Top 25 Most Beautiful & Biggest/Largest Mosques in USA

America's most beautiful mosques range from a gold-domed Ottoman complex in Maryland to an adobe mosque on a New Mexico mesa and a 1934 prairie meeting house in Iowa. The largest is the Islamic Center of America in Dearborn, Michigan, widely described as the biggest mosque in North America. This guide covers 25 mosques worth a visit for faith, architecture or American history, with the address, the opening year, what to look for and how to visit respectfully.

Islam arrived in America long before most of these buildings, but the story you can see in stone starts in the 1920s with immigrants from the Ottoman Levant and South Asian farmworkers, then runs through the civil rights era in Harlem and Washington to the suburban megacenters of Texas and Virginia. If you are still planning the wider trip, start with our United States travel guide and our list of famous landmarks in the USA.

How we chose these 25 mosques: We looked for architecture that rewards a visit, a real place in American history, or sheer size and community life. Opening years, heights and capacities were checked against public records and published histories in October 2026. Where sources disagree on a date, we say so. Every mosque here is a working place of worship first, so entry is free but always depends on prayer times and the community's welcome.

Some reference points before you start: the oldest purpose-built mosque (in Iowa) dates from 1934, Dearborn holds more than 3,000 worshippers, and the Washington minaret rises 160 feet.

Quick comparison of the biggest and most beautiful mosques in the USA

Each row gives the state, what to look for and the main reason to go, with a link to the full entry.

Top 25 most beautiful and largest mosques in the USA: full guide

Islamic Center of America, Dearborn, Michigan

Drive west along Ford Road in Dearborn and the white landmark dome of this Shia mosque rises over the trees long before you reach the car park. The Islamic Center of America moved to this site in 2005 after decades in Detroit, and it is widely described as the largest mosque in North America. The building holds roughly 120,000 square feet of interior space under a single dome about 150 feet tall on the outside, flanked by two minarets. Inside, more than 3,000 worshippers can pray at once, with a women's mezzanine above the main floor, a library, meeting rooms and a large hall used for weddings and community dinners.

The congregation dates back to 1949, and it is often cited as the oldest purpose-built Shia mosque in the country. That history matters in Dearborn, a city with one of the largest Arab American populations in the United States. Visitors who come for the architecture usually pair it with lunch on Warren Avenue, where Lebanese and Yemeni bakeries open early. The honest caveat: this is a busy working mosque, so turning up during Friday prayers without notice is the wrong moment for a photo walk.

• Address: 19500 Ford Road, Dearborn, MI
• Opened here: 2005 (congregation founded 1949)
• Look for: Main dome about 150 ft tall, two minarets
• Visiting: Free; arrange group visits with the office

Architecture lovers can make a half-day trip from Detroit of it, adding Dearborn's Arab American food streets.

Diyanet Center of America, Lanham, Maryland

If you want to see a 16th-century Istanbul mosque without flying to Turkey, this Maryland complex, the most Ottoman in style of any mosque in the country, is the closest thing. The mosque at the Diyanet Center of America follows classical Ottoman design, with a central dome stepping down through half-domes and small cupolas, in the manner of the Süleymaniye Mosque. Two pencil-thin minarets frame the courtyard. Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan attended the official opening on 2 April 2016, and reports at the time put the cost of the whole complex at around $110 million.

The mosque sits within a campus of about 15 to 16 acres that also holds a cultural center, a guest house, a restaurant and shops, and a recreation building with a Turkish bathhouse. Reported prayer capacity is about 1,400. The interior is the reason to come: hand-painted calligraphy, a carved marble minbar and a carpet that runs wall to wall in deep red. It is a 25 to 35 minute drive from central Washington depending on traffic, so a car or ride-hail works better than public transport.

• Area: Lanham/Seabrook, Prince George's County, MD
• Opened: Official opening 2 April 2016
• Look for: Cascading domes, twin minarets, calligraphy
• Visiting: Free; Turkish restaurant on site

Photographers should go on a weekday afternoon, when the courtyard is quiet and the light hits the domes from the west.

