Sunni Muslim Sister on Walkersville Ahmadiyya Mosque

Grateful thanks to Sunni Muslim sister Diana Elbasha for a fair write up in the FREDRICK NEWS POST on the Walkersville Ahmadiyya Mosque project. Jazakllah ! ( Dr. Hanif Koya-San Francisco, Bay Area)

Diana ElbashaGive Walkersville a chanceOriginally published November 17, 2007


One of the most prevalent topics filling the pages of The Frederick News-Post lately seems, very apparently, to be that of the Walkersville Ahmadiyya controversy.
I have been attentively following them, making note of the endless viewpoints and reactions possible to be taken on the issue -- like anything else, some are understandable, and others plain preposterous. Thus, despite my initial intention to avoid writing on the issue, I have grown to believe in the past few weeks that this is an issue that is impossible to remain undefended.
Before I begin, allow me to clarify a few related key pieces of information: as my loyal readers are aware, I, too, am a Muslim -- so, prompting my interest in such a topic. However, before I am denunciated with accusations of bias, be aware that the Ahmadiyya religion differs significantly from the more populous Sunni Islam in which I believe.
Many of the fundamental beliefs of the two sects are in great opposition to one another; still, however, our holidays, practices, and prayers remain common. Such a comparison, among other reasons, is what provides me with enough understanding for not only the Ahmadiyyas' desire for a center, but also the strain they are currently undergoing to pursue the project.
Being a part of the Islamic Society of Frederick has me as well as all other long-time members, setting upon a pedestal of great accomplishment -- it took incredible amounts of time and effort to have our mosque and society be as extensive and successful as it is today. Years ago, when the ISF decided that the compromised idea of having prayers in an old, insecure, one-floor house, was too impractical for the increasing population to deal with, we went about division and conquest:
We approached every possible political figure within our reach -- commissioners, governors, anyone with enough stature to constitute decisions within Frederick -- to publicize our dire need for building or purchasing a vicinity for the community to pray and worship.
Rejected. Denied. Not in favor. Unapproved. (Are there any other words I am forgetting?)
I remember attending the public meetings and hearings on the issue -- several of our members would speak to these "leaders" with truth, passion, and at times desperation ... only to leave the room with angry tears of unfair rejection.
I was very young at the time, but seeing these types of reactions from the Ummah -- the community -- evoked from the insensitive, emotionless committee was more than enough to prompt anyone's understanding of the issue's extremity.
Now, as a painful section of Frederick history repeats itself, we see the issue being faced by Muslims again.
I have picked up on a plethora of responses to building the site -- one prominent comment being the trouble in allowing a possible 10,000 people to assemble at the site in Walkersville.
I don't know much about the dynamics of the Ahmadiyya society -- but I do know that the conventions they hold with "10,000 members" in attendance are held every few months or possibly annually.
So a few days out of the year -- what's the big deal? One five-mile radius of Frederick contains an amount of churches more than Muslims can ever hope to see on the entire East Coast of Mosques -- all of which were built and finalized for use in a fraction of the time it has been taking for us to gain a glimpse of the county's approval to build. So tell me, does anyone consider excuses in such ridiculous detail for the building of a Christian center? Or a Jewish center?
It is unfair and shouldn't be necessary -- and I say this with true empathy and personal experience -- for an entire religious population to have to travel miles and hours just to have grounds to pray on. Give them a chance.
Is this how we are representing the amendment of Freedom of Religion?
If so, what a great place to be ...