Learning about Dorchester Al-Quraan Islamic Center, services and community outreach

By Sabrina Amrane.

Taalib Mahdee, the Imam of Al-Quraan Mosque in Dorchester, welcomed us again to talk about their involvement in the community and the services they provide.

Beyond the five daily prayers offered at the Islamic Center, there is a sisters’ Arabic class every Sunday and a youth program called Star that takes place every other weekend.

The Mosque just started a talk session that happens every fourth Saturday during the evening. These talks are a way for the community to get to know each other, there is a number of ethnic groups that show up, “people from all over the world,” as Imam Taalib Mahdee puts it.

Fridays are their weekend service day, but these Saturdays give an opportunity for people to sit down and understand each other’s cultures. Among these are Bangladeshi, Indo-Pakistani, and many different African backgrounds. “We really have a mixture,” Imam Taalib Mahdee says.

A fundraising dinner on the last weekend of September takes place every year.

On Eid, an Islamic holiday that takes place twice a year, prayer is held at the mosque. After breakfast is served, Dorchester neighbors are offered a day filled with community activities.

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Getting to know Imam Taalib Mahded from the Dorchester Al-Qur’aan Mosque

Responsibilities to the neighborhood

Imam Taalib Mahdee explained that beyond the responsibilities he has to the congregation, he tries to take care of things “outside the community” in order to “help shape ideas.”

“Just like any other religious leader, you take on not only the roles and responsibilities of your congregation, but there are roles and responsibilities that you try to take care of outside of the community. You try to interact with the outside community to help shape ideas,” Mahdee says.

Mahdee also expressed the importance, in his view, of having a relationship with all mosques in the area.

“We try to have a relationship with all the mosques in the area because we’re of the same tradition and we’re in the same area so it makes sense for us to come together,” Mahdee says.

“It makes sense for us to come together and try to understand each other and how we can help each other in the overall effort of trying to share with other people what Islam is. From that sense, we are related to all the mosques,” the Imam said.

Imam Taalib Mahdee belongs to a group called the Islamic Society of New England which is an umbrella organization composed of 23 Mosques. Mosque Al-Quraan also collaborates with the Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center (ISBCC) by sharing information and visiting each other’s services to keep in touch.