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March 21, 2003/Adar2 17 5763, Vol. 55, No. 30
Breaking more than just ground
Muslims, Jews and Christians celebrate beginning of Scottsdale mosque
BARRY COHEN
Editor
Members of the Islamic Center of the Northeast Valley ceremonially break ground for the 15,616-square-foot mosque on March 15.
Photo by Barry Cohen
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Few Americans understand the true nature of Islam, notes the president of the board of trustees of the Islamic Center of the Northeast Valley.
"Who should be blamed for that?" asks Naser Ahmad. "I submit that it is we American Muslims who are to blame."
Ahmad expressed these thoughts at the March 15 groundbreaking ceremony for the Islamic Center, the Valley's seventh mosque, attended by an interfaith mix of Jewish, Christian and Muslim religious leaders and laypeople.
The Islamic Center will help educate the community about Islam's authentic religious message by building bridges of understanding, says Ahmad.
People of all religions will be welcomed there to experience the true faith of Islam in a place where "honesty, integrity and charity are not optional, but required," he explains.
Approximately 250 people - including local, state and federal elected officials - gathered for the groundbreaking ceremony at the southwest corner of Via Linda and 122nd Street. Construction at the 3.38-acre site will begin by the end of April and be completed within a year. The 15,616-square-foot structure will include a prayer hall, multipurpose room, library and minaret.
The groundbreaking represents the culmination of efforts not only to lay the foundation of the structure, but also to foster understanding and cooperation in the neighborhood, says Zuhdi Jasser, director of outreach at the Islamic Center, in a phone interview.
"We had to express our responsiveness to their needs ... and establish a friendship," he says. "We are sort of like new neighbors. It takes time to get to know each other."
The neighbors' concerns of having a mosque in their community included increased traffic, noise, lighting and whether the complex would blend in with the surrounding houses, says Ahmad in a phone interview.
Earlier efforts to foster mutual understanding - in this case between local Jews and Muslims - began three years ago in the form of a dialogue group, the Children of Abraham, spearheaded by Jasser and Rabbi B. Charles Herring of Temple Kol Ami of Scottsdale.
Children of Abraham initially included 12 Jews from Temple Kol Ami and 12 Muslims, who met regularly in private homes. They devoted early sessions to gaining an understanding of one another's religion, culture and values.
Almost every Muslim participant in the dialogue - now expanded to include a second group of Muslim and Jewish high school students - is a member of the Islamic Center, says Herring.
At the groundbreaking, Jasser gave Steve Weitzenkorn, Children of Abraham participant and president of Temple Kol Ami, a plaque that included an excerpt from the Koran on the importance of interfaith dialogue. Plaques of appreciation were also given to other religious leaders.
Weitzenkorn, speaking on behalf of Herring, said the rabbi could not be there as he was leading a bat mitzvah service. He noted the importance of the last three years of Jews and Muslims "learning from one another and praying with one another."
"I am deeply appreciative of the friendship, warmth and support of this Muslim community," says Weitzenkorn on behalf of Herring.
"May the doors of this mosque always be wide enough to receive all who hunger for love, all who are looking for fellowship. ... May the doors of this mosque be narrow enough (to keep out) hate, pride, envy, enmity," he adds.
Bill Straus, regional director of the Anti-Defamation League, says in a phone interview that he first learned about the effort to build an Islamic Center in Scottsdale when mosque leaders met with the City of Scottsdale Design Review Board in January 2002. Some of these leaders are Children of Abraham participants, a group Straus views as a prototype for interfaith understanding.
Children of Abraham is "a model relationship for the country. ... They have put history and the generally accepted idea that Jews and Muslims do not get along (to the side) and built friendships," says Straus. "When I tell my (ADL) colleagues in other parts of the country what they have accomplished, they're in disbelief."
The success of Children of Abraham has encouraged the leaders of the Islamic Center to reach out to religious institutions in the neighborhood surrounding the mosque.
While Children of Abraham is not synonymous with the mosque, "it stimulated the building of interfaith communications with other groups," says Jasser. Last Thanksgiving, the Islamic Center participated in an interfaith worship service with Via de Christo United Methodist Church, led by the Rev. David Felton, he said.
The Islamic Center has also fostered relationships with representatives from the Congregational Church of the Valley and St. Bernard of Clairvaux Catholic Church. St. Bernard Church provided parking for the groundbreaking ceremony.
