History of the Islamic Association The history of the Islamic community of Cincinnati begins in 1961. At that time, the Muslim population in Cincinnati consisted of seven people, three men and four women. At that time, a mosque, which is an Islamic place of worship and meeting, was not available. So these seven decided to start meeting weekly for Friday prayers (Jum'uah). During this period, there were only a few mosques in the Midwest, as there were larger numbers of Muslims in larger cities in the East and West, primarily New York and Los Angeles. This small but vital beginning led to the birth of the Islamic Community of Cincinnati, which now consists of two major mosques. After years of gathering in each other's homes to perform collective prayers, Azhar Ali Shah and Majid Qureshi, two founding members of the small group, decided that a suitable mosque was needed to accommodate the growing community, which now numbered approximately 40+ members. Mr. Shah held a meeting with fellow Muslims and announced a plan to begin raising money to finance the purchase of a building to be used as a mosque. It was necessary to collect the money in advance because interest (on loans, etc.) is not allowed in Islam. By 1974, after nearly two years of collecting donations from various sources, sufficient funds were available to purchase a former residence that would be used as a mosque. This mosque was located on McMillan Avenue near Clifton Avenue in the University of Cincinnati area. After several years, however, the community had outgrown the current mosque and began collecting again to purchase another building large enough. Finally in December 1982, after months of preparation, the first Jum'uah prayer was conducted at the Clifton Mosque on Clifton Avenue. This mosque served the community well for the next five years. At that time, community members determined that, at the current rate of growth, within the next five years even this mosque would be too small to accommodate the area's Muslims. A council was elected to put together plans for the construction of a new mosque, which would be able to handle the group for an "indefinite" period of time. For the next six years, the community continued to grow.