Building Name: | Mosque No. 12 |
Location: | 1319-21 West Susquehanna Avenue, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, United States |
Religious Affiliation: | Islam |
Architect: | Jacob Naschold |
Minaret Quantity: | 0 |
Mosque No. 12, also known as Masjid Makkah, is a mosque in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It came to prominence in the early 1960s when a building was leased by the Nation of Islam, converted for use as a mosque, and placed under the direction of Malcolm X, who was a minister there and at Mosque No. 7 until he left the organization for Sunni Islam in 1964.
Originally built over a century ago for a trade school, it was leased as Mosque No. 12 of the Nation of Islam in 1962 (all Nation of Islam sites were initially called Temples; the NOI switched to the term mosque as a move to add to the Nation's legitimacy by adding elements from mainstream Islam). The mosque was later moved to 2508 North Broad Street.
Malcolm X was named minister of Temple No. 12 by Elijah Muhammad.[1] When Malcolm X left the Nation of Islam, he started a Sunni Muslim mosque named Muslim Mosque Inc.
In 1974, four members of Mosque No. 12 were charged with killing the family of Hamaas Abdul Khaalis[2] at the Hanafi American Mussulman's Rifle and Pistol Club. Khaalis was a leader of the Hanafis, a Sunni Muslim school of jurisprudence (fiqh), and the killers were upset by letters he had written that attacked Elijah Muhammad.