The Karbalaa Education Center is located along a busy commercial strip in the heart of a thriving Middle Eastern community in Dearborn, a middle-class suburb of

Detroit Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...

. The strip is lined with numerous Middle Eastern restaurants, bakeries, clothing stores, and markets selling Halal meat. The Karbalaa Islamic Education Center, housed in a former nightclub that had been damaged by fire, contains approximately of space that have been converted into a prayer room, offices, an all-purpose meeting room, an audio-visual room, kitchen, and an area to hold a weekend school for children.

Membership and history

Those affiliated with the center are largely of Iraqi and Lebanese descent, both recent immigrants and individuals who have been in the country for a considerable period of time. Much of the Iraqi community in Detroit was formed as individuals and families (

Iraqi Americans Iraqi Americans (Arabic: أمريكيون عراقيون) ( Kurdish عێراقییە ئەمریکییەکان, Îraqiyên Amerîkî) are American citizens who originate from Iraq. As of 2015, the number of Iraqi Americans is around 145,279, accord ...

) sought refuge from

Saddam Hussein Saddam Hussein ( ; ar, صدام حسين, Ṣaddām Ḥusayn; 28 April 1937 – 30 December 2006) was an Iraqi politician who served as the fifth president of Iraq from 16 July 1979 until 9 April 2003. A leading member of the revolution ...

following the

Gulf War The Gulf War was a 1990–1991 armed campaign waged by a 35-country military coalition in response to the Iraqi invasion of Kuwait. Spearheaded by the United States, the coalition's efforts against Iraq were carried out in two key phases: ...

. One of the founders of the Karbalaa Islamic Education Center, Imam Husham Alhusainy, arrived in the late 1970s, but did not start the Karbalaa Center until 1994. He and others bought space for the mosque, which presently has approximately 150-200 people affiliated with it.

Activities

There are prayer services daily in the evening, and on Fridays at noon and in the evening. Other activities at the center include women's meetings, which are held in conjunction with similar woman's groups from other nearby mosques, including the Islamic Center of America, and the Islamic Institute of Knowledge. The center sponsors occasional religious discussions, "Meeting for Better Understanding," at which times Christians and Muslims come together to exchange ideas on different topics from the two groups' perspectives in order to promote understanding and tolerance. Discussion topics have included the unity of God, the nature of sin and morality, and the truth of Bible and the Qur'an. The Karbalaa Education Center sponsors a weekend school for children with classes in Arabic, the Qur'an, and Arabic culture and history.

In the community

There is a museum dedicated to Islam, and a library with books and newspapers in Arabic. The center serves a vital function in the community by sponsoring Iraqi refugees and helping these newly arrivals to adjust to life in the United States and become oriented to the Detroit community. In addition, it provides a link to other mosques in the area, thereby keeping the community tightly knit and reinforcing Middle Eastern culture.

External links

* http://biid.lsa.umich.edu/karbalacenter.htm {{Coord, 42.34393, -83.19486, type:landmark_region:US-MI, display=title Arab and Islamic culture in Dearborn, Michigan Museums in Wayne County, Michigan Ethnic museums in Michigan Iraqi-American history Lebanese-American history Religious museums in Michigan Religious buildings and structures in Michigan Education in Wayne County, Michigan