Islamic Center of Washington, D.C.

Most visitors already know this Embassy Row classic from photographs: a white limestone facade on Massachusetts Avenue, set at an angle to the street so that the prayer hall faces Mecca, with a 160-foot minaret above it. The cornerstone was laid in January 1949, construction finished in 1954, and President Dwight Eisenhower dedicated the building on 28 June 1957. Italian architect Mario Rossi drew the design.

Turkey sent the tiles and the craftsmen who set them, which explains the blue and white panels that line the interior walls. The center has a library and classrooms for Arabic and Islamic studies. Our guide to the world's most beautiful mosques includes this building alongside far older ones, and it holds up in that company. The caveat is space: on Fridays the hall fills and worshippers spill into the courtyard, so plan sightseeing for another day.

• Area: Massachusetts Avenue NW, Embassy Row
• Dedicated: 28 June 1957
• Look for: 160 ft minaret, Turkish tilework
• Visiting: Free; modest dress required

On a first trip to Washington, walk there from Dupont Circle along Embassy Row in about 20 minutes.

Islamic Cultural Center of New York, Manhattan

Manhattan's grid runs 29 degrees off true north, and the Islamic Cultural Center on Third Avenue, a modernist landmark designed by SOM, turns its back on it. Skidmore, Owings and Merrill rotated the whole building so the prayer hall faces Mecca, which gives the corner of East 96th Street an oddly calm, angled presence among the apartment blocks. Construction started in May 1987 and the mosque opened on 15 April 1991 for Eid al-Fitr.

The design is a modernist take on a mosque: a square hall under a copper dome about 90 feet high, a 130-foot minaret, and glass panels patterned with geometric designs. The main prayer hall holds around 1,000 people. Architecture students come specifically to see how the design reconciles the grid and the qibla. The 96th Street station on the Q line is a short walk away. Caveat: entry for non-worshippers is easiest outside the five daily prayer times, and security asks larger groups to call ahead.

• Address: 1711 Third Avenue at East 96th Street
• Opened: 15 April 1991
• Look for: Rotated plan, copper dome, 130 ft minaret
• Visiting: Free; call ahead for groups

Design fans can pair it with the museums of Museum Mile, a ten-minute walk west.

Islamic Center of Greater Toledo, Perrysburg, Ohio

Drivers on Interstate 75 south of Toledo often do a double take at this highway landmark: two 135-foot minarets and a gold dome standing over flat Ohio farmland. The Islamic Center of Greater Toledo opened on 23 October 1983, designed by architect Talat Itil, and The New York Times described it at the time as the largest traditional-style mosque in North America. University of Toledo astronomers helped fix its orientation toward Mecca.

The gold-coloured geodesic dome you see today replaced an ageing original in 2004. Inside, stained glass throws coloured light across the prayer hall in the afternoon. The center runs a food bank, a full-time school and an annual international festival that draws people from across northwest Ohio. In 2001 it appointed a woman as president, reported as a first for an American Islamic center. It is an easy stop if you are driving between Detroit and Columbus.

• Address: 25877 Scheider Road, Perrysburg, OH
• Opened: 23 October 1983
• Look for: Two 135 ft minarets, gold dome, stained glass
• Visiting: Free; best on the annual festival day

Road trippers will find it minutes from I-75, a natural break on a Detroit to Columbus drive.

Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center, Roxbury

Boston builds in red brick, and so does its biggest mosque, opened in 2009. The Islamic Society of Boston Cultural Center on Malcolm X Boulevard in Roxbury covers about 70,000 square feet and is described as the largest mosque in New England. Saudi architect Sami Angawi produced the concept, and the local firm Steffian Bradley Associates drew the plans, which is why the dome and minaret sit on a base that matches the surrounding neighbourhood.

