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Our story

From a borrowed room at Johns Hopkins to eight acres on Johnnycake Road.

Mission

To serve in accordance with the Quran and Sunnah, mindful of the American Muslim experience, and to invest in the next generation of American Muslim leaders and thinkers: a community of good character and excellent practice.

Vision

To be the anchor of a growing Muslim community from many backgrounds, democratically governed, inclusive and tolerant, and a good neighbour to everyone around it.

From Shaffer Hall to Johnnycake Road

Fifty-seven years ago a few families prayed in a borrowed room at Johns Hopkins. Today more than 3,000 people call Masjid Al-Rahmah their masjid.

  1. 1969

    Sundays at Shaffer Hall

    A handful of families, among them three Muslim doctors, met at Johns Hopkins University to pray, read Quran and learn Arabic. Friday prayer was held on campus too.

  2. 1982

    Masjid Al-Rahmah

    Bazaars on the Hopkins campus raised the first funds. ISB bought eight acres on Johnnycake Road and built a masjid for 180 people. On Fridays, 300 squeezed in.

  3. 1987

    A school of our own

    Al-Rahmah School opened with 27 students and a gym beside the masjid. The Quran Academy and the Sunday school followed, and the multipurpose hall was finished in 1997.

  4. 2016

    A president visits

    On 3 February 2016 President Obama made his first visit to an American mosque as president here, and spoke to a full hall about the place of Muslims in American life.

  5. 2024

    Three times the size, and a minaret

    The building has tripled in size. In 2024 a 78 foot minaret went up beside it, the first at a major Baltimore masjid, so the masjid finally matches the logo.

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Seventy-eight feet, and the masjid finally matches its logo

For years the ISB logo had a minaret and the masjid didn’t. In 2024 one went up beside the entrance: the first at a major Baltimore masjid, and the only free-standing tower of its kind in Maryland. It is silent. The adhan comes from your phone.

  1. 5

    The spire

    A dome in the red of the masjid’s domes, a gold spire and a crescent, 78 feet up.

  2. 4

    The drums

    Round tiers wrapped in a scale lattice, then an open ring of columns that glows at night.

  3. 3

    The balcony

    An octagonal platform like a muezzin’s balcony, its rail made of star-tile screens.

  4. 2

    The shaft

    Eight sided, with tall lattice slots, and the Shahada carved in a band around the top.

  5. 1

    The base

    Four piers on a 12 foot square, a round arch on every side with a lattice screen in its head and a smaller arch hanging below, open underneath.

The minaret from below at dusk: the octagonal shaft, the Shahada band and the lattice tiers
Close up of the star lattice screen in one of the minaret’s base arches
The entrance at night: the Shahada roundel lit gold between Muhammad and Allah, under the domes

The three roundels

Over the entrance hang three gold roundels. In the middle, the Shahada: there is no god but Allah, and Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah. To its sides, the names Muhammad ﷺ and Allah. After Maghrib they are lit from behind, and they are the first thing you see from Johnnycake Road.

Governed by its members: the ISB Council is elected by the General Body every three years, and the General Body meets twice a year.