looking for a mosque in Santa Monica (Los Angeles, Beverly Hills: live, Persian)

[SpaceMonkyPunks]

Originally Posted by majoun

It's a Shia mosque and thus a lot of Muslims might not find it to their liking. It caters to the huge Westside Persian population, although there are also Indian and Pakistani Shias who worship there and probably Arab Shias as well.

About a mile or so to the southwest there's a big Sunni mosque, the King Fahd Mosque.

Ahh, gotcha. OP didn't state their affiliation, but I guess I could/should have bothered to look it up before answering

[Exitus Acta Probat]

Originally Posted by laiqah

I did Sir. None found in Santa Monica. I know there is King Fahad Mosque in Culver City.

That's probably because the calls to prayer would not be a good fit with the SM lifestyle. It's a quiet town in the residential areas and I don't even think they sound the bells at St. Monica's more than a few times a year.

[Exitus Acta Probat]

Originally Posted by brrabbit

Not more different than Christianity and Jeudaism, or Mormonism.

Actually, Judaism is very different from Christianity, despite what Fox News claims.

[Exitus Acta Probat]

Originally Posted by majoun

It caters to the huge Westside Persian population, [...]

I do believe that the vast majority of people who refer to themselves as Persian on the Westside are Jewish.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by Exitus Acta Probat

I do believe that the vast majority of people who refer to themselves as Persian on the Westside are Jewish.

Your beliefs are wrong.

Jews, Christians, and Bahais are overrepresented in the Westside Persian population compared to their actual percentages in the population of Iran, but the majority of Persians on the Westside are Muslim, at least nominally. It's something like 55%, rather than 98% like in Iran (or in OC's Persian diaspora). Considering Iran's treatment of minorities it is not surprising that minorities who can leave Iran are more likely to leave it.

[Exitus Acta Probat]

Originally Posted by majoun

Your beliefs are wrong.

Jews, Christians, and Bahais are overrepresented in the Westside Persian population compared to their actual percentages in the population of Iran, but the majority of Persians on the Westside are Muslim, at least nominally. It's something like 55%, rather than 98% like in Iran (or in OC's Persian diaspora). Considering Iran's treatment of minorities it is not surprising that minorities who can leave Iran are more likely to leave it.

What is the source of your ~55% statistic?

[LuvSouthOC]

Majoun was estimating and might actually be close. For some reason, the Shia Persians moved to OC. One forgotten bunch from Iran are Zoroastrians. They certainly exist, I know a few.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by LuvSouthOC

Majoun was estimating and might actually be close. For some reason, the Shia Persians moved to OC. One forgotten bunch from Iran are Zoroastrians. They certainly exist, I know a few.

It's something around the figure I gave. Maybe 51 percent. A bare majority.

Certainly saying "the vast majority are Jewish" is absurd.

[Exitus Acta Probat]

Originally Posted by majoun

It's something around the figure I gave. Maybe 51 percent. A bare majority.

Certainly saying "the vast majority are Jewish" is absurd.

No, we both know it's not absurd. Simply an empirical study deems it anything but absurd, given the number of mosques in the area vs. the number of temples which have a high number of Sephardic members -- some are even exclusively Sephardic such as Tifereth Israel. I believe your data is faulty given that people from Iran who are Moslem will often identify as Iranian when surveyed, but people from Iran who are Jewish often simply identify their ethnicity as Jewish.

[majoun]

Originally Posted by Exitus Acta Probat

No, we both know it's not absurd. Simply an empirical study deems it anything but absurd, given the number of mosques in the area vs. the number of temples which have a high number of Sephardic members -- some are even exclusively Sephardic such as Tifereth Israel. I believe your data is faulty given that people from Iran who are Moslem will often identify as Iranian when surveyed, but people from Iran who are Jewish often simply identify their ethnicity as Jewish.

For one thing, Persian Jews are not Sephardic.

There are undoubtably a much larger percentage of Persian Jews and Persian Christians in L.A. than in Iran, but no way are Jews the majority. let alone the "vast majority". It would be more accurate to say that both represent sizeable minorities of the Persian diaspora of L.A.'s westside. The numbers of Persian Jews and Persian Christians are about equal, also. Bahais are fewer in number.

Many Persian Muslims are not very devout, which would limit religious attendance.