There are many things to love about the MCA. First the location is excellent as it is situated next to the University of Michigan and accessible from Plymouth Rd (an exit of the 23) as well as the Ann Arbor bus. The bus station is right in front of the masjid.
The MCA offers all of the services of full time masjid including the 5 times daily prayers, 2 jummahs, iftars during Ramadan, taraweeh prayers etc.
The community is diverse and composed of all different ethnic groups and a good mixture of first generation and second generation muslims as well as having a sizable convert population. The diversity has not culminated into any kind of ethnic tension. The imam is young and US board and very knowledge and yet very approachable.
The leadership is elected to two year terms and each position has a two year term limit which ensures maximal participation in the leadership process.
The community has a very good relationship with the city of Ann Arbor as the Ann Arbor police and fire department. There is an annual open house which is well attended as well as an "Islam 101" class every wednesday night at 7pm open to the public.
There are many programs including a regular khateera after Isha and a lecture series after fajr. There are also women specific programs like a tafseer class, a hadith class, a halaqa and social hour (tea time). There are youth activities as well including the Youth Mentoring Network for brothers and sisters.
The MCA also has a regular monthly newsmagazine which includes reflection type and educational article as well as summarize of the board meeting. There are also sections for local businesses to advertise.
The MCA also has a full-time Islamic School (Michigan Islamic Academy) as well as weekend school (MCAIS). Students from the MIA consistently outperform their peers from the neighboring Ann Arbor public school (one of the best in the country) on standardized test like the MSTEP, SAT and ACT. The student to teacher ratio is normally 15:1 and their is a good family type environment. The MCAIS is well managed and has islamic study programs as well as a program to teach kids how to read arabic. read more