By Abdul Sattar Ahmed:

Every few weeks, it seems that another newspaper article appears with the frightful headline, “Community X Protests New Mosque, Council Grants Building Approval.” It seems that fear has gripped even the most sensible of us. A masjid (literally the “place of prostration” in Arabic, or “mosque” as they are known in English), has unjustifiably become a symbol of fear and worry in American communities, many of whom have begun to protest against their development, afraid that they will become hotbeds of extremist activity. Muslim communities are almost afraid to request the right to build a masjid for their growing populations, afraid that uneducated (and some educated) township members will raise threats, protests, or rally against them with hate crimes and other acts of hostility.

When one examines the actual content of sermons, Sunday school classes, and ideas emanating from major masajid around the United States, it becomes clear that there is nothing more harmful to the fight against extremism than the rejection of masajid in this country. Why? Because masajid are founded when an American Muslim community reaches a critical mass and needs a central place to worship, provide social services, facilitate community outreach, and offer spiritual and moral guidance. When Muslims have rooted themselves deep into American soil for decades and have added the prefix “American” to their cultural identity, a masjid NEEDS to be raised. A masjid is a place of peace and tranquility for the Muslim faithful, and is without doubt the most valued institution of the American Muslim community.

This is why the American Muslim masjid is the extremists’ worst enemy. We build masjids with tender, loving care; we build them to give our children moral and spiritual direction and keep them away from those things that all Americans fear for their children. We build them to provide one reliable place for husbands and wives to unload and resolve their family problems. We build them to celebrate weddings, share happiness from the birth of our children, and ask for forgiveness and mercy from Allah for our deceased. Therefore we would hate nothing more than to watch our own masjids be taken over by people who would use them to destroy everything we have worked for as a community.

We do not tolerate extremism in our masjids. We don’t want it, need it, or care for it. We hate extremism because we are striving to practice our religion and get closer to Allah through the acts truly prescribed by Islam – charity, prayer, justice, remembrance of God, and service to humanity. We are repulsed by the disgrace that extremists bring our name, the name of our beautiful religion, and we detest the scrutiny of our religion that they cause.