(Ahlul Bayt News Agency) - The Islamic Society of Central Virginia had been fundraising for a dozen years to make the new mosque a reality. Of the three stories in Charlottesville’s first purpose-built mosque, one is complete, the other two remain largely in the rough.
“If you go inside, you’ll see a lot of it’s unfinished, but we still have a place to call our own,” Irtefa Binte-Farid, who will soon be entering graduate school, said.
Emaad Abdel-Rahman cited help from people in Northern Virginia and Washington D.C. in raising funds for the building. He joked that people now develop sudden allergies whenever he brings up fundraising, but said efforts will have to continue to finish the inside of the building. The Quran forbids borrowing money at interest, which means the group has to have all the money in hand before it can undertake a given piece of work.
Among those in attendance for the building’s ribbon cutting Saturday were Charlottesville Mayor Satyendra Huja and City Councilor Kristin Szakos.
“Things don’t happen by themselves,” Huja said. “People make it happen.”
City Councilor Dave Norris was unable to attend, but sent a message.
“I am thrilled, as I know you are,” he wrote.
Members of the Islamic Society of Central Virginia did express happiness at their new facility, which replaces a home that had been housing the program while members raised money for the new Pine Street mosque.
“The ISCV and this mosque, for us, is really a grounding point,” said University of Virginia fourth-year Mohib Tora of the Muslim Students Association.
The group works closely with the MSA, and the new facility will also mean more space for students.
The mosque will offer five daily prayers, including the especially important Friday prayers. The new facility, which will eventually include a kitchen in the basement, will also have enough capacity for big holiday events, said Khan Hassan, the group’s treasurer and a member of its board of directors.
The society lists spreading the word of God and correcting misperceptions about Islam among its missions.
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