Houston, in the U.S. state of Texas, is home to a significant number of Muslim Americans. As of 2012 it has the largest Muslim population in Texas and the largest Muslim population in the Southern United States. That year, Kate Shellnut of the Houston Chronicle wrote that "Some estimate that Muslims make up 1.2 percent of the city's population." As of 2012 the estimated population of Muslims in Houston was around 63,000. As of today, there are over 209 mosques and storefront religious centers, with the largest being the Al-Noor Mosque (Mosque of Light) of the Islamic Society of Greater Houston (ISGH). In 2007 Barbara Karkabi of the Houston Chronicle wrote that the Sunni and Shia Muslims "generally enjoy good relations in Houston." The University of Houston has separate student organizations for Sunni Muslims and Shia Muslims, the mostly-Sunni Muslim Students Association and the Shia Association of Muslim Students. As of 1990 the ISGH served as the main Sunni mosque system in Houston, as in that year it had multiple branches there, and as of 2000, most Sunni mosques in the city are a part of the ISGH. History In the 1950s a group of Muslims began meeting at a barbershop. This group established Masjid Al-Islam, now the Masjid Warithuddeen Mohammed. In the 1970s a three-bedroom house in northern Houston was the only mosque in the city, and it served 30 families. Those families pooled funds and purchased a plot of land in late 1980 so a mosque could be built there; the plot was near two major arteries. At first the mosque was in a , three bedroom double-wide trailer, purchased for $43,000 ($ when accounting for inflation). Five families donated money to pay for the down payment, with each family paying $1,500 ($ when accounting for inflation). Public fundraising dinners and anonymous donations provided the funds for the construction of the permanent Al-Noor mosque. In 1987 the Al-Noor Society was established. The Alavi Foundation, a charitable Islamic foundation headquartered in New York City, purchased the property that would become the Islamic Education Center (IEC) for $1.1 million in 1988. By 2000 some Muslim Iranians who were opposed to fundamentalism in the mosques began attending Zoroastrian events. In 2009 the Federal Government of the United States attempted to seize over $500 million in assets from the Alavi Foundation, accusing the foundation of being a front for the Government of