In loving memory
Imam Taha Tawil
A scholar, attorney, and imam who helped save the Mother Mosque of America.
May he rest in peace.
July 24, 2026 · Cedar Rapids age 66
From Jerusalem to Cedar Rapids
Imam Taha Atta Tawil was born and raised in Jerusalem, where he worked as an attorney for religious counsel. In 1983 he came to Cedar Rapids to serve as imam for the Islamic Center of Cedar Rapids. The city became home.
He died on July 24, 2026, at 66.
Saving the building
The mosque at 1335 9th Street N.W. opened on February 15, 1934. It was the first building in the United States designed and built as a mosque, and it is the oldest one still standing.
The community later outgrew it and moved to a larger center. The old building was sold. At different times it was a teen club, a shelter for Cambodian refugees, and a church. By the late 1980s it sat empty.
The Islamic Council of Iowa, where he was director, bought it back in 1990. The building was repaired and formally reopened on February 15, 1992. On May 15, 1996, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
“I was proud and sad at the same time,” he said of the building before the repair. “I said it should be preserved.”
Outside these walls
He spent years giving tours of the mosque. He served as a chaplain for the Cedar Rapids police, as an Islamic consultant for the Iowa Department of Corrections, and on the Cedar Rapids Civil Rights Commission. In 1993 he helped found the Inter-Religious Council of Linn County. He became a U.S. citizen.
“I am a peacemaker. I don’t like problems. I am stubborn about my principles. But I want everyone to live in peace and harmony.”
“This building is an American entity and an institution. This is our country and this is the proof.”
May Allah grant him peace, and comfort his family.
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