Everyday Sunday morning, millions of American attend Services. For the majority of Americans, it is in a church- the house of Reformed worship. However, being the melting-pot it is, there also exist other places that hold Service. Catholics in their parishes, and Jews in their synagogues- however, after the church, the mosque is the second most popular house of worship in the United States. Mosques usually hold Sunday morning prayer at 9AM, followed by a sermon, and Scripture lessons: all of which compromise the Service, which usually lasts about an hour and a half.
Originally, mosques in the United States were built like they were in the Levant, where the majority of the first American Muslims came from. They were small, built of stone or brick, and had small domes, and prayer-towers. The entire mosque was usually one roomed, with white walls, and no chairs. However, due to anti-Ottoman feelings during the First Great War, what has become known as the
Americanization of mosques in the United States occurred. In 1918, the Muslim American Congress summoned the Second Jihad Council of Pierre, now known as the Second Clerical Council, and eventually issued the Fatwa as-Tihhab, or the Law of Assimilation. In provided for the translation of all religious vocabulary into English; architectural plans for new small town American church-style mosques (equipped with widely spaced pews, with prayer rugs in between); translation of the Koran into English; and the suspension of much of "Sharia" law indefinitely.
The first post-Clerical style mosque to be built was in New England, in the town of Bedford, Massachusetts. Built on the foundation of a meeting house called Masjid as-Sayyidah Zaynab, Saint Zainab's Mosque of Bedford (see image below) became the model for small-town, and suburban mosque building until the Andalusian Revival style came abouts in the 1960's. The Council drew up the designs to rebuild, and further build urban mosques, largely built in the Richardsonian Romanesque-style, specifically avoiding the Moorish Revival which many in Muslim Community of the early 20th century felt would offend the majority American population...
