Mosque No. 12

Last updated
Mosque No. 12
Religion
Affiliation Islam
Location
Location1319-21 West Susquehanna Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States
Architecture
Architect(s) Jacob Naschold
Minaret(s)0

Mosque No. 12, also known as Masjid Makkah, is a mosque in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It came to prominence in the early 1960s when a building was leased by the Nation of Islam, converted for use as a mosque, and placed under the direction of Malcolm X, who was a minister there and at Mosque No. 7 until he left the organization for Sunni Islam in 1964.

Contents

History

Originally built over a century ago for a trade school, it was leased as Mosque No. 12 of the Nation of Islam in 1962 (all Nation of Islam sites were initially called Temples; the NOI switched to the term mosque as a move to add to the Nation's legitimacy by adding elements from mainstream Islam). The mosque was later moved to 2508 North Broad Street.

Malcolm X was named minister of Temple No. 12 by Elijah Muhammad. [1] When Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam, he started a Sunni Muslim mosque named Muslim Mosque Inc.

In 1974, four members of Mosque No. 12 were charged with killing the family of Hamaas Abdul Khaalis [2] at the Hanafi American Mussulman's Rifle and Pistol Club. Khaalis was a leader of the Hanafis, a Sunni Muslim school of jurisprudence (fiqh), and the killers were upset by letters he had written that attacked Elijah Muhammad.

See also

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References

  1. "From Abyssinia to Zion," by David Dunlap (p. 136)
  2. Smothers, David (July 21, 1974). "Black Muslims The Faces Belie the Aura of Menace". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved March 12, 2017.

39°59′10″N75°09′17″W / 39.9862130°N 75.15471107°W / 39.9862130; -75.15471107