One thing that most American synagogues have in spades is space. Jews don’t go to shul very often unless they’re Orthodox. Muslims, however, pour into their sacred spaces in increasing numbers in America (while fewer and fewer Jews go to worship, the Jews who do daven regularly tend to be poor while their shuls are primarily paid for by the rich who rarely come).
They stream in through the doors every Friday — a sea of Muslims pouring into a synagogue in Reston.
The men roll out long prayer rugs on the synagogue floor. An imam stands up front and praises Allah. And as the faithful begin whispering their prayers in flowing Arabic, their landlord, a rabbi, walks by to check whether they need anything.
This unlikely arrangement between a burgeoning Muslim congregation and a suburban synagogue is what happens when you combine the region’s rapidly growing Muslim population with a serious shortage of worship space.