Our History

In the early 1920s, the Highland Park Ford Plant drew some of the first Muslim immigrants from Lebanon to Michigan. These workers settled in Highland Park and built the first mosque in the state of Michigan, one of the earliest in all of North America.

Hussein Karoub served as the imam of that mosque, becoming one of the first recognized Muslim religious leaders in the country. The community worshiped and gathered together, laying the foundation for what would eventually become the American Moslem Society.

When Ford moved production from Highland Park to the River Rouge Complex in Dearborn, the Muslim workers relocated with it. In 1938, they formally founded the American Moslem Society (AMS) in the southern part of the city.

The original building consisted of only the ground floor, a modest space for a community just beginning to put down roots in its new home. It would be the start of a legacy that continues to this day.

As the Muslim community grew, so did the mosque. In 1952, the building expanded to include a second floor comprising a prayer hall, a lecture hall, and an administrative office.

Five years later, in 1957, the dome and two small minarets were added, giving the AMS its distinctive silhouette and marking it unmistakably as a house of worship on the Dearborn skyline.

During the 1960s, '70s, and '80s, the Muslim population in Dearborn increased rapidly. The mosque could no longer accommodate all the worshipers, especially during Friday prayers, holidays, and community events.

In 1986, the American Moslem Society doubled in size, a testament to a community growing and thriving in its adopted city.

By the early 1990s, the community had outpaced the mosque again. During Friday and Eid prayers, people could be seen praying in offices, corridors, stairways, and even the parking lot.

The mosque doubled again to approximately 48,000 square feet, adding a library, meeting hall, and multipurpose hall. The Al-Furqan School was also renovated and expanded. With parking included, the total footprint exceeded 100,000 square feet.

On April 29, 2005, the AMS held a grand reopening ceremony attended by Governor Jennifer Granholm, Senator Debbie Stabenow, Wayne County Executive Robert Ficano, Congressman John Dingell, State Council Member Gino Polidori, and Dearborn Mayor Michael A. Guido, alongside a large gathering of community members and representatives from Islamic centers across the region.