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Masjid As Saffat

Masjid As-Saffat is a Sunni Muslim house of worship and community center in Baltimore, Maryland, founded in 1971 and recognized as the oldest masjid in the state. It is the home masjid of the Upshaw family, the congregational and community anchor of their independent Sunni faith and the center of the religious life that shaped Rafiq Upshaw and his mother Safiya Upshaw.

Overview

Masjid As-Saffat is a Baltimore institution founded in 1971 and recognized as the oldest masjid in Maryland. The Upshaws belonged to an independent Sunni line rather than entering Sunni practice through the Nation of Islam’s 1975 transition. For the family, the masjid supported Friday prayer, Ramadan nights, Eid gatherings, religious education, and community relationships beyond the home.

The Masjid as Community Institution

In Black American Sunni Muslim life, a masjid is a comprehensive community institution rather than a building visited once a week, and Masjid As-Saffat functioned this way for the families who belonged to it. It was the site of the Friday Jumu’ah prayer that gathered the community each week, of the nightly Tarawih prayers during Ramadan, and of the congregational Eid celebrations, and it was the kind of place where worship, instruction, charity, mutual aid, and the ordinary social life of a community all overlapped. For an observant family, the masjid was where the private practice of the household met the public life of the faith, the place the Upshaw children were brought into a community larger than their own house. See Black American Sunni Islam Reference.

Relationship to Characters

Rafiq Upshaw

Masjid As-Saffat was Rafiq’s congregational home from childhood. Jumu’ah, Ramadan nights, Eid gatherings, and communal worship formed part of the religious practice he carried into Patuxent Institution. When Safiya died, he declined a shackled, escorted leave rather than attend her janazah in restraints. See Safiya Upshaw’s Death (2030).

Safiya Upshaw

For Safiya, the masjid was the congregational community that complemented the daily religious structure she maintained at home.

History

Masjid As-Saffat was founded in 1971, making it the oldest masjid in Maryland. It served as the Upshaw family’s home masjid.

Locations Gathering Spaces Baltimore Religious Sites