In addition, both Children of Abraham groups plan to participate with Temple Kol Ami congregants in picking citrus for the Westside Food Bank on March 27, says Jasser.
Herring says in a phone interview that he did not know whether the Islamic Center and Temple Kol Ami would participate in future official joint activities, such as interfaith worship services. However, he encouraged the building of one-on-one grassroots friendships, based on the Children of Abraham dialogue model.
Potential exists for the Islamic Center to maintain connections with the greater community, notes Deedra Abboud, director of the Council for American Islamic Relations - Arizona Chapter, in a phone interview. "It gave me hope to see so many types of people there ... interacting on a social basis," she adds. CAIR is a Washington-based Islamic advocacy group, according to the U.S. State Department Web site, www.state.gov.
"I thought (the groundbreaking) was very positive and efforts to build bridges should continue," says Marwan Ahmad, publisher of the Arizona Muslim Voice, in a phone interview.
"Each (religious group) is living in our own small worlds," notes Ahmad. To foster understanding, religious institutions should express themselves and work with other groups willing to do the same, he adds.
Rabbi Mark Bisman of Har Zion Congregation in Scottsdale said although he has not met with leaders of the Islamic Center, he views the addition of the mosque in Scottsdale as a positive development.
The Islamic Center's groundbreaking "is a wholesome, wonderful development for the community, for them to have this place for worship," says Bisman in a phone interview. "I will view them as friends until proven otherwise."
At the groundbreaking, various religious leaders noted the importance of fostering connections with Islamic Center members.
"Groundbreaking is an appropriate term for what we are doing today," says the Rev. David Hodgon of the Congregational Church of the Valley. "We not only break ground on this site for the construction of a mosque, but we are breaking ground in America in the way we celebrate the ethnic diversity and cultural variety and religious plurality in our own community."
Father Robert Voss of St. Bernard of Clairvaux Catholic Church noted the need to foster mutual respect and understanding. "It is my profound hope that the leaders of our two communities will be able to establish a connection," he says.
The Rev. Paul Eppinger, executive director of the Arizona Interfaith Movement shared words of hope and optimism. "I want to say ... on this day, here in this place, the kingdom of God is arriving," he notes. "We're not there yet. We have a lot of work to do, but the kingdom of God is arriving."
In a statement, Rabbi Robert Kravitz, executive director of the Arizona Chapter of the American Jewish Committee, noted his optimism for the development of understanding and cooperation among the Valley's religious groups: "As you symbolically overturn a spade of earth to begin building the North East Valley's Islamic Center (sic), you are also planting into the ground the seeds of a foundation of understanding and cooperation that, with nurture, will grow in the years to come."
Along with the religious leaders and Islamic Center members at the groundbreaking were a number of political leaders, including U.S. Rep. J.D. Hayworth (R-5th District), Scottsdale Mayor Mary Manross, Scottsdale City Councilwoman Cynthia Lukas and Arizona State Rep. Michele Reagan (R-8th District).
Both Hayworth and Manross noted the diversity that the Islamic Center brings to Scottsdale.
"We're becoming more and more diverse," says Manross, "more heterogeneous every year, and I think it creates a richer, more loving community."
"True tolerance comes not from suppressing differences, but by embracing them," says Hayworth. "We celebrate together, not in total agreement, but in the true sense of tolerance. We celebrate together as fellow Americans the understanding that the true definition of peace is not the absence of conflict, but the presence of God."
Currently, 70-80 families are members of the Cultural Center, and 100 children attend weekend religious school, held at Children's World, near 104th Street and Thompson Peak Parkway.
Worship services are open to everyone in the community, says Jasser.
All fund raising for the $1.4 million facility will be local, he adds.
In concluding the groundbreaking ceremony, Jasser read a prayer written by his father, Mohammad Jasser, which read, in part, "Bless our efforts and steady our steps to build your house in this community, a beacon for your light, a source of your knowledge and an example of your mercy and moderation."
Azra Hussein, member of the Cultural Center's board of trustees and chairwoman of the groundbreaking committee, emphasized the need to be a good neighbor and to continue to extend a hand in support and friendship.
"I hope that this feeling and this spirit stays with everybody beyond this," she says. "Not just for today, but within the community, within every one of us."
Contact the writer at barry_cohen@jewishaz.com.
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