Islamic Society of Orange County

Garden Grove, United States

The Islamic Society of Orange County (ISOC) sits on 5.2 acres in Garden Grove, California. ISOC was founded in 1976 and is today the largest Muslim community center in Southern California and one of the largest in the country. Construction on the current site began in 2000, replacing an earlier one-story facility on 13th Street that the ISOC had operated in since 1979.

The new, multistory stucco-faced building was constructed by architect Syed Raza. It is built in a traditional Islamic style, with a dome, two minarets, a courtyard, and Arabian, Persian, and Indian-inspired arches. The first phase of construction included a 17,000-square foot main prayer hall and mortuary. As the first purpose-built mosque in Orange County, prayer spaces could be oriented towards Mecca. The prayer hall is multistory and has separate entrances for men and women, with the women's prayer space on a mezzanine. The facility also includes a conference hall, cafeteria, meeting room, library, Islamic bookstore and gift shop, and the full-time accredited K-8 Orange Crescent School (OCS), one of the largest Islamic schools in the state.

Sources:

Gales, Elaine. "An Answer to Prayers." Los Angeles Times, February 5, 2000. Accessed February 26, 2015. http://articles.latimes.com/2000/feb/05/local/me-61389.

Haddad, Yvonne Yazbeck. Muslim communities in North America, 138. Albany: State Univ. of New York Press, 1994.

Islamic Society of Orange County website. Accessed February 26, 2015. http://www.isocmasjid.org/.

Lobdell, William. "Builders of New Mosque Put Faith in Ramadan." Los Angeles Times, November 27, 2000. Accessed February 26, 2015. http://articles.latimes.com/2000/nov/27/local/me-57849.