First prayers took place in September 2007 and the building was formally inaugurated on 26 June 2009. Around 1,700 people attend Friday prayers, and on Eid the society runs multiple sessions with neighbouring mosques for about 10,000 worshippers. The center offers regular open houses and is used to fielding questions from first-time visitors. Roxbury Crossing station on the Orange Line is the closest stop.

• Address: 100 Malcolm X Blvd, Roxbury, Boston
• Inaugurated: 26 June 2009
• Look for: Brick facade, dome, single minaret
• Visiting: Free; open-house events through the year

If you want a guided introduction, check the center's calendar for open-house dates before you go.

King Fahad Mosque, Culver City, California

On Washington Boulevard in Culver City, a 72-foot minaret topped with a gold-leaf crescent marks the King Fahad Mosque, a Los Angeles landmark and one of the most recognisable Islamic buildings in Southern California. Work started in April 1996 and the mosque opened in 1998, funded by the Saudi royal family: the land purchase in 1993 and the construction from 1995.

The prayer hall can hold about 2,000 people, and the complex covers roughly 77,500 square feet of land. The facade uses pale stone with arched windows, and the interior is lit by a large chandelier under a coffered ceiling. It sits close to the Sony Pictures lot and the restaurants of downtown Culver City, so it fits easily into a day on the west side of Los Angeles. Parking is limited on Fridays, when the street outside fills quickly.

• Address: 10980 Washington Blvd, Culver City, CA
• Opened: 1998
• Look for: 72 ft minaret with gold-leaf crescent
• Visiting: Free; avoid Friday midday

In Los Angeles, combine it with Culver City's food scene, a five-minute drive away.

Dar al Islam, Abiquiú, New Mexico

High on a mesa in the Chama River valley, an hour or so north of Santa Fe, sits the most unusual mosque in America, an adobe masterpiece by Hassan Fathy. The Egyptian architect designed the mosque and madrasa at Dar al Islam in sun-dried mud brick, using the vaults and domes he had developed for village housing on the Nile. Sources put construction around 1980 to 1981, with the community opening in 1982.

Fathy brought Nubian master builders to train local craftsmen, and the result looks as if it grew out of the red earth around it. The land faces the same landscapes Georgia O'Keeffe painted from her Abiquiú home nearby. Dar al Islam today runs educational retreats and summer programmes, and visits are arranged in advance, so contact the organisation first. The road in is unpaved for the last stretch; a normal car manages it in dry weather.

• Area: County Road 155, near Abiquiú, NM
• Built: About 1980 to 1981
• Look for: Nubian vaults, adobe domes, mesa views
• Visiting: By arrangement only

Architecture pilgrims can build it into a Santa Fe stay and a drive through O'Keeffe country.

Mother Mosque of America, Cedar Rapids, Iowa

Small, white and closer in look to a prairie meeting house, this historic site in Cedar Rapids, finished in 1934, is widely considered the oldest still-standing purpose-built mosque in the United States. Immigrants from what is now Lebanon and Syria completed it on 15 February 1934, and it served the community as a place of worship for nearly 40 years.

When the congregation built the larger Islamic Center of Cedar Rapids in 1971, the old building was sold and fell into disrepair. The Islamic Council of Iowa bought it back in 1991 and restored it. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1996 under the name Moslem Temple. Floods in June 2008 put ten feet of water in its basement and destroyed books and archive material. A visit takes half an hour and tells a story most people never hear: Muslims farming and trading in Iowa in the 1920s.

• Address: 1335 9th Street NW, Cedar Rapids, IA
• Completed: 15 February 1934
• Look for: Modest dome, original 1930s hall
• Visiting: Free; contact ahead for tours

History lovers should call ahead, as opening depends on volunteers.

Al-Sadiq Mosque, Bronzeville, Chicago

Built in 1922 for the Ahmadiyya community, Al-Sadiq Mosque on South Wabash Avenue in Bronzeville ranks among the earliest mosques in the United States. It grew out of the work of Mufti Muhammad Sadiq, the Ahmadiyya missionary who arrived in America in 1920 and set up the movement's headquarters in Chicago the following year. The building was paid for largely by African American converts.

