Islam in Iowa: A Celebration of Historical Roots and Contemporary Realities

On Saturday, April 5, from 2:00–4:30 pm, Drake University’s Comparison Project, in conjunction with the Abdelkader Education Project, hosts “”Islam in Iowa: A Celebration of Historical Roots and Contemporary Realities”  in Meredith Hall on Drake’s campus. The event, which is free and open to the public, features interactive sessions about Islam in Iowa, the awarding of the Abdelkader Education Project’s 2025 essay-competition winners, and a keynote by Dr. William Lawrence, Senior Academic and Research Fellow-in-Residence and Director of the North African Area Studies Program at the Council on US-Arab Relations.

Local and regional Islamic experts will lead three blocks of concurrent sessions about topics including Islam in Iowa, Women in Islam, Mystical Islam, and Islam in Current Events. Special attention will be given to the nineteenth-century Algerian leader Emir Abdelkader, after whom the town of Elkader was named in 1846, as well as the “Mother Mosque of America” in Cedar Rapids, the oldest standing purpose-built mosque in the U.S. (1934).

At the conclusion of the sessions, the Abdelkader Education Project will award the high-school and college recipients of this year’s essay competition, whose essays take inspiration from the ethical leadership of Emir Abdelkader. The event concludes with a short keynote by Dr. William Lawrence. 

The event also includes dozens of booths about local Islamic mosques and organizations and intercultural interfaith programs and organizations, cultural performances and delicacies, and a photo and art exhibition.

The Comparison Project engages in the practice of comparative philosophy of religion, fosters understanding of local-lived religion, and cultivates interfaith literacy and leadership. It is supported by Drake’s Center for the Humanities, Drake’s Slay Fund for Social Justice, Interfaith America, and Cultivating Compassion: The Dr. Richard Deming Foundation.