Mosque Maryam

{{Short description|Nation of Islam (NOI) Mosque in Chicago, Illinois, U.S.}}

{{Distinguish|text=Maryam Mosque, a mosque in Romania}}

{{Infobox religious building

|image=Mosque Maryam.jpg

|caption = Mosque Maryam in February of 2009

|building_name=Mosque Maryam

|location=7351 S. Stony Island Avenue

|municipality=Chicago

|state=Illinois

|geo={{Coord|41|45|39|N|87|35|6.2|W|region:US-IL_type:landmark}}

|religious_affiliation=Nation of Islam (formerly Greek Orthodox)

|website={{URL|http://www.noi.org}}

|architecture=yes

|year_completed=

|construction_cost=

|leadership = Minister Louis Farrakhan

|dome_quantity=1

|minaret_quantity=0

|minaret_height=

}}

{{Nation of Islam|collapsed=1}}

Mosque Maryam, also known as Muhammad Mosque #2 or Temple #2, is the headquarters of the Nation of Islam, located in Chicago, Illinois. It is at 7351 South Stony Island Avenue in the South Shore neighborhood."[https://web.archive.org/web/20050404110644/http://www.noi.org/national_center.htm Mosque Maryam and The Nation of Islam National Center]." Nation of Islam. Retrieved on February 26, 2009.

The building was originally the Saints Constantine and Helen Greek Orthodox Church{{efn|At the time of its sale it was North America's largest Greek Orthodox church.{{Cite web |title=eCUIP : The Digital Library : Social Studies : Chicago: City of Neighborhoods |url=https://ecuip.lib.uchicago.edu/diglib/social/cityofneighborhoods/southlakefront/con_southlakefront-history_images-14(p23).html |access-date=2022-12-23 |website=ecuip.lib.uchicago.edu}}}} before it relocated to suburban Palos Hills. Elijah Muhammad, Farrakhan's predecessor as head for NOI, purchased the building in 1972. Muhammad was lent $3 million from Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi to convert the former church.{{cite news| author =David Lepeska| title =Farrakhan Using Libyan Crisis to Bolster His Nation of Islam| newspaper =The New York Times| date =April 9, 2011| url =https://www.nytimes.com/2011/04/10/us/10cncfarrakhan.html| access-date = July 8, 2015}}

The main hall in the mosque is for meetings, since it was originally the church's nave that contained pews later replaced with seats,{{cite book|author=Edward E. Curtis|title=Encyclopedia of Muslim-American History|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=owZCMZpYamMC&pg=PA388|access-date=16 December 2012|year=2010|publisher=Infobase Publishing|isbn=978-1-4381-3040-8|page=388}} Mosque Maryam has an area within the mosque with plenty of open floor space to spread prayer rugs on which to kneel to pray. They use that area every Friday for Jumuah prayer and for prayer (with prayer rugs in general). The NOI's Imam gives the prayers for Jumuah prayer.

Adjacent to the mosque is the Muhammad University of Islam, an educational institute for boys and girls from preschool through 12th grade.