The Dar-ul-Islam Movement (also called “the Dar”) was established in the United States in 1962 by three African American converts to Islam: Imam Yahya Abdul-Karim, Rijab Mahmoud and Ishaq Abdus-Shaheed. It has been called one of the first and most significant grassroots movements established by African-American, orthodox (Sunni) Muslims in America.

​"Dar-ul-Islam is the people’s effort to return to Allah.” This simple yet profound statement appeared in the July 1974 issue of Al Jihadul Akbar, the Dar-ul-Islam monthly magazine. At its height, the Dar included a network of 30-40 Masjids [houses of worship] the country, mainly in predominantly African American urban hubs, including New York City, Atlanta, Chicago, Cleveland, Baltimore, and Los Angeles. The movement founded its own businesses (including an incense factory and halal meat store), formed schools, operated its own printing press, and hosted a number of community programs.

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As influential as this movement has been to the overall history of faith, race, and community building in America, there is a gap in knowledge, understanding and documented resources exploring this rich history. Narratives of Black American Sunni Muslim movements are not as well-known or readily included in the historical timeline of the emergence and evolution of Islam in America. In fact, focus typically shifts to discussion of what is often referred to as ‘proto-typical’ Islamic movements such as Moorish Science Temple and Nation of Islam. This unwittingly contributes to the illusion (in the broader American imagination) that Sunni Muslim movements were either insignificant, non-existent, or only emerged after the assassination of Malcolm X. This is hardly the case but unfortunately, this entrenched notion continues to reinforce an erasure of present-day Black American Sunni Muslim communities, and their influence, particularly in urban cities around the country.