Downtown Islamic Center in Chicago, Illinois

بسم الله Okay let me be objective. If you're looking for a clean Islamic Center in the heart of downtown, with some beneficial Arabic & family classes, along with some good overpriced food, then this is the place for you. They also have a food drive on Sundays for the poor. However, if you're interested in learning Islamic teachings as according to the correct manhaj of the Salaf-us-Salih (pious predecessors), then this place is not where I recommend. Time & time again I've witnessed after prayer this one individual stand up & vocalize his like of National Holidays like Mother's Day, etc. A true believer would have no satisfaction with loving the holidays of the disbelievers. Now this wouldn't be a problem if this person didn't hold office with the Islamic Center. This place also endorses politicians and those seeking political office to come & galvanize for their causes right after Friday khutbahs. You will also see the misguided Tablighis on their innovated 40 day dawah use this building to retreat in. Another thing to point out, some of the people here are racist & class based. They are willing to make the request of the poor for sadaqah (who are many times blacks) more difficult by having them fill out a form for financial assistance & making it a policy to discourage a poor person from asking someone directly. Filling out the form can take a week before someone gains financial assistance "after" someone has to "approve" you needing assistance. Also management is not just. They treat Blacks way different than how they treat, Arabs, Indians or Pakistanis. If a Black came in & tried to take a nap they would wake him up & enforce a no sleep policy in the building. Whereas if an Indian, Pakistani or Arab came in & tried to sleep, more than likely they'd ignore them. Aside from that, they have classes on misguidance, I mean Sufism on Mondays. Also there are even Shi'a that frequent this place & cause fitnah from time to time. To be honest this place is aesthetically pleasing but when it comes to the values of Islam being practiced & promoted upon the correct methodology, you're not going to find it here outside of the 5 daily prayers, an occasional smile from a brother or sister & perhaps the good-hearted people that visit from time to time or the good hearted people that you'll encounter from time to time. In summary, it is their policy that will lend to their destruction in sha Allah. They are way too welcoming to everyone (with different ideologies). That is why alot of fitnah occurs because many people have different understanding of Islam. The three places I recommend in the city that are upon the correct methodology of the Salaf-us-Salih are: "Dar-ut-Tawheed" on the Northside & "Masjid Al-Farooq" & "Masjid At-Tawheed" on the Southside.