Gwynn Oak Islamic Community celebrates opening of new mosque
- ️Sat Mar 05 2016
Prayers and laughter filled the Masjid Al Ihsan on Saturday as members of Gwynn Oak Islamic Community celebrated the official opening of their new home.
The opening of the mosque on Gwynn Oak Avenue came after years of obstacles that included disputes with a former contractor and a maze of city zoning rules and building regulations, leaders said.
“This was a six-year endeavor,” Presley Cason III, vice president of the community, told the crowd inside. “This was expected to be, when we first started off, a one-year endeavor.”
There are about 10 mosques in Baltimore, but the Masjid Al Ihsan is the first to be built from “the ground up,” said Sean Anthony-Stinnett of the Maryland Muslim Council. Others use space that has been converted from other uses.
The Gwynn Oak Islamic Community is made up of about 60 families living in the Howard Park-Gwynn Oak area.
Around 2007, the organization bought a house that sat on the property, Cason said. Members wanted to expand, but couldn’t under the city’s zoning rules. So they set out to build the new facility.
“We didn’t realize how difficult it was until we got into it,” Cason said. “Going down to the city and going through zoning, it is ridiculous how difficult the process is.”
The building features a turquoise color scheme on the exterior. Inside on Saturday, balloons of the same color decorated the space for the celebration.
The mosque includes space for worship and classrooms. Members hope to add a kitchen and an elevator, Cason said. They have been using the building for a while, but celebrated their grand opening on Saturday.
A slew of politicians attended the celebration, including city council members and mayoral candidates.
“You have the entire city of Baltimore here,” said Del. Hasan “Jay” Jalisi, a Baltimore County Democrat.
Representatives of Gov. Larry Hogan and Sen. Ben Cardin also attended.
Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake was scheduled to address the crowd, but did not attend. Spokesman Howard Libit said the mayor had “an unexpected personal conflict.”
City Councilwoman Rikki Spector, who is Jewish, said the celebration was an example of good interfaith relationships.
“I wish we could take us all over the world and show what people of good faith can do for each other,” she said.
Community members expected the building to cost $1.8 million, Cason said, but it ended up coming to about $2.2 million.
He said building a mosque from the ground up has a very special meaning for Muslims.
“We consider all places of worship … to belong to God,” he said. “So when you’re building it, you’re building it basically as a gift to God.”
The goal of the Gwynn Oak Islamic Community is to live close to each other and establish an Islamic way of life. The organization has bought homes in the neighborhood for Muslim families.
“As Muslims, we should be operating as neighbors and a community,” Cason said.
The members celebrated their new mosque as Muslims and others note increasing hostility against Muslims on the presidential campaign trail and in communities across the country.
Amid the rising tension, President Barack Obama visited the Islamic Society of Baltimore in Catonsville last month in his first visit to an American mosque as president.
He called on Americans to reject the “inexcusable political rhetoric against Muslim Americans that has no place in our country.”
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Originally Published: March 5, 2016 at 6:11 PM EST