A half-century of South Asian mosque architecture in North America Amir Hussain, Professor of Theological Studies, Loyola Marymount University

My contribution to this panel will examine the religious spaces created by South Asian Muslims in North America over the past half-century. The first purpose built mosque in the US was built by Albanian immigrants in Biddeford, Maine. The first such mosque in Canada was built by Lebanese Muslims in Edmonton, Alberta. In Toronto, as in Maine, the first mosque was also established by Albanian Muslims. With changes to immigration laws in both countries in the 1960s, South Asians began to be the largest Muslim community, replacing the larger Arab community and those from the Ottoman Empire. They are the largest in Canada, and may well be the second-largest in the US after African Americans. Canada, being part of the British Commonwealth, had a more direct path for South Asian Muslims. After a brief history of these communities and the mosques that they created, I will turn to the South Asian mosque spaces created by Sunni, Shi’a, Ahmadiyya, and Ismaili communities in North America. Particular attention will be given to the work of architect Gulzar Haider, as one of the key South Asian Muslim mosque architects.