During Ramadan, Utah’s Shiite Muslims look to outside help to save their LDS hall-turned-mosque

Taylorsville · In the assembly hall of the Alrasool Islamic Center, Iraqi immigrants sat in a loose circle after evening prayers during Ramadan sharing tea, conversation and community.

Just above their heads, cracks spread across the plaster ceiling of the 1894 building, originally constructed as a meetinghouse of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. That beautiful, but damaged, ceiling could come down, however, in an earthquake.

That’s why mosque leaders and supporters recently invited historic preservationists, Taylorsville leaders and architects to a Ramadan dinner to see a pioneer-era building older than the state itself and meet the Shiite Muslim community that now uses it. Mosque leaders are trying to raise $3 million to $5 million to complete seismic retrofitting, improve structural integrity and save architectural elements like its original windows. And now, they’re courting outside donations to save the space.

“So, as soon as you walk in and look right up, you can see that crack, and I’m always looking at that. You saw in our call to prayer we look up in a way, you can see everything that’s happening. You can see the dust that’s gathering on the chandeliers,” Mohmmad Al-Saedy, who is also a sophomore at the University of Utah, said. “You see the chipped paint, walking down looking at uneven steps, just there’s many different, small things that are involved, and with all the small things, that adds up.”

A ‘second home’

If you didn’t know the building’s history as a community center stretching back to the late 19th century, Al-Saedy added, you might not understand its value.

His parents came to Utah from Iraq in 1986, and he grew up in this building after Alrasool bought it in 2008. Al-Saedy, like many who pray at the mosque, considers the former Latter-day Saint meetinghouse a “second home” where he can be around people like himself.

It’s not just those with Iraqi roots who worship at the Taylorsville mosque. The congregation is international with members from Pakistan, India and Iran as well. Since the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan and the resulting takeover of the country by the Taliban, Afghan families now make up the majority at the mosque. Ali Sayedsarwar, who fled the country with his sister during the first Taliban takeover in the late 1990s, said the mosque now has 40 to 45 Afghan families.

“Those individuals who need guidance on starting a new life in America — and this building provides that kind of setting where there’s other Afghan members here that have been here for a few years, like myself,” Sayedsarwar said. “We’re able to provide them, if they have any questions, with their [immigration] status or if they have any questions with how to find a job.”

Mosque needs upgrades

The building has a long immigrant history. Scottish architect and Latter-day Saint pioneer Archibald Frame Sr. and his son, Archibald Frame Jr., designed the hall and its addition in what was then a rural part of the Salt Lake Valley.

Now, a new group of immigrants is trying to get the building what it needs to stand for another 130 years.

A preservation consultant said the mosque needs structural, mechanical and electrical upgrades in the original hall and the 1910 addition. Chiefly, the building has begun sinking as the rocks in its foundation have shifted through the decades. It also lacks any sort of insulation.

Last year, the mosque won a highly competitive $250,000 grant from the National Fund for Sacred Places. But to receive the money and kick the project into high gear, Alrasool must muster almost half a million dollars on its own.

Historic preservationist David Amott has been helping the congregation with the project. He said Alrasool has raised a significant amount, mainly from the mosque’s worshippers.

But because so many congregants are recent immigrants, many are supporting family members in their home countries and aren’t able to contribute much to the cause, said Sayedsarwar. So Amott and the mosque are pivoting to ask other Salt Lake Valley residents for donations.

‘Obvious beauty’

“It’s a center that people notice when they drive by, but no one has really much been in unless you’re part of the congregation, and this is the first night of kind of opening up the doors and hearing stories,” Amott said during the recent Ramadan dinner. “This is our first attempt, as we simply have to do, to open up to a broader society and a broader pool of philanthropists. And I really hope that as Alrasool opens its doors to other people, that people will be able to see the obvious beauty that’s here and the benefit of having a place like this.”

This also marks the first time a U.S. Muslim congregation and any religious group in Utah has won the prestigious grant. Amott said there’s a lot of pressure on the project to succeed and pave the path for similar congregations to gain such aid.

Rick Bennion was one of the invited guests. A descendant of the pioneering Latter-day Saint family who settled the area, he was happy to see the building serving its “original purpose” as a worship space and a “gathering place” for new generations of immigrants.

Those interested in donating to the project can do so at aicutah.org/donation.