KOBE, Japan—In the United States alone, there are 2,769 masjids, or mosques.
In Japan, there are just 113.
The Islamic community in Texas is prospering. There are multiple masjids in the Dallas-Fort Worth area, both small and large. Some of the larger masjids, like De Soto House of Peace or EPIC masjid, are so large that they have indoor basketball courts or their own coffee shops.
But in Japan, space is extremely limited as land is expensive. Although the masjids in Japan are different in that they may not have the “everything is bigger in Texas” style, they do have history.
The Kobe Muslim Mosque became Japan’s first mosque when constructed in 1935. It was welcomed as a sign of Japan’s tolerance to religion. But during World War II, the masjid was overtaken by the Japanese Imperial Navy. Miraculously, the masjid survived Allied air raids on the city of Kobe. Historical photographs reveal houses and buildings around the masjid to be entirely destroyed while the white concrete of the masjid stood proudly.
The masjid was tested yet again in 1995. The Great Hanshin Earthquake struck the Hanshin area with a magnitude of 7.2 on the Richter scale. More than 6,000 people died and 35,000 people were injured. But the masjid was virtually untouched and served as an evacuation center for displaced families.
The Kobe Muslim Mosque faculty said they may not have the size or the large Muslim population of Texas, but they said they believed they had quality people as worshipers.
In the accompanying video, Imam Yusef discusses the looming task ahead of conveying the religion in Japanese.
