The Smyrna Ahmadiyya Mahmood mosque features a men's prayer room and a women's prayer room, where prayers are offered [facing] to Mecca.
Ahmadiyya Times - (Source: The Daily News Journal | By Doug Davis) October 30, 2009
A new Muslim mosque has opened in Smyrna, and members want to reach out to others in the community.
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community in Middle Tennessee recently bought the church building and adjacent parking lots formerly owned by Risen Life Church in Smyrna, and services are now being held there.
"The Ahmadiyya Community is spread out," said Lutf Rehman, a Nashville transplant surgeon. "Some live in Murfreesboro and Smyrna, and some in Franklin and Nashville."
He estimates 121 people from the community are part of the Masjid Mahmood (or the Prayer Hall or Mosque Mahmood). The building is located at 301 Maple St. (at Sam Davis Road) in Smyrna.
Regional support
Those who support the new mosque come from Rutherford, Williamson and Davidson counties, Huntsville, Ala., and one county in Kentucky.
The 25 to 30 families paid $375,000 for the building and part of the furnishings in it, and invested another $5,000 for additional furnishings.
"It is required that those who attend pay 7 percent of their income," said Rehman, who is president of the local community. "Most members donated more."
Members of the Ahmadiyya Community — one of more than 70 Muslim group worldwide — have lived in Middle Tennessee for the last three decades.
The Ahmadiyya Community international was established in 1883 by Hadhrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian, a small village of India. He claimed to be the messiah which was promised to Christians, Muslims and Jews. He said he was the second coming of Jesus, messiah for Muslims and the reincarnation of Krishna for Hindus.
Prayer rooms
The Smyrna mosque features a men's prayer room and a women's prayer room, where prayers are offered to Mecca. It also has nursery facilities for newborns and a children's area, where older children are taught.
There is a men's meeting room, which once served as a sanctuary in the former Christian church located there. Forums or discussion groups will be scheduled to meet in that area. Different members of the mosque may read portions of the Quran and discuss it during these meetings. Women will watch the activities in that room on a video screen from the women's prayer room.
Reaching out
Bilal Zafar, a 33-year-old Murfreesboro physician, is in charge of finding various ways the Muslim community may be of help to the immediate community around the mosque and the larger Nashville community.
"Currently, we have two ways we would be more active," Zafar said. "The first is participating in a soup kitchen."
Because many of the members are physicians, they would also like to provide information to people about various health issues, such as heart disease and diabetes.
Rehman said the mosque will be open for prayers beginning at 1:30 p.m. every Friday. At 11:30 a.m. the first Saturday of each month, people will take sections of the Quran to read and offer a study. On Saturdays, there will also be activities for families and children.
"We are very new to the community. We haven't made contacts in the community yet," Rehman said. "But by putting our name out there, we want to be absorbed in the community and be one of them."
Bilal hopes there will be respect among the Christian and Muslim communities."We are trying to show that Muslims and Christians can live peacefully and their children can play together," he said.
—Doug Davis, 615-278-5152
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