🇺🇸Halal Travel Guide to the United States

Opened in 2005, the largest mosque in North America, serving a substantial Shia Lebanese congregation. The community's roots go back to the Ford Rouge plant recruitment of the 1910s.

The green-domed mosque on 116th Street where Malcolm X served as minister when it was Temple No. 7, later becoming a Sunni congregation. The Harlem Market beside it sells West African goods.

On Massachusetts Avenue, with a 49-metre minaret, Turkish Iznik tile and Egyptian woodwork. The first purpose-built mosque in the capital, and it welcomes visitors.

Built in 1934 by Lebanese and Syrian immigrant families, and the oldest surviving purpose-built mosque in the United States. Restored and open as a mosque and heritage site.

On 96th Street and Third Avenue, the first purpose-built mosque in Manhattan, designed by SOM with a dome and a freestanding minaret, aligned to the qibla rather than the street grid.

A former Greek Orthodox church on the South Side, now the national headquarters of the Nation of Islam. A significant site in African American religious history.

One of the largest mosques in the Washington area, serving northern Virginia's substantial and diverse Muslim community.

The largest mosque in New England, serving a diverse congregation including a large student population.

A landmark mosque with a large dome and twin minarets on 14th Street, serving Atlanta's growing and very diverse Muslim community.

A prominent Los Angeles mosque with a tiled minaret, serving one of the largest and most varied Muslim populations in the country.

The community around the Mother Mosque, one of the oldest continuously organised Muslim communities in North America, dating from the 1880s.

Hamtramck, a small city entirely surrounded by Detroit, has a large Yemeni and Bangladeshi population and in 2015 elected the first majority-Muslim city council in the United States.

Fifteen galleries covering the Arab lands, Turkey, Iran, Central Asia and later South Asia, including the Damascus Room - an entire 18th-century Syrian reception room reassembled. Among the best collections anywhere.

The only museum in the United States devoted to Arab American history - immigration, labour, the Ford plants, civil rights and contemporary life. Small and excellent.

Covers the Muslim presence among enslaved West Africans - estimated by some historians at 15-30% of those transported - alongside the full arc of African American history. Timed passes required.

A research library of the New York Public Library devoted to Black history and culture, with significant holdings on African American Islam and on Malcolm X.

The former Audubon Ballroom, where Malcolm X was assassinated in 1965, now partly preserved as a memorial and educational centre.

The Smithsonian's Asian art museums, holding major Persian, Ottoman and Mughal collections including illuminated Qur'ans and the Shahnameh manuscripts. Free, like all Smithsonians.

The original cart, operating since 1990, now with a global franchise. Chicken and rice with white sauce. The queue is part of it and the original corner is still the best.

The historic Arab American quarter - Yemeni, Palestinian and Syrian restaurants, Sahadi's grocery since 1948, and bakeries. The community has been here since the 1890s.

Bangladeshi, Pakistani, Indian and Tibetan restaurants and sweet shops. The densest South Asian food in the city and cheap.

Fifth Avenue in Bay Ridge has a large Palestinian, Lebanese and Yemeni community, with bakeries, restaurants and hookah cafés.

A Lebanese restaurant that won a James Beard America's Classics award - shawarma, kibbeh, fattoush and grilled meats. The benchmark in a city full of them.

Baklava, knafeh and Lebanese pastries made in quantity since 1979, with a café attached. A Dearborn institution and the best sweets in the Midwest.

Mile after mile of Lebanese, Yemeni and Iraqi restaurants, butchers, bakeries and grocers. The most concentrated halal food in the United States.

Qahwah House and its imitators serve Yemeni coffee with cardamom and ginger alongside pastries, open very late. A genuinely new American café culture.

A mile of Pakistani, Indian and Bangladeshi restaurants, sweet shops and grocers. Ghareeb Nawaz, Sabri Nihari and the biryani houses are the names.

Senegalese and Malian restaurants serving thieboudienne, yassa and mafé beside the Malcolm Shabazz mosque and market.

Houston's South Asian and Middle Eastern corridor, serving one of the fastest-growing Muslim populations in the country.

The largest Somali community in North America, with restaurants, the Karmel Mall and a food scene that exists almost nowhere else in the US.

Officially designated in 2022, the largest Arab American commercial district on the west coast, with Syrian, Lebanese, Egyptian and Palestinian restaurants.

A growing sector - halal steakhouses in New York and Chicago, and halal smashburger and fried chicken operations in most large cities.

Central for the Met, Central Park, Times Square and the subway, with halal carts on many corners. Expensive and the default first-visit choice.

Cheaper than Manhattan, with Atlantic Avenue's Arab American quarter and Bay Ridge's Palestinian and Yemeni community. Good subway links.

Far cheaper than Manhattan, on the subway, with the city's densest South Asian food. Long Island City has the Manhattan skyline view.

Fifteen minutes from Detroit airport, with the largest concentration of Arab American food and institutions in the country. Hotels are inexpensive.

The District for the Mall and the free Smithsonians; northern Virginia (Falls Church, Annandale) for the halal restaurants and cheaper hotels, on the metro.

The Art Institute, Millennium Park and the river architecture, with Devon Avenue a 40-minute train ride north.

Cheaper accommodation among the South Asian restaurants and grocers, on the Red Line and bus routes into the city.

Little Arabia on Brookhurst Street, with Disneyland nearby and a large Arab American community with extensive halal provision.