Torkelson: Mosque adapting to its diversity

By Jean Torkelson, Rocky Mountain News (Contact)

Published July 31, 2006 at midnight

Text size

More News Columns & Blogs

A local landscaper, a Denver-born consultant, and a kid from Kansas - if you hung around Denver's largest mosque at 2071 S. Parker Road, it's likely you'd bump into them all. They reflect Islam's changing profile from foreign-born faith to American presence.

On Sunday, I found myself in the company of the three - Mohammad Noorzai, Malik Taylor and Ammar Amonette - because I had heard big changes were coming to the mosque, whose formal name is the Colorado Muslim Society. It's a major, influential Islamic center where thousands of Colorado's estimated 15,000 Muslims worship, and where the demographics are changing.

Non-Arabs represent slightly more than half the mosque's members. The fastest growing segments are African Americans, whites and Latinos.

"We're a community that's more diverse than any (American) parish," says Amonette.

Three major firsts reflect the mosque's efforts to adapt.

• Amonette, 45, has been named the society's first American-born imam, or spiritual leader. He's believed to be the only American-born imam to run a major Islamic center in the U.S. His predecessor was the Egyptian-born Ahmed Nabhan, who left in December by "mutual decision."

• Later this week, the society will name its first executive director to guide the growing mosque and be a liaison of sorts to the wider, non-Muslim community.

• On Aug. 13, the mosque will hold an open house - the first of its kind - at 2 p.m. for non-Muslims to learn more about Islam. It's organized by Taylor, 39, a legal services consultant and among Islam's single largest convert group, African Americans.

Over a wide-ranging hour, we discussed Islam and how to adapt its universality to a secular society; trends among Muslim youth; Islamic values; and the vexing topic of politics.

From a previous interview, I knew Amonette, 45, was born in Kansas into a military family and grew up as (say the phrase at your peril) an Army brat.

"I hate that term," Amonette groused good-naturedly. "It's my fault for ever bringing it up. Now it's all over the Internet."

"That's OK - it's only part of your past," teased Noorzai, 48, who hails from a well-to-do Afghanistan family. Owner of a landscape business, he came to the U.S. at age 20 and expresses deep affection for America. Like Amonette, he married an American convert to Islam. He heads the Colorado Muslim Council, a coalition of 15 Muslim groups.

Their goal is to be good citizens and work toward the common good while recognizing that Islam's values transcend time and place.

Today, with the Mideast aflame, there was one question that I thought many Americans, rightly or wrongly, might want to ask: If America were attacked by terrorists who professed to do it in the name of Islam, whom would you support?

"I can't believe that question - I'm shocked," Amonette, open-mouthed, said. "You don't ask that kind of question of other people."

But Noorzai, the mediator, recognized the question as an opportunity to help Americans understand how Muslims express the values of their faith: "She just wants to shed light on it," he said. "Muslim loyalty - where is it?"

The first loyalty is to Islam's principle of not harming innocent people, ever. "We're going to be on the side that's just and fair," he said.

torkelsonj@RockyMountainnews.com or 303-892-5055

Subscribe to the Rocky Mountain News