The New Africa Center, located at 4243 Lancaster Ave., is a museum and archive focused on preserving the American Muslim Community.
Abdul Rahim Muhammad, 60, director of the Islamic Cultural Preservation and Information Council, opened the New Africa Center in June 2005 in hopes to inform the general public and Islamic communities of Islamic culture.
“We preserve and document the African-American Muslim experience. That’s primarily one of the underlying goals of the museum and archive itself. But as a community service provider, we offer all kinds of community services,” Muhammad said.
On the first Saturday of every month, the New Africa Center holds a free lunch program focused on HIV awareness. The group strives to educate the masses by promoting the benefits of HIV testing and treatment.
“We basically do about 35-50 people on that afternoon once a month with testing. Then we do the lunch program so people come in and they eat and enjoy themselves and then do the tests,” Muhammad said.
Although the museum is still growing, Muhammad said he envisions a bright future where the New Africa Center expands across the entire block.
“The city of Philadelphia, being a tourist destination and a major visitors center, we want to make our New Africa Center one of those new destinations for people to visit and learn about Islam and the African American experience when it comes to Islam,” Muhammad said.
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