By the mid-1980s, the Islamic Society of Baltimore was still young, housed in its first property in Catonsville. The Friday prayers were crowded, Qur’an classes filled weekends, and families gathered for community dinners. However, there was something missing: a space just for the youth.
It was the teenagers themselves who first raised the issue. “We need something of our own,” they told the elders. While their parents focused on fundraising and construction, the youth were caught in two worlds, Muslim at home, American at school, and they needed a bridge between them.
With the encouragement of a few forward-thinking parents, ISB’s first youth group was formed. Its meetings were modest, consisting of a circle of teenagers sitting on the mosque’s carpet, led by a young mentor who had grown up in the States. They discussed faith, but they also talked about daily struggles, peer pressure, explaining Ramadan to teachers, balancing basketball practice with maghrib prayer.
The group organized Qur’an study circles, movie nights, and even camping trips. On Saturdays, they would gather in the mosque’s basement for halaqas, only to end the night with laughter, snacks, and sometimes late-night debates about music, fashion, or whether it was okay to play sports on Friday afternoons before Jummah.
For many, the youth group became a safe haven. It was where shy teenagers found friends who understood why they didn’t eat pepperoni pizza in the cafeteria, where hijabi girls found encouragement to stay strong in school, and where young men learned that being Muslim in America meant more than just following rules, it meant being part of a larger story.
The elders were skeptical at first, but eventually saw the benefits. The youth group gave their children confidence, kept them connected to the mosque, and prepared them to become the next generation of leaders. Some of those early participants went on to become imams, board members, doctors, activists, and mentors themselves.
Looking back, the first youth group at ISB was less about programs and more about presence. It gave teenagers a place to be themselves, to laugh, to question, and to grow in faith together. It proved that the future of Maryland’s Muslim community was not only in bricks and mortar, but in the hearts of its youth.