Islamic Institute of America

01 / The story of this place

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Imam Hassan al-Qazwini had led Dearborn's Islamic Center of America for eighteen years, since 1997, before leaving in 2015 to establish his own congregation, the Islamic Institute of America, on Beech Daly Road in Dearborn Heights. The new institute grew quickly among metro Detroit's Shia Muslim community, drawing more than a thousand member families within a decade. Funded by community donations, the Institute began building a major new campus on the site, and in April 2026 it opened the first piece of that project, the golden-domed Imamain Al-Hasnain Mosque, with room for more than a thousand worshippers. When finished, the roughly sixty-thousand-square-foot campus, costing an estimated sixteen million dollars, is meant to rank among North America's largest mosques. Imam al-Qazwini continues to lead the growing institute today.

1. Founded in 2015 by Imam Hassan al-Qazwini after he left the Islamic Center of America
2. Grew to more than a thousand member families within a decade
3. The Imamain Al-Hasnain Mosque, part of a new campus, opened April 2026
4. New campus, costing about sixteen million dollars, still under construction