihrabs.

Minbar: Ditto.

Shoe shelves: Non-existent.  God-fearing Christians don't take their shoes off in church, so there weren't any shoe racks anywhere.

Building: A recently-purchased church.  I have two theories as to why the church closed.  First, it could be that as Vallejo's economy tanked, people left, thus reducing the weekly donations this church receives.  Second, the church itself could have fled the city as the economy tanked.  I could have asked, but didn't care enough to.

Friendliness towards women: Women have their own space towards the back.

Friendliness of congregation: Very friendly.  Folks were desperate to give me pizza last night and make sure I was well-fed.  I did notice there was little interaction between the 3arabs (pronounced three-arabs) and the Desis, though.  Typical, sure, but I would have thought given the small size of the community there'd be more mingling.