A cultural landmark. The ISBCC is the largest Islamic center in New England, and the second largest on the East Coast. The 70,000 square foot building stands tall on Malcolm X Boulevard in the heart of Boston, a Muslim handprint on the city skyline.  

The cornerstone of the New England Muslim community. The ISBCC is not just a mosque, but is also planned to house a school (by 2013), a library, an interfaith center, an exhibition space and a morgue.  Every Muslim neighborhood in the greater Boston area has had a hand in its construction, and its leadership reflects the full diversity of our community. 

A magnet for political support.  The two-decade effort to build the ISBCC has brought together Muslims, the Roxbury community, the city of Boston and the leaders of other faith groups. Mayor Thomas Menino, State Senator Dianne Wilkerson and City Councilor Chuck Turner have all publicly announced their support for the ISBCC.  More than 250 leaders of different faiths also attended an Interfaith Solidarity Event to support the establishment of the ISBCC.  No wonder then that the ISBCC has been regularly featured in local, regional and national media. 

Community relations and social services. Operating the ISBCC, the Muslim American Society (MAS Boston) is committed to providing a broad range of social services for the local Muslim and non-Muslim community.  Successful projects in the recent past include the diversity training of hundreds of police officers and law enforcement officials, the distribution of ‘udhiya meat to local Muslims and non-Muslims, reaching hundreds of youth with leadership and spiritual development programs, mobilizing Muslims to become civically and politically active, establishing a Speakers Bureau to address hundreds of requests for speakers on Islam, and initiating interfaith projects with local Christian and Jewish communities.

Educational partnerships. Boston is known internationally as a center of academic excellence, with more than sixty colleges of all kinds.  As a source of reliable information about Islam and Muslims, MAS Boston initiatives in the the ISBCC will include establishing partnerships with Harvard University and with our neighbor Roxbury Community College  In this and so many other ways, the project promises to reflect an outward-looking, American Muslim institution.