There are several small so-called Ismaili Centers in town, including one in Katy, so I suspect that they will all still survive as prayer locations for convenience sake throughout town.
However, there has never been a full-blown Aga Khan Ismaili Center in the USA until now. There are only six worldwide.
As such, Houston is a very special location! Can’t wait to tour the place once its done! It’s destined to become a Houston landmark!
Of course, there are many other Islamic Mosques from other Muslim denominations all over town, and I would imagine some non-denominational ones as well. I have not heard that Hakeem is an Ismaili (Sevener Shiite) Muslim. Only 5% of Nigerian Muslims belong to any Shiite denomination (95% are Sunnis), and Ismailis are almost non-existent in West Africa; sizable communities exist in East Africa.
Olajuwon’s project has been open for about 10 years. It’s on the corner of Main and Franklin in the northern part of downtown. It’s an old bank building.
That’s a Masjid (mosque), and it appears to be a Sunni one, based on the prayer posture that I see the people in prayer taking with their hands folded/placed across their bodies while standing (Shiites generally hold their arms down at their sides while standing).
Definitely not Ismaili.
Duce630
(DustinK - Still 97 hostages held by Hamas for a YEAR)
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Ok. I don’t know what Ismaili is then. Yes I was confusing it with the one at Franklin and Main. I think that has been open for more than 10 years but I don’t know. I remember it there in the 2000s.
When I worked in Tajikistan in my previous career, there was a minority ethnic group there called the Pamiris.
The Pamirs are mostly Ismaili (Sevener Shiite) Muslims.
This is why one of the big Ismaili centers is in Dushanbe, Tajikistan. However, most people in Tajikistan are ethnic Tajiks, who are nearly all Sunni Muslims. Pamiris make up maybe a 3% minority there.
There are essentially two major branches of Islam: Sunni and Shiite. Ibadhi is a third branch, though much smaller.
Within the Shiite branch, there are three major sub-branches: Fivers (such as the Houthis), they are a very small sect and only prominent in Yemen, Seveners (Ismailis), which have pockets of adherents in several parts of the world, particularly Central and South Asia, and Twelvers, which are by far the largest group of Shiites, and the dominant Muslim group in Iran, Iraq, Bahrain, and Azerbaijan (the only four countries with a Shiite majority).
The numerical designation is based upon which of the twelve “imams” that succeeded Muhammad’s nephew Ali each group believes has primacy. The twelfth imam vanished, but according to the Twelvers, has simply gone into occultation, and will return with Jesus Christ as the “Mahdi” commanding the “Mahdi Army” at the end of time.
The Ismaili (Sevener Shiite) sect is remarkable in a number of ways. Unlike Sunnis, and unlike other Shiite groups, the emphasis is not on sharia law and the sayings of Muhammad, but rather, a more magical and mystical approach that is highly pluralistic, though, like Twelver Shiites, they accept the Jafari School of Islamic Law.
There have been 49 hereditary leaders of the Ismaili sect, who hold the title “Aga Khan.”
Here is the current Aga Khan:
Here is more information on the Ismaili sect more generally.
Yep not freedom issue, it’s a jerk issue to be sure. Probably a hypocritical jerk issue at that.
Do you know what also isn’t a freedom issue? If one were to recognize one of the jerks, and report them to the jerk’s employer on the DL. Those would be called consequences of ones own actions.
