Islamic Society of Milwaukee-Brookfield celebrates 10 years

Islamic Society of Milwaukee – Brookfield celebrating their 10th Anniversary

More than 400 people gathered at the Sheraton Milwaukee Brookfield Hotel last month to celebrate the 10th anniversary of Masjid Al Noor in Brookfield. Yet its history began decades earlier.

“There are many members in the audience today from 15 and 20 years ago, and more, who have been working tirelessly to bring our masjid to where it is today,” Imam Rami Bleibel said at the celebration. “As we sit amongst this beautiful gathering, we can see we’ve come a very, very long way.

A community that first held Ramadan prayers in a member’s home, then a small room at a local hospital and later rented space, is now outgrowing its masjid at 16670 Pheasant Dr.  “Almost biweekly, a young couple will come up after jummah prayer and introduce themselves to me, telling me they chose to live in this community because of the masjid and our many activities they see through our social platforms,” Imam Bleibel said.

What stands out to Tahseen Hussaini is “how much both diversity and unity we have.” Hussaini joined the task force planning the mosque around the time construction began, became a member of its first council and served in its leadership ever since, including two terms as its council’s amira (president). She has just rotated off the council after serving 10 years.

“It took a lot in the beginning to bring everybody together to work as a team,” she told the Wisconsin Muslim Journal, “with so many different ethnicities—Syrian, Moroccan, Pakistani, Palestinian, Indian, American converts and more, each with its own traditions, participating in decision-making. I am really happy and feel blessed we were able to do that. And that our leadership is filled with women as well as men.

Lateef Khan, Rizwan Arain, Ahmed Qureshi, Mushir Hassan, Hafiz Shafique, Iftekhar Khan breaking ground for the new ISM masjid in Brookfield.

“To me it is huge we have been able to make the masjid such a welcoming place. People can walk in with any level of iman (faith) and feel comfortable. No one would worry she didn’t have her scarf on the right way or didn’t have one on at all. She knows she’d be welcomed. 

“We all wanted it to be a haven for everyone and a place where our children want to come. That was everybody’s original dream.”

Muslims living in Milwaukee’s western suburbs overcame many challenges to realize this dream. Wisconsin Muslim Journal captured the memories of a few of key players, both at the gala and in extensive interviews, to record the highlights of Masjid Al Noor’s history. 

First prayer in jammat at the site

Dreaming of a home for the community

Rafat Arain recalled Brookfield’s Muslim community in the early 1990s. “Back then, during Ramadan, we had taraweeh prayers in Dr. Mallick’s basement,” she said in an interview. “That’s when “Drs. Shah, Cheema, Mallick, Khan and Arian (my husband), Ramsem Kaloti, Aziz Aleiou and many others began meeting to talk about building a mosque for people living west of Milwaukee. 

“More than 100 Muslim families already lived in Brookfield, Waukesha, Sussex and Elm Grove back then,” Arain said, recalling big gatherings in each other’s homes. 

“People moved over here because of the strong school system,” she said. “When we moved here in 1989, we had three kids and one on the way. Our big priority was finding a good school. The Elmbrook School District was known as one of the best in Greater Milwaukee.  

“But we also needed a masjid. Everybody who lived west of Milwaukee was in favor of it.

“Opposition came from people who were afraid the (Greater Milwaukee) Muslim community would split,” she said. “I was on the Islamic Society of Milwaukee shura (leadership council) at the time, going through all that opposition. That’s how it is when a son wants to move out of the parents’ house.”

Construction of musallah, first (brothers) and second floor (sisters)

Ready to launch

In the early 1990s, a committee began looking at lots. “At the gala, Sanaa Kaloti and I were sitting together and remembering the many meetings that took place at her house, Br. Sultan Mallick’s house and different places,” Arain said. “A lot of us were working on it. It was really Dr. Cheema’s dream.”

“Mohammad Aslam Cheema liked to bring people together,” his 2012 obituary began. “Whether old or young, from the same or different political or religious perspectives, Cheema could talk to all of them, and he knew the importance of spreading knowledge and understanding, relatives said.”