Chicago stayed the Ahmadiyya national headquarters until 1950. The mosque today has a single dome and four small minarets, modest in size but full of meaning for the city's Black Muslim history. Bronzeville itself rewards a walk, as the historic heart of Black Chicago. The Green Line's 47th Street station is close. Caveat: this is a neighbourhood congregation, so check the community's schedule before turning up.

• Address: 4448 S Wabash Ave, Chicago, IL
• Built: 1922
• Look for: Small dome, four minarets
• Visiting: Free; ask ahead

Anyone tracing early American Muslim history should add the Bronzeville walking trail.

Masjid Malcolm Shabazz, Harlem

At the corner of Malcolm X Boulevard and West 116th Street in Harlem, a green onion dome caps the mosque most closely tied to Malcolm X and to civil rights history. The congregation began in 1946 as Temple No. 7 of the Nation of Islam, and Malcolm X became its minister in 1954. The building at 102 West 116th Street was badly damaged by a bombing in 1965, days after his assassination.

Architect Sabbath Brown redesigned the building afterwards, and its large green dome now defines the corner. In 1976, after the congregation moved toward Sunni Islam under Wallace D. Muhammad, it was renamed Masjid Malcolm Shabazz in his honour. Imam Talib Abdur-Rashid, who led it for about three decades, died in 2025. The streets around it hold West African restaurants and the Malcolm Shabazz Harlem Market. Take the 2 or 3 train to 116th Street.

• Address: 102 West 116th Street, Harlem
• Founded: 1946 as Temple No. 7
• Look for: Green onion dome added after 1965
• Visiting: Exterior viewing; ask before entering

Civil rights history is the draw. Continue on a Harlem walk past the Apollo Theater on 125th Street.

Masjid Muhammad, Washington, D.C.

Most visitors to Washington walk past Fourth Street NW without knowing it holds one of the most important mosques in Black American history, known as The Nation's Mosque. Masjid Muhammad opened in 1960 as Temple 4 of the Nation of Islam, with Malcolm X helping to establish it, and adopted its current name in the 1980s when it moved into mainstream Sunni Islam.

It is the second-oldest mosque in Washington and the oldest founded by African American descendants of enslaved people, which is where the nickname comes from. The building is plain brick with a modest entrance; the history is the attraction. The congregation runs outreach programmes and is known for welcoming students. It lies in Truxton Circle, a short walk from the Mount Vernon Square area.

• Address: 1519 4th Street NW, Washington, D.C.
• Opened: 1960
• Look for: Historic brick building, community murals nearby
• Visiting: Contact ahead

It matters most to visitors interested in African American religious history in the capital.

Islamic Center of Irving, Texas

Founded in 1991 in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, the Islamic Center of Irving, on Esters Road near DFW Airport, is a Texas powerhouse and one of the largest Muslim communities in the state, drawing around 3,000 worshippers a week. It has grown into a campus with a mosque, a full-time school and a multi-use hall, with further construction phases still underway.

Architecturally it is functional more than ornate, but the scale on Eid mornings is extraordinary, with prayers spilling across car parks. If you have a long layover at DFW, it is one of the closest major mosques to the terminals. Our flight search lists DFW connections from most international hubs. Expect construction fencing on parts of the site through the expansion period.

• Address: 2555 Esters Road, Irving, TX
• Founded: 1991
• Look for: Large campus, school and hall
• Visiting: Free; quiet weekday mornings

With a DFW layover, this is a prayer stop close to the airport.

Islamic Center of Southern California, Los Angeles

Set on South Vermont Avenue in the Wilshire Center district near Koreatown, next to the Chinese Consulate General, this institution grew from a congregation founded in 1952 and moved into its current building in the 1970s. The Islamic Center of Southern California is non-denominational and has long been known for interfaith work and for producing writers and civic leaders.

