During the late 1950s Islam began to spread throughout the state of North Carolina by individuals coming from the Maryland and District of Columbia areas planting seeds of awareness for the growth and development of Islam. Coinciding with the times, there was great concern over social unrest and racial injustice. By the early 1960s a band of approximately 5 families under the leadership of Sheik Kenneth Murray-Muhammad pooled their resources and began holding Islamic services in a store front building in Durham, North Carolina in an area known historically as the “Black Wall Street” of the South. Sheik Kenneth and other families commuted back and forth from Raleigh to Durham until the late 1960s when urban renewal and redevelopment displaced many of the striving African American business establishments.
In 1970 the Raleigh community established itself in a small dwelling on Martin Street and later moved to Hill Street which would house its Islamic school operating from preschool to high school and an enrollment of approximately 100 students commuting from Durham, Kinston, Greenville and Fayetteville, North Carolina. The school served as a hub for the Muslim community and graduated its first class in 1974.
In 1975, the leadership of Imam Warith Deen Mohammad moved the Raleigh community and other mosques nationwide to the global tenets of Al-Islam and with this change, came growth and expansion. Over the past three decades there continues to be emphasis on Islamic education as a viable choice. As- Salaam Islamic Center’s Weekend School provides its students and parents with Islamic Studies and a variety of academic and social activities. An enrollment of approximately 40 plus students has the current facility bursting at the seams with little to no space for growth.
The As-Salaam Islamic Center core values are:
- Peace
- Education
- Community Service