ALLAHU AKBAR: Finally, Athan Sounds from Masjid In Germantown

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Yasmin Loya, Shahana Khan and Azra Malik are friends living in the Germantown area for nearly 30 years. They raised their children here, got them married, cooked Ramadan meals, and for decades hosted donation drives in their garages and halaqas in their living rooms. They remember starting to dream of a masjid in their city in 1996.

They are a part of an active community, a portion of the almost 100,000 Muslims in Montgomery County, which just needed a place—a masjid to call their second home— to pray, mourn, celebrate and grow. On November 8, 2014 with much fanfare this dream was realized. The Islamic Society of Germantown opened its doors to politicians, imams, and hundreds of visitors and most importantly to those who had been waiting for the past 13 years when the society bought the parcel of land —nearly an acre—at 19825 Blunt Road in 2002.

 

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As the Muslim Link has chronicled, ISG spent several years negotiating with the county for approvals. County planners had proposed connecting Blunt Road to the main road Middlebrook Road, delaying the project and forcing ISG into buying three additional parcels of land. A quest for a variety of permits began. However, once the permits were granted, the masjid building itself took under a year to complete. Imam Najjar, celebrating the day as an Eid, was proud of the supportive community of believers for fulfilling almost all of the contractors obligations. He was thankful to the Germantown community and said that ISG ‘really pushed them financially to the edge to get this project completed.’

 

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The hard work and fundraising paid off when County Executive, Isiah Leggett, cut the ribbon for the Grand Opening of the Islamic Society of Germantown, which includes a brightly lit childcare center and a well equipped industrial kitchen that will serve the greater community. A halal meat store and food facility (after permission is granted from the county) is planned to help make the masjid self sufficient.

Speaking at the opening. Reverend Kaseman from the county’s interfaith liaison called it a sacred space where “we all take off our [worldly] shoes”.

Germantown

Mimi Hassanein, Montgomery County Middle Eastern liaison and community leader, says that it was difficult for Germantown locals to go to Islamic Center of Maryland in Gaithersburg or to the Islamic Society of Frederick, and those services were also at maximum capacity. This masjid can hold 370 worshippers at a time in a 9,080 square-foot building which cost nearly 2.2 million dollars to build.

“This is not just a mosque, this is also a community center,” she said, informing the community about tours and plans for activities that would help residents connect with resources, join PTAs and become civically engaged.

Hamza Khan, who served as Director of Outreach for the John Delaney for Congress campaign, spoke about growing up in Montgomery County with only two options for prayers versus the 30 congregations that are now scattered over the county.”We have a lot of opportunity to engage with young people and be a part of one of America’s [most] beautiful and vibrant counties,” he said.

Abu Ja'far of Montgomery Village raised his voice in adhan which reverberated through the dome painted with clouds. The first ever public congregational prayer was led by Imam Najjar.

“It’s been a long project,” getting a little emotional Vice-Chairman of ISG, Irshad Khan remembered the day the papers were signed for the property 13 years ago in the presence of Chairman Magdi Hassanein and Br. Asghar. “We want to provide the best possible services to the community of Germantown, hoping to be a shining example of Islam in the region,” he said.

“Now that we are here, we will be opening up the board for sisters and brothers to get involved,”said Khan. Thanking the community, while glorifying Allah, he said that the qard e hasana is close to $480,000 and the board hopes to pay the lenders back in two years.

Ria, Stephen, and their son Nate live two miles from the masjid and have been residents of the Germantown for the past 6 years and feel blessed to have a spiritual home. Stephen helped out with the project on weekends and now looks forward to making salah in the masjid instead of the Iman Learning Center, and to Quran recitation and memorization classes, Sunday school—not just for children but also for adults. He would like to see history and Seerah being taught to people who have recently accepted Islam, and discussions about the future so ‘we can plan where we are headed as American Muslims, whether new to Islam or born into the faith.’

“We work behind the scenes,” said long time resident Shahana Khan. She hopes that Ustadha Yasmin’s Friday halaqas will be shifted to the masjid so they can accommodate more women. Currently, 30-40 women gather to learn. She said, the Muslims in the region have increased to such an extent that the community in Clarksburg, MD may now plan a local masjid to accommodate their needs.

17-year-old Arhum was attending the opening with his friends. He said that he would like to see sports activities at the center so young men like him could hang out at the masjid after school and academically he’d like to attend classes to learn ‘what the Quran is about.’

Friends in their twenties, Rida and Anam have been following the progress of the masjid for over 10 years, since they were middleschoolers. “It is amazing to have [the masjid] open and so close because all the other masajid are such a long drive,” said Anam, a middle school teacher who lives right up the street. “I have started talking to people who are organizing activities in the masjid,” she says and now that it is finally open, a lot of these movements can finally get started.

With two stories above ground and a basement, the main floor includes an office, a spacious prayer area, a foyer and the men’s restroom. The second floor incorporates the childcare center and women’s section. Some sisters who visited the second floor women’s section were quite upset with the opaque glass partition in the mezzanine. They hoped that the masjid administration would replace it as it impeded the view of the women from following the prayers below. “We are on the second floor, there is no need for this!” said a community member. A TV screen is installed above the partition.

Aisha S. admired the brightly colored childcare room for her nephew. Envisioning play dates and parents spending time together, she wants to replicate that community feeling here at ISG. She said, “we can worship here, alhamdulillah—going to Gaithersburg [was] hard,” Happy about the convenience and looking forward to having an actual community, Aisha S. recalls meeting people through Sunday School, who are now raising families here. She looks forward to building stronger bonds through the masjid. The childcare will be open to people of all faiths.

Cotton candy, balloons, bouncy castles kept the young ones busy while the elders hugged each other with joy and shared sweets. The jam packed event was an opportunity to gauge event management for masjid activities such as Ramadan iftars and community dinners, in terms of food stations and restroom usage, as similar numbers are expected for future gatherings.

Visitors came from Fairfax and Baltimore to celebrate with the Germantown Muslims. Rabiha exuded happiness at the completion of the masjid. She has been coming to see the building go up since the groundbreaking and a 10 year wait ended for her this day. She was joined by her daughter Nafisa and her grandchildren as they celebrated the blessed day with their greater Germantown family.

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