Many of the old guard, who were planning for a mosque in Brookfield, had also been involved with establishing the Islamic Society of Milwaukee and its mosque on 13th St. and Layton Avenue, as well as the Dawah Center, 5135 N. Teutonia Ave., both in Milwaukee.

The Cheemas bought a house in Elm Grove after Dr. Cheema came to Milwaukee in 1973 for a one-year cardiology fellowship at St. Luke’s Hospital with world-famous cardiothoracic surgeon W. Dudley Johnson, who became known as “the father of coronary artery bypass.” Cheema decided to stay and started his private practice here.

“I was telling somebody this the other day, when my dad wanted to do a project, he wanted everyone to be on board,” said Tehmina Aktar of Mequon. He would keep talking and convincing people but “you can’t convince everyone.” 

The old guard nurtured the dream with many meetings and site visits, building a foundation of consensus around the vision and relationships with local government.  But it was when “the younger people came in around 2000 and took it on,” that the masjid became a reality, Arain explained. “The kids are the ones who fought the fights and got the building up.”

1st ISM Brookfield Council. Top row: Bushra Zaibak, Orusa Hassan, Masarat Allaqaband, Tahseen Hussaini. Middle row: Ahmad Naseef, Lateef Khan, Waqar Malik. Bottom row: Raed Hamid, Mohammed Kher, Shaykh Noman was the 1st Ameer of the masjid.

Making it happen

Mushir Hassan, M.D., and Lateef Khan took the lead, along with the old guard and the new, including a strong contingent of women. 

“They dealt with the racism in the greater community,” Arain explained. “At public meetings, people argued against building a mosque in Brookfield. But this generation was born and raised in America. They were not an immigrant generation; they knew their rights, what to do, how it worked. These young people fulfilled our dream.

“Br. Nabil Salous was brought in to handle the construction and he did a wonderful job,” Arain added. “A group of women were on the task force, choosing this and that—the tiles, the hardware, discussing the layout, the walls. He was patient and listened to all his very aggressive women clients had to say,” she joked.

Masjid opening:  Ayesha Khan, Lateef Khan, Mayor Steve Ponto, Mushir Hassan M.D., Orusa Hassan

“There were always opinions in the group,” Hussaini recalled. “And many decisions—choosing the sconces and chairs for the back of the prayer hall, furniture for the basement, colors, designs. Br. Nabil was very helpful. We were always there, checking on things regularly.” She remembers those days as fun and exciting.

Hassan and Khan walked the gala audience through the developments of Masjid Al Noor with a slide show they both narrated. 

“The elders in the room will understand that our history goes back 25 years ago, when we would get together for the evening prayer and build a sense of community as we prayed Isha (evening prayer) together,” Hassan said. “Then we had the blessing of folks at GE Healthcare wanting us to pray Fajr (dawn prayer) together and that led to a request to have Friday prayers in Waukesha County.”

Elmbrook Hospital provided a room for prayer in 2000 that the community used until it became too small. A facility was rented that worked for two to three years for daily and Friday prayers, Hassan said. “Then we outgrew that space.”

Khan added some personal words. “First of all, Brookfield’s Masjid Al Noor is very near and dear to my heart … because it is something I gave 10 years of my life to. I look up to the example of my father who came to this country and built a masjid in rural America, in Peoria, Illinois. He gave a lot of his life to the masjid. He taught kids in Sunday school. I’ve modeled my work after my father and I wouldn’t trade it for anything in the world.”

Khan recalled calling ISM-Main soon after moving to Wisconsin. “I’m living in Sussex. How long will it take to get to ISM?” he asked. “I found out quickly it was going to be a problem if we were going to stay on the west side of Milwaukee. That problem became more apparent after a few years, when I used to go every single night to the Southside for taraweeh prayers during Ramadan. It was definitely a wake-up call that we needed something on this side of town.

“As I looked through the pictures (of the building of the masjid), I want to recognize all the volunteers we’ve had. If we were to pass away tomorrow, we can always say, ‘At least we built the masjid!”  

