The architects of the new Es-Selam Mosque in Granger took cues from traditional Islamic architecture.
Writer: Barbara Dietrich Boose
Photographer: Bob Blanchard
Rounding the gentle curves of Highway 141 west of Granger reveals a striking sight: a 130-foot-tall minaret and the gleaming golden dome of Es-Selam Mosque, home of the Islamic and Cultural Center Bosniak of Des Moines. The stunning structures rise from the verdant farm fields north of the highway, reflecting a growing religious community whose faith in the future is as strong as their faith in Allah. Their resilience and perseverance brought many of them from war and genocide in Bosnia to a place where they could not only find refuge but flourish.
Development of the 30-acre campus, which includes a picnic shelter, playground, soccer field, funeral home and cemetery, began more than 15 years ago and is now almost complete thanks to the hard work and contributions of mosque members, architects, contractors and Muslims from across Iowa and beyond.
On Sept. 27, the Islamic and Cultural Center Bosniak will celebrate its grand opening with a public event.
“Everything you see here was built out of the pockets of our members and the help of so many,” congregation president Elvedin Sivac said. “We are so grateful we received so much support to build this one-of-a-kind mosque.”
“This is our dream,” added Nermin Spahić, the center’s imam. “It has been a huge project for our small community, many of whom were fresh refugees.”
It’s a dream built on trust and collaboration. In Islamic finance, the concept of riba, often translated as “interest” or “usury,” is generally prohibited. Rather than take out loans to finance the purchase of the land and construction of the buildings, the congregation used donations of money, services and materials.
“We thought if we could collect even one dollar, that’s a step. Trust was the foundation, built as people saw us invest their money in ways it’s supposed to be,” Spahić said.
FINDING REFUGE IN FAITH
Elvedin Sivac arrived in Central Iowa in 1993, a year after war erupted in Bosnia and Herzegovina after the breakup of Yugoslavia. His sponsor met him at the Des Moines airport with a Bosnian translator, Beisa, who eventually became Sivac’s wife. In 2004, the couple registered the Islamic and Cultural Center Bosniak, which found a home in a former day care building on Lower Beaver Avenue. The growing congregation recruited Spahić as its permanent imam in 2005.
When the congregation purchased the land near Granger in 2009, its leaders met with Dallas County officials to make sure they could build a mosque and minaret on the site. “They said we could build it as tall as we wanted, which told us a lot about our neighbors,” Sivac said.
The first priority, however, was establishing a cemetery to ensure that congregation members’ funerals are conducted in accordance with Islamic traditions and customs. Today, its vertical headstones, imported from Bosnia, mark the final places of rest for Muslims from across Iowa, including many with roots in Bosnia, Egypt, Germany, Iraq and Somalia. The mosque’s 650 member families represent 18 nationalities. “Having the cemetery was one reason people could have trust in us, that we can provide this very important service,” Sivac said. “As people saw how organized everything was, word spread.”
An accompanying building, which serves as a funeral home and worship space, opened in 2014. Two years later the congregation invited Khalid Khan, a principal with Neumann Monson Architects, and his project team members, Joshua Palmer and Jackson den Herder, to design the new mosque. After months of discussions and planning, they broke ground for the structure on March 17, 2017.
“Initially, the plans were much more modest, but members of the congregation provided donations and were able to do a lot of the work, and many contractors donated and discounted services,” Khan said. That made budgeting and planning more challenging than with a construction loan, but open communications, agile adjustments and mutual respect among the congregation, architects and contractors made it possible.
“What attracted us to the project was the sense of community the members had and their desire to create something special for their future,” he said. “To me, this was not a mosque project. It’s a community-driven project.”
HONORING ALLAH THROUGH SYMBOLISM AND SERVICE
The Islamic and Cultural Center Bosniak incorporates structures and symbols of the Muslim faith. The dome of the mosque, which is 40 feet in diameter, represents Allah’s universe; its main doors are set in huge wood panels to represent a welcoming invitation to all. Inside, the mihrab, the indentation in the wall of the main worship area, marks the direction of the qiblah, the fixed direction to Mecca that Muslims face during prayer.
The minaret provides a towering platform for the calls to prayer. The five-pointed star and crescent moon at its top symbolize peace and reflect the five pillars of Islam: shahada (declaration of faith), salat (prayer), zakat (almsgiving), sawm (fasting) and hajj (pilgrimage). The main area of the mosque can accommodate more than 1,400 people, with ablution areas for men and women to perform the ritual washing, wudu, before worship. Flowing Arabic calligraphy adorns the interior with phrases from the Quran and names of Allah, the prophets and revered women in Islam.
All of these elements of the new campus represent the generous contributions of the congregation and many others who pitched in to help with the design and construction. The chandelier and carpets in the worship area, the tile in the bathrooms and ablution rooms, the materials for the picnic shelter and more were donated. Congregation members, many of their coworkers and Muslims from other states trucked in bricks, poured concrete, painted, landscaped the grounds and created the driveway, Bosniak Lane. The linden oaks near the mosque’s entrance have yellow-white flowers that offer a “cleansing” fragrance; each tree was purchased by donors to honor loved ones. Khan, who proposed the idea, bought the first one.
Sivac, the congregation president, has worked as a union carpenter for the past 13 years and built many of the wood features throughout the mosque, including the minbar, a staircase in the worship area from which sermons are given, and the honeycomb-patterned ceiling that nods to the bee colonies that he and imam Spahić manage on-site. Sivac’s cousin Munib Sivac created the ornate metal finials atop the mosque and minaret.
Sivac’s daughters, Hatidza, an Iowa State University graduate who is an event planner in Bowling Green, Kentucky, and Ajdina, an Iowa State student, are helping plan September’s grand opening, which is expected to draw thousands.
The construction effort went beyond Iowa and even the United States. Considering the minaret’s symbolic importance, Sivac drove 10 hours to Detroit to enlist the help of Safet Djulin Tabaković, a master builder who was just 15 when he started building minarets in Bosnia. Sivac persuaded him to design and construct the minaret at Es-Selam, where Tabaković lived on-site for 16 months and often worked up to 15 hours per day. Two master calligraphers from Bosnia, Velid Hodzic and Elvis Hajdarevic, also lived on-site during the three months they produced the calligraphy for the mosque’s dome and interior in coordination with the design team.
“In Bosnia, each village has its own mosque and minaret. It’s where people come together, people who give you good values for life,” Sivac said. “During the war, mosques and minarets were bombed and torn out, as if to tear down our faith. Having this center is so important to our community. This is a good place for us to be.”
A copy of the Quran is displayed in the mosque’s mihrab, a niche that faces the holy city of Mecca in Saudi Arabia.
In an area known as the wudu, pedestals and water faucets help congregants perform ritual ablutions, washing their face, forearms, hands and feet to prepare for prayers.
Two men pray at the qiblah wall, which faces Mecca.
A handcrafted chandelier adorned with Quranic scriptures hangs inside the mosque’s dome. It was custom-built in Turkey and given to the mosque by a donor.
Nermin Spahić has served as the congregation’s imam since 2005.
For details about the grand opening on Sept. 27, visit iccbosniak.com.