The building is a low modern block with no showpiece dome, so come for the community and its programmes. Metro's Wilshire/Vermont station is a short walk. If you are comparing Los Angeles mosques for architecture, King Fahad in Culver City is the more photogenic stop; this one is the better place to learn how Muslim life in the city developed.

• Address: 434 S Vermont Ave, Los Angeles
• Founded: 1952 (current site 1970s)
• Look for: Modern 1970s building, community programmes
• Visiting: Free; open-door programmes

Come here for conversation and context about Muslim Los Angeles.

Mosque Foundation, Bridgeview, Illinois

Since it opened in 1980, the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview, southwest of Chicago, has been the anchor of one of the Midwest's biggest Arab American communities. The surrounding streets are lined with Palestinian and Jordanian bakeries and grocers.

The mosque fills to capacity for Friday prayers and the two Eid holidays, and the community around it runs schools and social services. Visit on a weekday and finish with knafeh from one of the nearby bakeries. A car is the practical way in; public transport from downtown Chicago takes well over an hour.

• Area: Bridgeview, Cook County, IL
• Opened: 1980
• Look for: Busy prayer hall, Arab American shops
• Visiting: Free; weekdays are calmest

Food-minded travellers will find the bakeries nearby as much of a draw as the mosque.

Masjid Al-Jamia, Philadelphia

A mosque in a cinema: West Philly's Masjid Al-Jamia occupies the former Commodore Theatre at 4228 Walnut Street, a 1928 cinema with a Moorish facade in Spanish Revival style. The congregation grew out of the Muslim Students Association at the University of Pennsylvania, though sources disagree on whether it began in the 1970s or 1988.

The arched facade and decorative stonework already looked like a mosque before anyone prayed inside, which makes this one of the most charming conversions in the country. Much of the old cinema interior has been changed. It is a short walk from Penn's campus and the 40th Street station on the Market-Frankford Line. Students make up a large part of the Friday crowd during term.

• Address: 4228 Walnut Street, West Philadelphia
• Building: Cinema opened 1928
• Look for: Moorish-style arches on the old theatre front
• Visiting: Free; quietest outside term

Fans of adaptive reuse can follow it with a walk through University City.

Islamic Center of San Francisco

Founded in 1959, the Islamic Center of San Francisco is the oldest mosque in the Bay Area and the second oldest in California. It sits in a residential street with no showpiece setting, and the building itself is modest.

The value of the visit is its place in the region's story: the center served students, sailors and immigrant families long before the tech era. It works well as a short stop for travellers interested in how Islam took root on the West Coast. Muni buses reach it easily; parking on the street is tight.

• Area: San Francisco, CA
• Founded: 1959
• Look for: Modest historic building
• Visiting: Contact ahead

History-minded travellers already in San Francisco can fit it into an afternoon.

Muslim Mosque Association, Sacramento

Established in 1947 with Punjabi roots, the Muslim Mosque Association in Sacramento is regarded as the oldest mosque in the western United States. Its story begins with South Asian farmworkers in California's Central Valley, many of them Punjabi Muslims who came in the early twentieth century.

The building has a small minaret, and it remains a working neighbourhood mosque. For travellers driving between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe on Interstate 80, Sacramento is a natural stop, and this mosque adds a layer of history few guidebooks mention. Pair it with the California State Railroad Museum in Old Sacramento.

• Area: Sacramento, CA
• Established: 1947
• Look for: Small minaret, historic congregation
• Visiting: Free; ask ahead

It sits right on the I-80 route between the Bay Area and the Sierra Nevada.

Dar Al-Hijrah Islamic Center, Falls Church, Virginia

A Northern Virginia mainstay at Seven Corners in Fairfax County, Dar Al-Hijrah opened in 1991 and serves one of the most diverse Muslim congregations around Washington, with families from Africa, South Asia and the Arab world.

Friday prayers are crowded, with services repeated in shifts. The center offers social services and runs community dinners in Ramadan that welcome non-Muslim guests. From central Washington it is about 20 minutes by car outside rush hour. Expect parking to be very difficult at prayer times.

