The Sacramento Area League of Associated Muslims Center, an Islamic center located off Community Oak Drive, will finalize phase three of their mission in May with the completion of their mosque.

Salam Center was established in 1987 in hopes of one day having a complete Muslim community center that would include a library, bookstore, school, counseling center, youth center, family corner and a mosque.

Phase one, which was started in the late 1980s, included on-site work such as boundary walls, landscaping and the front gate.  Phase two, which began in the early '90s, brought the completion of the community center, full-time school, weekend school and kitchen.  Phase three has been devoted to building the mosque.

Abdul Azeez, imam or prayer leader at the Salam Center, spoke of the need for a prayer center. 

“What we need is a full-time place for our prayers,” he said, adding that the center hosts about 500 people during Friday services.  “We have limited space now, and we’re certain that if we have additional space we will get a lot more people.”

Azeez said Salam Center has been using the community center hall to hold its prayer services and that it will be a nice change to have a mosque for Friday prayer services.

He added that the mosque will help with fundraising in order to offer the community more services, as well as increase service attendance.  The mosque capacity will be about 800.

Interior designer and architect Passant Abd-Elrazek has been working on the mosque for more than a year. She is a member of the center and had been looking for a way to get more involved. 

“I wanted to give back to the community in some way,” she said. “I have a background in architecture and I’m from the Middle East and I have a good background in the Islamic architecture, and this is how I'm giving back.”

She added that the interior of the mosque is being modeled after Egyptian mosques, except for the colors.

Abd-Elrazek noted that many mosques around the world, including Egyptian ones, are very colorful, but her goal for the Salam Center mosque is to keep it as neutral as possible.  The interior colors will include beige, tan and green. 

The focal point of the mosque will be the marble waterfall in the lobby that will cascade into two pools.

Farrukh Faeed, volunteer chairman of Salam's board of trustees, said dedicated volunteers such as Abd-Elrazek keep the center running.

“Salam Center is the most diverse of all the Islamic centers in Sacramento,” he said, adding that they also attract people from other faiths.  “We consider ourselves an American mosque.  It is open to people from all walks of life, religious beliefs, and national origin background, so we have a very active participation.”

Faeed has been volunteering at the center since 2007 and said the center has various committees where people can get involved, including the administrative, education, finance, fundraising, membership and religious services committees.

For more information on the Salam Center or how to get involved, visit salamcenter.org.