‘We shared our cultures.’ How this Middle Georgia mosque brings people together

In the 1980s in Middle Georgia, Muslims needed a new place to worship, so a few small families started to gather and worship together in a house on Pio Nono Avenue in Macon.

Imam Rasool Saleem was around 8 or 9 years old when his parents invited a few Muslim families in the Middle Georgia area to start worshiping at their house.

His parents converted to the Nation of Islam from Christianity in the early 1970s. After Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad died in 1975, Saleem’s parents followed Muhammad’s son to orthodox Islam.

The previous temple for the Nation of Islam followers in Macon transformed into a mosque, but in the early 1980s, the building they were leasing was bought by a different group.

Muslims in Middle Georgia started gathering in different locations, including Tattnall Square Park, and families from Robins Air Force Base started attending the prayer services on Friday, called Juma’ah.

After the families asked about finding a building for worship, Saleem’s father offered his home as a place of worship until a new building could be acquired.

Although Saleem was a child, he remembers playing and practicing the traditions of Islam, but most importantly, he remembers the food.

“We shared our cultures. They cooked their meals like rice and... goat meat or lamb, and we’d cook what we knew, fried chicken, macaroni and cheese,” he said with a laugh. “I remember mostly, that it was fun, and it tasted really good.”

He learned about different cultures and realized that everybody wants similar things: a good life, a good education and to practice their religion freely.

“Just to meet different people from other different nationalities actually helped me when I transitioned into the military. It actually helped me because in the military you’ve got everybody,” he said. “It really just opened me up, and it wasn’t just about Black and white. We want what every other decent and good, decent human being wants. We want a family. We want a community so we can all feel comfortable and live.”

The original mosque grew and split into three different mosques, one of which is the Islamic Center of Middle Georgia. Saleem is one of the imams of Masjid Warith-Ud Deen Mohammed, another local mosque.

Imam Adam Fofana, of the Islamic Center of Middle Georgia, said Muslims have lived and been a part of Middle Georgia since the first slaves were brought to the area hundreds of years ago.

Over the past 70 years, Muslims have moved to the region for a variety of reasons, including working at Robins Air Force Base, Fofana said.

“When they came here, they needed a place of worship in the community. They needed a place to belong for their kids, to have community and fun besides school,” he said.

The bylaws for the mosque was written and signed in 1989, and the Islamic Center for Middle Georgia claims that as its birthday, Fofana said. The current facility for the mosque was built in 2010.

Fofana said his mosque has a very diverse community, and before the coronavirus pandemic, they would meet regularly to have community dinners and worship together.

“The one thing that brings them together is the love for God and love for humanity,” he said.

Coming to America

Originally from Guinea, Fofana moved to the United States in 2007 from Malaysia to become the imam of the Islamic Center.

“I never thought that I would move in. I thought that I’m going to graduate and go back to my country and serve,” he said.

The Middle Georgia community was running short on imams, so he had to make the choice of whether to go back to a country that had plenty of imams or to move to a country that needed one.

Fofana also wanted his children to have better opportunities to get educated and go to college, he said. His family became U.S. citizens in 2015 and 2016, and his two daughters graduated from the University of Georgia. His son currently attends college.

Starting an interfaith dialogue

Fofana wishes people would understand that American Muslims are just like other citizens. They contribute to the economy, they send their children to school and they want to live a safe, happy life.

Fofana, along with Pastor Scott Dickison of First Baptist Church of Christ in Macon, Rabbi Larry Schlesinger of Temple Beth Israel and Bill Bagwell of Trinity United Methodist Church, started meeting a few years ago to try to unite the community and educate people about different faiths.

“Naturally if you don’t know anything, you tend to be scared of that, and we must be able to break those barriers and build bridges,” Fofana said.

The dialogue sparked the Women’s Interfaith Alliance of Central Georgia, which has around 500 members and meets regularly to discuss issues surrounding the faith communities, Fofana said.

“We need to know each other better, and get to know each other, and cooperate and work together for the common good of all, and here in Middle Georgia, we are none but that. That’s what we aspire for. That’s what we strive for. We want to be part of a thriving community and society,” he said.

This story was originally published September 27, 2021 at 5:00 AM.