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Early Muslim immigrants started arriving in small numbers around the turn of the century and continued in relatively increasing waves throughout the first half of the century. These immigrants were often characterized as adventurers attracted to the New World for its economic opportunities. Unlike many of their contemporary European counterparts, they did not come to make America their home. Their intention was to make as much money as possible quickly and then return to their homeland. Many, however, failed to realize their dreams and eventually returned, disenchanted, to their home countries. Those who were more successful and were able to adjust to the American way of life generally found in their kin relationships and trade partnerships forms of association that made any other kind of organization unnecessary.

Tempted by their success in business and their ability to adjust, some decided to stay permanently and send for their families to join them. Stories of their success attracted their relatives and others from their villages to emigrate to the United States. A more visible community started to crystallize at this stage, composed of extended families from the same place and living in the same city. Among the best known of these families were the Ajrams who settled in Cedar Rapids, Iowa, founding one of the first mosques there, the Barakats and Alwans who helped build the Toledo mosque, the Khalids who settled in Detroit where, with others, they built the Detroit mosque, and the Jizainis who built a mosque in Michigan City, Indiana. There were also the Khan family who organized the Punjabis in Sacramento, California, and built the first mosque on the U.S. West Coast, the Diabs who built the Chicago mosque, and the early Albanians of Detroit and the Tartars of Brooklyn, New York, who began mosques in their respective areas.

These people organized in response to certain social incidents and pressures. The death of a relative led to the serious consideration of acquiring a grave lot to be used as a Muslim cemetery. The marriage of a daughter outside the faith led to the early organization of youth groups to bring the young together. Children's ignorance of the parents' language and religious beliefs accelerated the efforts to start a Sunday school. Such problems and the cultural challenges they presented led to self-consciousness and the search for identity. The Christmas celebration, for example, prompted families to celebrate Milad al-Nabi (the birthday of the Prophet) as a way for parents to respond to the desires of their children for such festivity. These kinds of factors, particularly the cultural needs of the second generation, pressured families into building mosques and organizing the earliest forms of Islamic associations.

Apart from serving as the "last line of cultural defense," these local organizations did not do much in aggressively contributing to the development of their communities, either socially or spiritually. In fact, they did not take their Islamic mission very seriously. The associations were primarily meant to keep the children from breaking away, as well as to provide a place for families to socialize and for weddings and burials to be performed within the traditional context. Many eventually ceased to exist when they were taken over by the children of the founders. The earliest mosque in America, in Ross, North Dakota, was demolished in 1979. Another at High Park, Michigan, was transformed into a church and many were sold, converted to restaurants, or put to other uses. Those that did survive were not run in the traditional manner as proper mosques. Daily prayers were not observed. Friday prayer either was not organized or was held on Sunday. Mixed dances were held in the mosques accompanied by lavish parties where liquor was freely served. Belly dancers were invited to fund-raising events organized in mosque basements. . .

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