THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1994, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Saturday, October 15, 1994 TAG: 9410150245
SECTION: LOCAL PAGE: B1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY ESTHER DISKIN, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: NORFOLK LENGTH: Long : 102 lines
They walk barefoot across the marble floor toward the circular, white-walled prayer hall. They bow and kneel, touching their foreheads to the floor, as they murmur in Arabic.
On weekdays, perhaps a dozen Muslims come to chant their afternoon prayers at this new brick building near Old Dominion University. On Friday - the most holy day of the week in Islamic tradition - their numbers swell to one hundred or more.
Once, these worshipers were scattered across Tidewater. They met where they could find a place - houses, classrooms, the university's Webb Center, or two smaller Islamic masjids in Norfolk. Some went to mosques on the Peninsula.
Those days of wandering have come to an end. The completion of the Islamic Center at 1442 W. 49th St. gives Muslims in South Hampton Roads a spacious home for religious and cultural life.
``The mosque is a house of God. The Webb Center is not,'' said Jawed Jafri, one of the founders of the congregation. ``Here I feel free. I am not obligated to anyone else. If I am at the Webb Center or at someone's house, I am.''
The new center got a tryout in May during Eid-Ul-Adha, a holiday honoring the prophet Abraham's sacrifice of his son. Nearly 700 people packed the center that day, spilling out of the prayer hall, into the kitchen and entry room. The center received the finishing touches over the summer, and has been open for daily prayer services.
Tonight it will be officially dedicated with prayers from the Koran - the Islamic holy book, considered the word of God as revealed to the prophet Muhammad. The ceremony, which starts at 5:45 p.m., will also feature two speakers. One will discuss Islam and its relation to the West, and the other will talk about the role of a mosque in the community.
The building is the culmination of a community's dream. The Muslim Community of Tidewater formed as a congregation in 1982. Four years later, it paid $30,000 for land to build the center.
The land lay empty for years while the group collected donations. They could not take out a loan from a bank, because Islam forbids paying interest. That prohibition against interest stretches back to ancient times, said Syed Ismail, the president of the congregation, to when the wealthy charged exorbitant interest on loans to poor people.
The congregation raised $300,000 to build the center. The building was designed by an Algerian-born Muslim architect, Abdel Labidi of Virginia Beach, and construction started in earnest last October, Ismail said.
The original design shows a dome topping the 2,500-square-foot prayer hall. There is also a minaret - a high, slender tower - at one corner. Neither were built, because they would have added about $150,000 to the price tag, but Ismail says they hope to add these flourishes later.
But there are elegant touches. The center is built of tan bricks, an unusual color which sets it apart from the red bricks of Old Dominion University. The floor of the entry is imported marble, cream and dark green, donated and installed by a member of the congregation.
There is a touch of luxury, too, in the marble-lined washing areas of the bathrooms, where Muslims perform the ``wudu,'' or absolution process. Before praying, Muslims must wash their face, ears, hands and feet. Prayers should be done five times a day, although Muslims are not required to be at a mosque to recite them.
Islam is one of the fastest-growing faiths in the world. There are an estimated 6 million Muslims in this country, but there is no solid count of the Muslim population in Hampton Roads.
Ismail and other Muslim leaders believe there may be three times as many Muslims in the area, as were at the Eid-Ul-Adha holiday, judging by the Muslim names he finds in the phone book. He hopes the new center will draw more worshipers.
The place already hums with excitement. Rachide Sultana, an ODU student from Mozambique, says Muslims at the university used to search for rooms to hold their daily prayers. There was competition for space with other university groups. They sometimes met at a friend's home.
``The mosque is open any time, so you can pray and then go,'' Sultana said. The main door of the new center is secured by a combination lock, so that members can enter whenever they need to pray.
On Friday evenings, there are discussion groups on the Koran for men and women, who meet separately. Every Sunday, there is a religious school, with about 60 children attending.
Najla bint E. Doran and her husband, who live in Norfolk, bring their six children to the school and prayer services.
``It's good to have a central point to come together, where the children can see that there are others like them,'' she said. ``Especially in a society where we are not the majority.''
To all who worship there, the center stands as a community achievement. ``I love Islam. The religion is something that fills my whole life,'' said Najla bint E. Doran. ``I like having a building close to us.'' ILLUSTRATION: Color photos by BILL TIERNAN, Staff
An Answered Prayer
Ayman Shattory of Norfolk prays Friday afternoon at the new Islamic
Center on 49th Street in Norfolk. The center, which was open daily
for prayer services this summer, will be formally dedicated today in
a ceremony beginning at 5:45 p.m.
Gazal Kango, 2 1/2, turns somersaults Friday at the new Islamic
Center where her father, Dr. Reyaz Kango, came to pray.
Staff
KEYWORDS: MUSLIMS ISLAMIC CENTER by CNB