“I want to thank Brookfield Mayor Steven V. Ponto,” Hassan said. “During the process of approval for this building, some of the same racist invective some are experiencing now, the city leaders also received in their mail, asking why we are doing this for foreigners in our city. The leadership in Brookfield held to their standards: Does this building meet the requirements of the city code? I want to thank them for being objective.

Nurturing growth

Qari Noman Hussain, Masjid Al Noor’s first imam, came to the celebration. “This is a community that Allah allowed me to serve. This is a community that gave me an opportunity to grow. This is that community that allowed me to find within me some of those hidden talents that I may have had. This is a community that supported me and put their money on me. This is the community that believed in me before I even believed in myself, the community that allowed me to make mistakes and after making mistakes would continue to push me forward. This is a community that would roll out the red carpet for me. You know, you know, this is a community that showed so much love and support. And for that I am forever grateful.

“(Imams around the nation) are really impressed by the open-mindedness and the vision, the thought process that you have in the work that you do. I remember when I first joined ISM-Brookfield that the sisters of the community, mainly Sister Orusa, made it a point to ensure that I understood the power and the value of women being in the masjid. She ensured that I understood what it meant that they’d be on the same floor in the same space, not behind a wall or a barrier.

 It was there where I had to explore some of these conversations with colleagues in this community, where I was tasked to be a part of a group of imams who would decide that should we have a female leader of a masjid. It is amazing that we were having these conversations way before other communities were.”

Hussain said he also learned about the value of youth and the priority it was to make sure the youth felt connected to the community. He recalled the open mindedness and love of community leaders, including the late Ahmad Nasef and others, who created the Masjid Al Noor’s welcoming atmosphere for all.

Envisioning the future

When Hussaini envisions Masjid Al Noor’s future, she said she expects the youth to be even closer as a community. “They’re all American. They’re all English speaking. And one of the great things we have done is develop our youth programs. We have programs for tots to elementary and middle schoolers to high school students and young adults. We have a youth director who focuses on them.”

Hassan hopes Masjid Al Noor will also focus on the community’s elderly and on the greater community. “We have a problem that our community is aging and we aren’t going to put them in nursing homes. We will need responsible resources that can support us who are working and don’t have the kind of help you might have if you were living back home. We need to figure that out.”

And for the greater community, “it’s my dream for us to use this building as a source of continuing education not just for our community but the wider community. We need to geet out there and take the lead,” Hassan said.

He also encouraged the community to build an endowment “so we don’t have to do fundraisers to keep the lights on.”

ISM-Brookfield’s new amir (council president) Imran Riaz moved to Brookfield from Pittsburgh eight and a half years ago. “We moved to Brookfield in 2017 because we wanted to be close to the masjid. Wherever I’ve lived in my 35 years in the U.S.A., as well as in different countries, I always look for a mosque I can associate myself and my family with. This mosque in Brookfield attracted us so we decided to build a house nearby and call it home.”

Three years ago, Riaz was nominated for a position on the council. “My family encouraged me because I was president of a masjid  in California. Later Sr. Tahseen encouraged me to put my name in the hat for amir to replace her when she stepped down in June. I was hesitant but my daughter said, ‘Dad, you can really help the community. You should do what you can.’”

Asked to describe the “personality” of Masjid Al Noor, Riaz said, “Very open. A very easy community to mingle with and become part of. Very focused on serving others.

“More than a lot of different ethnicities, the masjid is one of those gems where people of different religious backgrounds come together and work to grow in their faith.”

As amir, Riaz has three focus areas: expanding the masjid to serve an ever-growing community, both physically and spiritually, developing its learning environment; connecting with the larger community and being a force for positive change; and growing the next generation of leaders who will serve not only our community but also the larger community.

“We’ve already started working on these,” he said. “The sense of coming together for a greater cause is really amazing in this community. 

Something I love and marvel at in this community, that I have not seen in any other community, is the leadership of our sisters. You don’t see this level of engagement in leadership in other communities. I love it! The men are there to support them and the women don’t take a backseat. It is a really positive scenario, both serving together to benefit the community.”