USA: Clergy says, Mosque Welcome, Adds to Current Diversity

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Despite the mosque's moving in to an area with numerous Jewish institutions, the movement was welcomed by its closest neighbor: Baltimore Hebrew Congregation.

Credit Janet Metzner

Ahmadiyya Times | News Watch |
Source/Credit: Pikesville Patch
By Janet Metzner | June 1, 2012

Local clergy say the new Ahmadiyya Islam mosque at Slade Mansion is a welcome addition to the already diverse religious community of Pikesville.

Ahmadiyya Muslims' purchase of the former Slade Mansion in Pikesville helps make Pikesville's religious community ripe to be a model of cooperation, the Rev. Adrien Dawson of St. Marks On The Hill Episcopal Church said of Pikesville's first Islam institution.

"I'm psyched," she said. "I feel very positive about it. I am interested in what kind of relationships can be built," Dawson said. "I think this neighborhood is so diverse, we can handle it, and it will benefit us in the community."

That's because, with Islam's arrival, all three major Abramaic faiths—Judaism, Christianity and Islam—will be represented in the Pikesville community, she said.

When it comes to religious history, all three faiths claim Abraham as a patriarch or ancestor of the faith, Dawson explained, so all three believe in the same God.

Christians and Jews follow Abraham's son, Isaac, and Islam follows his other son, Ishmael, she said. "So there is a lot of overlap in the stories of our faith tradition."

In April, Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, Inc., USA bought the property at the corner of Slade and Park Heights avenues in Pikesville for $900,000, reportedly planning to use it as a prayer center.

The mansion is located along Park Heights Avenue, which to the north and south of Slade Mansion is dotted with Jewish synagogues, shuls and schools, as well as the Weinberg ark Heights Jewish Community Center to the south.

Despite the mosque's moving in to an area with numerous Jewish institutions, the movement was welcomed by its closest neighbor: Baltimore Hebrew Congregation.

Back in April the congregation offered use of its ample parking lot to the mosque, should the mansion's smaller one prove insufficient, said Rabbi Andrew Busch.

And last week, leaders from the movement took a tour of the synagogue, he said.

"We welcome them to the community as neighbors and look forward to getting to know them," he said Thursday. "Our interactions over the last several weeks have been very pleasant at our meetings."

And what does Busch think of the Islam presence along Park Heights Avenue, where there is Temple Oheb Shalom nearby, Beth El Congregation northward and others of the Jewish faith?

"It doesn't change the fact that there are a lot of Jewish institutions around, and that doesn't mean that there isn't room for other institutions," he said.

Pikesville is known for its diversity, not only in Judaism and Christianity, but in its businesses as well.

For example, Baltimore Hebrew Congregation itself already shares its own facilities with Mt. Olive Freewill Baptist Church.

Dawson's St. Mark's On The Hill church, located at 1620 Reisterstown Road, is the site of a service in Spanish each week.

And a few miles south of St. Mark's is St. Charles Borromeo Roman Catholic Church, located at 101 Church Lane near Reisterstown Road, and not far from the new mosque.

Christian churches Restoring Life International Church and St. Paul Praise and Worship Center: People of the United Methodist Church are further south on Reisterstown Road.

When it comes to businesses, Pikesville is well-known as being the site of Seven-Mile Market, the US's largest kosher grocery store. Pikesville also boasts kosher restaurants, including Dougie's kosher barbecue.

But kosher isn't the whole story: Numerous businesses in Pikesville are quite diverse culturally.

For example, next door to Seven-Mile Market is Mercy's Grocery Tienda Latina. And there's Top Dominican hair salon in the same building as Tienda.

Directly across the street from the market is is Island Quizine, offering Jamaican foods. It's owned and operated by a man who hails from the island itself.


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