Mosque welcomes community at open house

Friday, Dec. 16, 2016

SALT LAKE CITY — Hundreds of well-wishers from throughout the community gathered Dec. 10 to celebrate the renovation of the Maryam Mosque in Salt Lake City. The celebration included an open house.

Among the dignitaries at the celebration, were the Very Rev. Martin Diaz, rector of the Cathedral of the Madeleine; Imam Sabahudin Ćeman, head imam and president of Islamic Community of Bosniaks in North America; Alija Music, president of The Islamic Society of Bosniaks in Utah; Imam Muhammed Mehtar of the Khadeeja Mosque; Imam Shuaib of Utah Islamic Center; Paul Edwards, deputy chief of staff to Utah Gov. Gary Herbert; Salt Lake County Mayor Ben McAdams, and philanthropist Khosrow Semnani, who was a primary benefactor for the mosque.

The remodel of the former Baptist church at 425 North 700 West included the addition of a minaret, domes, an iron fence and a covered patio. The mosque is named after the Virgin Mary, who is honored in the Islamic faith. 

During the open house that was part of the celebration, Imam Amir Salihović of the Maryam Mosque said he was happy to have an opportunity to explain some of his religion’s teachings.

“We are trying to show people – to show our neighbors, to show our community – that Islam is teaching people to be good, to help each other, to be happy with everything. That is why we want to share our happiness with everybody today and especially with our neighbors here in Salt Lake City,” the imam said.

The theme of education was continued by Music, who said the open house was meant to display hospitality and the cultural heritage and history of Bosnians, many of whom fled their native country after the war in the 1990s. Thousands of Bosnians came to the United States as refugees.

“Being followers of Islam, we are just as much a part of American society like any other people in this great country,” Music said. “Many Bosnians in the United States today are scared and worried of what the future might bring, especially after the recent elections. We hope that this open house will serve as a chance to let us to get to know each other, to break any prejudice that you possibly might have about us.” 

Imam Ćeman pointed out that the Islamic faith has much in common with other religions. “All religions are calling for the goodness, for the righteousness, for the caring for every other human being, and I wish that we, as religious communities, as people of faith, can promote and talk more about those things we have in common than the things that we might have different in our own faiths,” he said.

Edwards read a letter from Gov. Herbert that, in part, thanked The Islamic Society of Bosniaks in Utah for “being an indispensable part of Utah.”

McAdams picked up the theme of diversity, saying that refugees and immigrants make the community strong, and “our country now has proud Americans of many different faiths. What we share as Protestants, or Catholics, or Mormons, or Jews, and Muslims – what we share is a belief in a spiritual being who loves us and wants all of us to love one another. And I think this congregation sets a great example.”

In his remarks, Fr. Diaz, said that Mary, as the mother of Jesus, “makes of us brothers and sisters,” and so “we are to be brothers and sisters to one another, to care for one another, to work together, to have the best for one another in mind in all that we do.”