• Area: Seven Corners, Falls Church, VA
• Opened: 1991
• Look for: Diverse congregation, Ramadan dinners
• Visiting: Free; avoid Friday midday

In Ramadan, ask whether the center is hosting an iftar you can join as a guest.

ADAMS Center, Sterling, Virginia

Founded in 1983 in Loudoun County, the All Dulles Area Muslim Society, known as ADAMS, has become a suburban giant and one of the biggest Muslim congregations in the country, with several prayer locations around the Dulles corridor. Its main center in Sterling sits close to Washington Dulles International Airport.

It is a practical stop for travellers arriving through Dulles who want to pray before driving on. The center is known for interfaith programmes and for hosting public officials. Visitors are generally welcomed outside prayer times; call the office if you are bringing a group.

• Area: Sterling, Loudoun County, VA
• Founded: 1983
• Look for: Large modern prayer hall
• Visiting: Free; near Dulles Airport

Flying into Dulles, this is the nearby mosque to know.

Islamic Society of Baltimore, Catonsville, Maryland

Dating back to 1969, the Islamic Society of Baltimore in Catonsville made national headlines in 2016 when Barack Obama made his first visit to an American mosque as president there. The campus includes a mosque, schools and community facilities.

The presidential visit put an ordinary suburban congregation on the map, and the society still uses that moment to reach out to the wider public. Architecturally it is modest; the visit is about place and story. Catonsville is about 20 minutes by car from Baltimore's Inner Harbor.

• Area: Catonsville, Baltimore County, MD
• Founded: 1969
• Look for: Campus with schools and hall
• Visiting: Free; contact ahead

It slots in neatly if you are combining Baltimore and Washington on one trip.

East Plano Islamic Center (EPIC), Texas

EPIC Masjid in Plano opened its main building in 2015 and represents the newer, contemporary generation of American mosque design in Texas: clean lines, big windows and a layout designed around families, youth programmes and a school. Friday prayers here draw a congregation as large as any in North Texas.

Plano sits about 30 minutes north of Dallas by car, and the mosque is easy to combine with the restaurants of the Dallas suburbs. Weekends bring classes and events, so weekdays are better for a quiet look around. It is worth a stop if you are interested in how American Muslims design new buildings today.

• Area: Plano, Collin County, TX
• Opened: 2015
• Look for: Contemporary design, large windows
• Visiting: Free; weekdays quieter

Curious about how suburban Texas mosques look today? This is the one to see.

Jamaica Muslim Center (Masjid Al-Mamoor), Queens

Established in Queens in 1976, Masjid Al-Mamoor, better known as the Jamaica Muslim Center, is a community hub counted among the largest multi-purpose Muslim sites in the United States. Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Guyanese and West African families make up much of the congregation.

The surrounding streets of Jamaica are packed with South Asian sweet shops and halal restaurants, which makes this an easy stop for travellers staying near JFK. The building is functional, with little ornament. Eid prayers here are some of the largest in New York City, filling the street outside.

• Area: Jamaica, Queens, NY
• Established: 1976
• Look for: Busy multi-purpose center
• Visiting: Free; close to JFK

Staying near JFK? After prayer, try the nearby Bangladeshi sweet shops.

Islamic Foundation, Villa Park, Illinois

A pioneer of the western suburbs, the Islamic Foundation in Villa Park, west of Chicago, was established in 1974 and grew into a large school campus with a mosque and a full-time school. A second branch, Islamic Foundation North, opened in Libertyville in 2004.

Muslim life in DuPage County revolves around this centre, and the size of its school says a lot about how the community has grown. Metra trains on the Union Pacific West line serve Villa Park from downtown Chicago. Visit outside school drop-off times to avoid traffic around the campus.

• Area: Villa Park, DuPage County, IL
• Established: 1974
• Look for: Mosque and school campus
• Visiting: Free; ask ahead

It is the easy choice if you are staying in Chicago's western suburbs.

