MURFREESBORO,TN (Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - Despite threats, courtroom allegations and even legislation aimed at their faith, the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro still had reason to celebrate in 2011.
The congregation launched construction in late September on building the first 12,000 square feet of their new mosque and community center on Veals Road, southeast of Murfreesboro.
S&A Constructors of Nashville estimates the work to be done in 10 months.
"We welcome everyone," Imam Ossama Bahloul, the ICM's religious leader, told supporters gathered at the groundbreaing ceremony in September. "Let us all pray to God. May God help all of us to have peace in our heart toward others."
Getting to the historic moment almost didn't happen.
The congregation had to defend itself in Rutherford County Chancery Court against more than a dozen plaintiffs who challenged the county's approval of its site plan in 2010 and questioned the real intent, as well as the very religion, behind the new worship center.
It took a ruling by Rutherford County Chancellor Robert Corlew III to settle the latter issue.
"Those who are adherents to Islam are entitled to pursue their worship in the United States just as are those who are adherents to more universally established faiths (in our community)," Corlew wrote. "We are all very familiar with the legal principle that in the United States, all citizens enjoy the right to freedom of religion and freedom of speech.
"We have a duty equally to treat those whose religious beliefs are similar to the majority beliefs and to those whose beliefs are very different from the majority," Corlew added in his ruling. "If the zoning laws are too favorable to those seeking to build places of worship, then citizens should prevail upon their elected representatives to change those ordinances, but until they do the Court must apply those laws equally to Protestant Christians, Roman Catholics, Muslims, Buddhists, and others."
Corlew's ruling made it clear that the ICM has a right to build a place of worship even if others accuse the congregation of having dangerous intentions.
"The allegations presented at the initial hearing include assertions that this structure will be used as a base to undermine our laws and our government, and perhaps even serve as a base for terrorist or military operations," Corlew wrote in his ruling.
"Assuming for purpose of argument momentarily that such is true, were the Court to consider that after construction, the Muslim congregation may begin to use the structure for terrorist activities, for example, as the Plaintiffs assert will occur, then it will be the duty of law enforcement personnel and codes enforcement personnel to halt the activities," Corlew wrote. "The remedy, then, is that of halting the illegal activity and not resistance to the use of the land."
ICM members explained the new center is needed to service a growing community, which it has served already in Murfreesboro for 29 years. The congregation, which includes about 250 families and about 1,000 members overall, often faces a challenge to squeeze into its existing 2,250-square-foot space on the back side of an office building at 862 Middle Tennessee Blvd.
The ICM has long-term plans to construct 52,960 square feet at the Veals Road location, and it would include a classrooms for religious study, an indoor pool and gym.
The group's courtroom victory was clouded further both early in the year and later in the year by the actions of a pair of state legislators.
State Sen. Bill Ketron, a Republican from Murfreesboro, sponsored an anti-Shariah bill that was supposed to make it a violation of Tennessee law for groups to provide material support to terrorists.
The issue captured national attention. Many questioned whether legislation targeting those adhering to Shariah, which is a pathway to God and code of conduct for Muslims, could be legal given the First Amendment right to freedom of religion.
The Muslim Student Association at MTSU responded by holding a "Shariah Law 101" event in March, and more than 100 people filled seats in a large room at the campus James Union Building to listen to the presentation led by Awadh Binhazim, a professor of pathology at Meharry Medical College and an adjunct professor of Islamic studies at the Divinity School at Vanderbilt University.
Binhazim told the audience that Ketron's initial bill was unconstitutional.
"The authors of the bill incorrectly define Shariah," Binhazim said. "Shariah is synonymous to Islam."
Ketron ended up pulling references to Shariah out of his legislation before it became a law.
But that was hardly the end of the controversy from local lawmakers.
By Nov. 11, state Rep. Rick Womick, a Republican from Rutherford's Rockvale community southwest of Murfreesboro, attracted more national attention when he suggested Muslims shouldn't be allowed to serve in the U.S. military during a "Constitution or Shariah" conference at Cornerstone Church in the Madison community in northeast Nashville.
"Personally, I don't trust one Muslim in our military," said Womick, who fought as a U.S. Air Force fighter pilot in the first Gulf War to force Iraq's military out of Kuwait in 1990-91.
Womick mentioned cases where Muslims in the military committed violence against their fellow troops, such as Maj. Nidal Hasan, who in November 2009, killed 13 soldiers and wounded 30 at Fort Hood, Texas.
Local ICM member Saleh Sbenaty responded by calling on Womick to be impeached or for him to retract his comments and apologize.
"It's really sad to see Mr. Womick's comments coming on Veterans Day," said Sbenaty, a 19-year MTSU professor in the Department of Engineering Technology. "He needs to be reminded that there are thousands of Muslims who serve and are serving (in the U.S. military), and there are many of them who gave up their lives to preserve the freedom of this country and the freedom that he is enjoying."
Sbenaty said he was worried that such rhetoric lead to more attacks against the ICM. In August 2010, arsonists set fire to earth-moving equipment at the congregation's future mosque . The congregation this year also faced a bomb threat just before the 10th anniversary of the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks on the United States.
"We had to cancel a kids play and the weekend school because of the bomb threat," Sbenaty said.
Security cameras will be watching over the location for the $1.8 million project, Akbar K. Arab, the S&A owner said.
Although Corlew has backed the ICM's rights, the case will continue in 2012 and focus on the plaintiffs' contention that the county government failed to provide adequate public notice before the county's Regional Planning Commission approved the congregation construction plans May 24, 2010.
Corlew has scheduled a trial to start at 1 p.m. April 25 and continue on April 26 in his courtroom on the third floor of the County Judicial Building on Murfreesboro's Public Square.
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