The Ahmadiyya community would be good neighbors — they have a parking lot, so they won’t take up the community’s parking and they would be willing to keep the neighborhood clean.
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| TRIBUNE PHOTO BY SAMARIA BAILEY |
Source/Credit: The Philadelphia Tribune
By Samaria Bailey | August 12, 2016
Even as they face a nation that has nominated presidential candidate prejudiced against Muslims, and a community that has mixed emotions about its presence in their neighborhood, the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, Philadelphia Chapter, will open a 21,000-square-foot mosque currently being constructed in North Philadelphia with promises to improve the neighborhood. No specific date has been set for the opening.
After three years in the making, the leaders say the house of prayer will be more than just a place for Muslims to worship and gather, but also a force for change in the North Philadelphia community that encompasses 13th Street and Glenwood Avenue and surrounding streets.
“It’s a House of God where anybody can come and worship God,” said AMC Philadelphia Vice President Ahmad Nuruddin. “But particularly ... the Muslims will gather there. But it’s also going to be open for people of all faiths to come and gather and have a peaceful environment that they can build up community activities and build up the community with, even worship their God there. Nobody would stop them from doing that.”
Mujeebullah Chaudhary, President, Philadelphia Chapter of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam, continued that, obviously, there would be rules as any other house of worship and that as long as the are not coming in and causing a distraction, worshippers would be welcome for the “unification of all humanity.
The new mosque will include two halls — one for men and one for women — that will each be able to hold 300 people. A basement, said Chaudhary, will serve as the multipurpose room, where special events such as weddings and community outreach programs will operate. Specifically, Ahmadiyya leaders envision a soup kitchen, educational classes, computer classes and job seeking assistance, as a few of the efforts they will implement once the mosque is completed.
“We would be open to listening to the community and open to their suggestions,” said Nuruddin. “We want to work together with the community to put together programs to best serve them. A mosque is a place of peace for the community and it’s also an opportunity for people to come, connect and network together. Where the mosque is situated, it should eventually cause a good change in the environment all around it.”
Dr. Nkrumah Olinga, a resident who lives close to the mosque and a member of the 12th and Cambria Advisory Council, said he was concerned the Ahmadiyya administration did not advise the community of their plans but that he hopes they bring some opportunity with the opening of the mosque.
“They should’ve contacted the community and talked to them first,” said Nuruddin. “I don’t have a problem with the place, spiritually. The [problem] is how they came in here. There’s a right way and a wrong way for everything under the sun. They’ve come out to some meetings but they still haven’t come to us properly, with basic human respect.”
Chaudhary said that in addition to putting “pamphlets on each and every door [and] distributing fliers,” they contacted a church and people from the neighborhood to see if anybody had any objections and that he attended a meeting where 35 to 40 people gave input.
“I spoke, ‘we are trying to build a mosque in this neighborhood. It’s going to be a place of comfort.’ After that, nobody had any objections. From there we went to city hall and applied for the zoning. [And] at that time, the whole neighborhood knew from all the [posted] red signs. If anybody had objections, they should [have] come,” he said.
Chaudhary continued that the Ahmadiyya community would be good neighbors — they have a parking lot, so they won’t take up the community’s parking and they would be willing to keep the neighborhood clean.
“There is not going to be trash, it’s going to bring beauty to the neighborhood. We will take care of the whole block,” he said.
The area the mosque is located in — the 25th police district — has some of the city’s highest violent crime rates and a high poverty rate. According to a 2015 Pew Trust State of the City report, that district was the third highest in terms of violent crimes; and the zip code, 19132, has a 30 to 44 percent poverty rate.
“It can’t hurt the neighborhood,” said David Robinson, a resident who has lived in the vicinity since 1973. “You have to live here to know what we are talking about. Hopefully, it will bring more peace. As long as they come through and don’t bother anybody, it should be fine.”
Emily Martin, a resident of Williams Street for 45 years, agreed. “They don’t bother anybody. It’s better to have them there than an empty lot [and] it’s not a lot of trash dumping anymore. It makes the community look better.”
However, Arlene Carrecter, president of the 12th and Cambria Advisory Council, said the specific area surrounding the mosque “used to be bad at one time — drugs and shootings. Then, we got a committee organized, to make things better.” The Council helps with job searches, works with youth at the 12th and Cambria recreation center and holds nonviolent marches. As leader of the group, Carrecter also took issue with how the Ahmadiyya leaders brought in the mosque, but said if they keep their promises, she look forward to a change.
“At first we were against it because we didn’t know anything about it,” she said, adding that she didn’t know a mosque was going up until the “foundation was laid. They just came into our community without asking the people who lived here.”
After meeting with Ahmadiyya representatives a year and half ago, Carrecter hopes they stand up to their plans of keeping the community in mind.
“We are all about forward to something better,” she said. “They claim they are going to better the community. I’m hoping they stand up to it.”
Read original post here: USA: Amid community concerns, N. Philly mosque moving along toward completion
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