American Fazl Mosque, Washington, D.C.

Opened in 1950, the American Fazl Mosque on Massachusetts Avenue is an Ahmadiyya landmark that served as the national headquarters of the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in the United States until 1994. It sits a short distance from the Islamic Center of Washington, so you can see both on one walk.

The building is a converted residence with a small dome, far quieter than its famous neighbour. Its history covers the years when Chicago's Ahmadiyya headquarters moved to the capital, linking it directly to Al-Sadiq Mosque in this list. Ask before entering, as it is a community space with no visitor programme.

• Area: Massachusetts Avenue NW, Washington, D.C.
• Opened: 1950
• Look for: Converted residence with small dome
• Visiting: Ask before entering

See it together with the Islamic Center of Washington on the same Embassy Row walk.

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Which US mosque is the largest, and which is the oldest?

The Islamic Center of America in Dearborn is the mosque most often named the largest in the United States and in North America, with about 120,000 square feet inside and room for more than 3,000 worshippers. Size rankings get muddy quickly, though, because some communities count a whole campus of schools and halls while others count only the prayer hall. The Diyanet Center of America covers a bigger plot of land, and Boston's Roxbury mosque is the largest in New England.

The oldest question has two answers. The Mother Mosque of America in Cedar Rapids, finished in 1934, is usually called the oldest surviving purpose-built mosque. Al-Sadiq Mosque in Chicago dates from 1922 and is also claimed as the oldest standing mosque, and an earlier mosque built in 1929 near Ross, North Dakota, was later rebuilt. When people say oldest, ask which definition they mean: built as a mosque from the start, still standing, or still in use.

How to plan a mosque trail across the USA by region

The East Coast gives the densest route. In Washington you can see the Islamic Center on Embassy Row, the American Fazl Mosque nearby and Masjid Muhammad across town in a single day, then drive out to the Diyanet Center in Maryland. New York adds the Islamic Cultural Center on Third Avenue, Masjid Malcolm Shabazz in Harlem and the Jamaica Muslim Center in Queens. Boston and Philadelphia are each an easy train ride from New York.

The Midwest suits a road trip. Dearborn, Perrysburg and Chicago sit within a day's driving of each other, and Cedar Rapids is about four hours west of Chicago by car. In the West, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Sacramento and Abiquiú are far apart, so pick one region and leave the others for another trip. Compare hotels close to the mosques you most want to see, since several sit in suburbs where public transport is thin.

International visitors should check entry rules for their passport through the official U.S. government visa portal well before booking; our visa section explains the general process. Most travellers fly into New York, Washington Dulles, Chicago O'Hare, Dallas-Fort Worth or Los Angeles, and all five cities have at least one mosque from this list within an hour of the airport.

Tips for visiting mosques in the USA as a traveller

Visitors are welcome at most US mosques if they dress modestly, take their shoes off at the prayer hall and come between prayers. Cover shoulders and knees, bring a scarf if you are a woman, avoid Friday midday, the busiest time of the week, and ask before photographing anyone at prayer.

• Shoes off at the door. Every mosque has shoe racks at the entrance to the prayer hall. Wear socks you are happy to be seen in and shoes that slip on and off easily.
• Dress modestly. Cover shoulders and knees. Women are usually asked to cover their hair in the prayer hall; many larger mosques keep scarves at the entrance, but bring your own to be safe.
• Avoid prayer times. Visits go best between prayers. Friday midday is the busiest moment of the week everywhere, so choose another day for sightseeing.
• Ask before photographing. Photos of the building are normally fine. Ask before photographing people who are praying, and keep your phone silent inside.
• Call ahead for groups. Groups, school trips and tour parties should contact the office first. Many centers will arrange a guide who can answer questions.
• Ramadan evenings. During Ramadan many mosques host iftar dinners at sunset and some welcome non-Muslim guests. It is the warmest introduction you can get, but ask first.

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