About Us
Our Founding Members
MAP’s founding board consisted of five community members with an initial term of 6 month that ended on June 30, 2010.
The founding members were:
Ishfaq Ahmad
Imtiaz Ahmed
Iftekhar Kazi
Imran Paniwala
Syed Hamid Jafri
Our Journey
Since its inception, MAP pursued an aggressive membership campaign to include the community in decision making and was blessed with 80 active members during the first few weeks of its existence. These members elected a new Board of Trustees and Executive Council in organization’s first General Body meeting on April 23, 2010.
MAP administration actively started looking for a rental facility to hold its services and gatherings and settled on a 2300 square feet office space in Wexford. This modest sized facility became the first masjid in North Hills where daily, Jummah and taraweeh prayers were held, monthly Family Nights provided socialization and education, and children learned about Islam with their friends at the Sunday school. This place would serve the community well for three years during which time the crowds grew to a level which required a larger place.
MAP Board members searched for a permanent home for MAP in Wexford and surrounding areas. Many properties were visited and evaluated; most were too expensive, did not have enough parking or not fit for expansion. Finally, a community member saw the ‘For Sale’ sign on a church in Gibsonia and the community decided to purchase the property after much deliberation.
MAP purchased the church for $310,000 and spent another $100,000 in renovations. Sunday school moved to the new location in January of 2014. Rest of services moved to the new location by summer of 2014.
Over next few years, MAP renovated the parking lots (providing spaces for 80 vehicles) and the basement turning it into the social hall with a modern kitchen and storage areas. Many maintenance related items were also addressed during these years as is common with any building that is used for commercial use.
The Muslim community has grown during the past 9 years of MAP (alhamdulillah). The Sunday school has more than 130 children registered and active membership stands at families. The strength of MAP has always been community involvement and there are always brothers and sisters willing to step up to assume leadership roles on the EC and school administration. The same community has always come to the support the running and future projects of MAP to ensure the facilities are up to date in serving the needs of our growing community. MAP has played an important role in providing the social and educational needs of the North Hills Muslim community and it hoped to continue to do so for many decades to come (inshallah).
Mission Statement
MAP (Muslim Association Of Greater Pittsburgh) is a non-political organization and is created to serve the religious, cultural, and social needs of the Muslims who reside in the Greater Pittsburgh area. All cultural and social activities will be conducted in accordance with the Quran and Sunnah (teachings of Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him).
Contact
Feel free to contact us with any questions.