Now, where were we?

[rug]

Malcolm X's Former Mosque Promotes Interfaith Ties



Imam Izak-EL M. Pasha in the prayer room at Masjid Malcolm Shabazz. (Keith Bedford for The Wall Street Journal)

Institution Once Known for Black Separatism Also Focuses on Economic Development in Harlem

Aug. 10, 2014 10:18 p.m. ET
By Will Huntsberry

Masjid Malcolm Shabazz has been a center of African-American Muslim life in Harlem since Malcolm X began preaching there in 1956.

But gone are the mosque's politics of Black Nationalism, its rule that white people aren't allowed inside and its legions of followers in suits and bow ties.

Today, the mosque—its green dome overlooks West 116th Street and Malcolm X Boulevard—is an interfaith pillar open to different races and religions.

When the facade of a nearby Christian church collapsed, for example, its congregation held weekly services at the mosque. A Jewish group without a synagogue now gathers there, too.

http://online.wsj.com/articles/malcolm-xs-former-mosque-now-promotes-interfaith-ties-1407723504

[okasha]

1. They're doing it right.

[Fortinbras Armstrong]

2. Precisely

After Malcolm X made the Haj, he became a Sunni and forsook separatism.

[Union Scribe]

3. One of the warmest receptions I've ever had

was when I visited a local mosque while doing a paper in college about the imam there. The spirit of interfaith fellowship is dear to me, and very few things raise my mood like reading about things like this.