Ramadan throughout Wisconsin’s growing communities: Oshkosh, Madison and Janesville

Janesville Muslim Dawah Circle found its permanent home in 2014 during the month Ramadan, continuing to grow and provide  community to local Muslims.

Every Muslim community celebrates the holy month of Ramadan in their own, unique way. While the Greater Milwaukee area is home to one of the largest Muslim populations in Wisconsin, as well as nine mosques, Muslim communities in smaller cities across the state are growing considerably as families move in and new mosques open their doors.

Wisconsin Muslim Journal spoke to individuals from Madison, Oshkosh, and Janesville about what their respective communities have been up to this month for Ramadan.

Madison is home to three mosques: the Islamic Center of Madison downtown, the Islamic Center of East Madison, and the Madinah Community Center on the city’s west side.

The Islamic Center of Madison (downtown) prayer hall

Downtown Madison Islamic Center

Ibrahim Saeed Ph.D., president of the Islamic Center of Madison, moved to Wisconsin from Sudan in 1984 to attend UW-Madison for his doctorate. In fact, the Islamic Center is located right in the heart of campus. “I actually spent a few nights here at the center before I was able to find an apartment,” Saeed recalls. “That’s the great thing about having a place like this.”

He describes the Islamic Center’s community as diverse in age and background, with many college students coming weekly for prayer and programming in addition to older generations and families who have been part of the community for decades. The mosque has solid relationships with local schools and interfaith groups as well.

“It’s the first Islamic center in Madison, and so people are attached to this place,” Saeed explains. “We also have a lot of people who come because it’s a center of business for them. It’s available to everyone, whoever wants to be part of it.”

Saeed estimates that nearly 300 people come for jummah every week. “It’s crowded,” Saeed laughs. “If I get out of the door, I won’t be able to get back in.”

The center spearheads several charitable initiatives. For one, they collect donations for lightly used clothing, which are then shipped to Helping Hand of Chicago. “We sent three or four truck loads this last year,” Saeed notes. 

They also have a food pantry program in partnership with Second Harvest Foodbank, open every Wednesday, which has been helping families in need since COVID hit. “When you give people two or three boxes of food, which could be almost a hundred dollars, you always see a big smile on their face,” Saeed affirms.

During Ramadan, the Islamic Center of Madison holds free daily iftars for singles that are each sponsored by a different cultural organization. “You don’t have to be a single or a student to attend,” Saeed mentions. 

The mosque also has community iftars on Saturdays, and UW-Madison student organizations like the Muslim Student Association or the Pakistani Student Association may bring their activities to the center, with one such event being the annual Orphan Sponsorship Dinner. Saeed notes, “We have a lot of volunteers who help us do this, both men and women. It’s beautiful.”

Qu’ran and Arabic classes for both youth and adults are also taught throughout the week, and study circles take place each night. “We have a Qu’ran memorization competition for the children, and we distribute gifts and certificates for them at the end,” Saeed says.

Northeast of Madison in Oshkosh

Imam Hassan Elannani opened the Oshkosh Mosque in 2021, just a year after he had moved to the Fox Valley from New Jersey. “I was living in Appleton and commuting to my job at UW-Oshkosh, and I was looking for a place to make into a mosque,” Elannani recalls.

Elannani is a member of the North American Foundation of Islamic Services, whom he consulted once when he found an old church building for sale that was suitable enough to become a mosque. “After a month, it was open for services,” he adds. “It started with a few people in attendance, but the community has grown overtime.”

On Sept 22, 2021, NAFIS (North American Foundation of Islamic Services) purchased the building on 138 Church Ave. and transformed it into the Oshkosh Mosque.

Before the Oshkosh Mosque, Muslims living in the area would often travel to nearby Neenah or Appleton for prayer. Elannani and his community opened a weekend Arabic school in addition to the mosque, which attracted even more families.

The transformed church building gave the Oshkosh mosque ample space for prayer services, community potlucks, fundraisers and iftars.

Now, Elannani estimates that anywhere from 100 to 120 people attend jummah at Oshkosh Mosque every Friday. “There’s no masjid in Fond Du Lac, so people come from there to attend our services,” he mentions. 

For Ramadan, the Oshkosh Mosque prepares their facility for nightly taraweeh prayers and weekly community potluck iftars on Fridays. “People from different communities bring all kinds of ethnic and traditional foods,” Elannani says. “We collect charities for people who are needy, so we ask people to pay for every individual.”

The center notably hosted the first-ever UW-Oshkosh Muslim Student Association iftar this year, inviting students, professors and faculty alike. “It’s near the college campus, so when weather permits, students can walk to the mosque,” Elannani notes.

Throughout Ramadan, the Oshkosh Mosque fundraises for future renovations to the center. For the last ten days, they hold tahajjud prayers, suhoor meals and fajr prayers.

Like the Islamic Center of Madison, the Oshkosh Mosque also holds a Qu’ran memorization competition for youth.

“We try to plan a few activities for everyone,” Elannani affirms. For Eid, the Oshkosh Mosque teams up with other Fox Valley Islamic centers for a massive picnic and festival held at the Oshkosh Convention Center.

Further south in Janesville

Janesville is home to the Janesville Muslim Dawa Circle, the city’s first mosque, opened in 2014. 

Salih D.R. Erschen, director of Janesville Muslim Dawa Circle, moved with his family to Janesville from Beloit. At the time, there was not a particularly active Muslim community in the area. 

On left, Salih D.R. Erschen, director of Janesville Muslim Dawa Circle witnesses shahada, the Muslim profession of faith, the first of the five pillars of Islam.

“There was no jummah or anything like that,” he explains. “My son-in-law had moved to Janesville around the same time, and we started doing jummah in their living room. We knew a few Muslims, so we let them know we would be getting together there.”

As Erschen and his family started meeting more Muslims around Janesville, they facilitated a dawa program, Islam: As American As Apple Pie, which became quite a well-attended gathering.

“One of the people who came to that was an older gentleman who had been looking for me,” Erschen remembers. “We met at the library and he said he wanted to start a Muslim friendship group. He mentioned that there was a building we could buy for it, and when he showed it to me, I thought it was perfect.”

The said building’s owner sold it to the men on a land contract, and the Janesville Muslim Dawa Circle subsequently opened. “The conversation began at the beginning of Ramadan, and by the end of it we were signing the papers for the place,” Erschen notes.

Janesville’s Muslim community is still small, with 25 to 30 folks on average coming for jummah every week, but Erschen affirms that it is certainly growing.

The mosque continues to host dawa programs, and they often hand out free Qu’rans to the public. According to Erschen, there have been a number of shahadas just in the last year.

“A lot of it has been little by little,” he says. “We’ve done a lot to reach out to people who we know are Muslim with meals and talks and things like that to draw people together.”

Erschen, his wife and his daughter have also established the Fitra Wellness Center, a holistic health and wellness space located in the center’s basement, offering services like nutritional coaching and hijama (an ancient, holistic cupping therapy)

For Ramadan, the Janesville Muslim Dawa Circle holds community potluck iftars on Saturday nights. Then whole families come for Eid, which sometimes attracts up to 50 to 75 people.

“We’ll do a piñata and get bouncy houses for the kids,” Erschen mentions about Eid. “Everybody has a good time and always has plenty to eat.”

The Janesville Muslim Dawa Circle received new carpet last Ramadan, courtesy of the Rockford Muslim community. They plan to add more artistic and cultural embellishments to the center in the near future.

Ramadan Mubarak, Wisconsin!