Built in 1983, Masjid Al-Faatir began as Muhammad Mosque of Chicago. As the African American Muslim community in Chicago began to lose property to court battles, Jabir Herbert Muhammad – son of Elijah Muhammad and manager of Muhammad Ali – worried that there wouldn’t be a House of Worship for Muslims in Chicago. Muhammad Ali shared this concern and donated the land to build the Masjid.

Over the next thirteen years, Jabir Muhammad and Muhammad Ali would travel abroad to gain support from Muslim countries who shared their vision of Islam and the Muslims in America.