The five daily prayers at The Islamic Center of Central Missouri exemplify the meaning of Islam: submission to God.



The mosque’s religious leader, the imam, leads each prayer service by reciting Quran verses from memory. Worshippers form a row behind him, lowering themselves on their knees and touching their foreheads to the carpeted floor in the direction of the Muslim holy city of Mecca.

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“Glory be to God, you are the greatest.” the imam says in Arabic. The worshippers repeat his prayer.

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The prayer is one of the five pillars of Islam. The others include:

• New Muslims declaring that “there is no deity but God, and Muhammad is the messenger of God”
• Paying 2.5 percent of one’s capital towards the mosque’s religious or charitable activities
• Fasting during the month of Ramadan to purify the body
• Making the pilgrimage to Mecca if one is physically or financially able

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The Islamic Center serves as many as 400 worshippers during Friday afternoon when the Muslim community prays together. Operating council chairperson Azam Khaja said prayer attendance has increased in the last several years due to the growth in Columbia’s population and the influx of Muslim refugees and students. In 2010, the mosque reported that the center was host to 1,200 worshippers during the Muslim religious holidays of Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha.

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The Islamic Center does not proselytize but aims to attract people to the faith by correcting common misconceptions about Islam, such as their teachings that advocate for peace and not violence.

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The center is also looking for younger Muslim administrators and Muslim-American guest lecturers to better relate to Muslim millennials. In previous years, the mosque’s administrators were usually in their 50s and from foreign countries like Bosnia and Iraq.

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“It’s a different culture from what the older generation has experienced, just because the older generation doesn’t have a better understanding on the American culture or what it’s like to grow up in the United States,” said Adam Zino, an outreach officer at the center.

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Mirsada Ivancovich, principal the Islamic School of Columbia, which is next to the Islamic Center, said that Muslim communities in the United States have also found a renewed focus on spirituality in the last decade. Previously, the dominant culture in American mosques focused on the appearance of holiness, such as what to wear or which position to hold one’s arms during prayer.

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“I feel it in the guest speakers and the big conventions, people are paying more attention to the spiritual side of Islam as opposed to the form,” Ivancovich said. “We have more English-speaking scholars, youth who are born and raised here, and also some converts who are going to the Middle East and Mecca and Medina to learn religion and coming here and trying to … adopt our own kind of Islam.”