Islamic Center of Murfreesboro in Murfreesboro, Tennessee Open August 2012

 general view shows the U.S. flag in front of the newly opened Islamic Center of Murfreesboro in Murfreesboro, Tennessee


A week shy of the end of the Islamic holiday of Ramadan, Muslim residents of Murfreesboro, Tenn. will be allowed Friday to enter and pray for the first time at a mosque for which they have fought for the last two years.
A small but very vocal group of residents opposed to the mosque made a last ditch effort Thursday night to prevent the mosque's opening, ahead of a court hearing on August 24. Their effort is not expected to be successful.
[See: Special report on Islam]
The bitter battle over the 6,800-square-foot Islamic Center, located in the heart of the bible belt, rocked the growing and diversifying community of Murfreesboro.
Residents opposed to the mosque said they did not believe Islam was a religion, and worried that Sharia law, an Islamic moral code, would be adopted in their small city. Sally Hall, one of the more vocal residents critical of the mosque, told U.S. News & World Report last month that she was worried because she believed Muslims "cut off people's heads."
The mosque's members and its imam, Ossama Bahloul, repeatedly said they wanted to "worship in peace" and were "saddened" by inaccurate perceptions of the religion.
Last month, a federal district court judge sought to put an end to the two-year battle, ruling that the the mosque must be treated on equal grounds as other houses of worship.
At the time of the ruling, the mosque said it hoped to open within 10 days. More than 20 days later, the building will open with a temporary certificate of occupancy, and a permanent certificate is expected after the August 24 ruling. Prayers will begin in the mosque Friday at 1 p.m.
Late Thursday night, the residents opposing the mosque filed a motion to intervene in the lawsuit. It was their second attempt to do so, with the first request being thrown out by the judge on technical grounds. Lori Windham of the Becket Fund, the law firm that represented the mosque, said she finds it "very unlikely" the attempt would be successful a second time.
Joe Brandon, who led the charge to fight the mosque and repeatedly alleged it had ties to the Muslim Brotherhood, says he believes the mosque opening is “in violation of the law.”
The Murfreesboro lawyer cites an earlier state court decision that ruled the mosque had not given proper notice about the date it wanted to open. He did not address the federal court decision saying the mosque could legally open.
“The opening of the mosque today is pure and simple Sharia law in that their law trumps our law,” he said.
http://www.usnews.com/news/articles/2012/08/10/tennessee-mosque-to-open-friday-after-bitter-fight?s_cid=rss:tennessee-mosque-to-open-friday-after-bitter-fight

MURFREESBORO, Tenn (Reuters) - The imam and worshipers at a new Tennessee mosque that hosted its first prayers on Friday after fighting for two years to open said they forgive those who have been enemies of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro.

"Love your neighbor is a concept in every religion," Imam Ossama Bahloul told more than 200 men and women in attendance during his sermon in the mosque that replaces one where the congregation worshiped for 30 years.

To those who opposed the mosque, Bahloul said, "We forgive you all and we welcome you to our facility."

Opponents of the mosque about 30 miles south of Nashville sued to stop it from opening, claiming that not enough notice had been given before a building permit was issued. Residents opposed to the mosque have made allegations that Islam was not a faith protected by the Constitution, and that the mosque sought to impose Islamic law, or Sharia, in the U.S. legal system.

Opposition to the mosque also became an unlikely issue in a Tennessee Republican Congressional primary, with the challenger complaining that freshman Representative Diane Black, who later went on to win the primary, had not been forceful enough in her opposition to the mosque.

The Council on American-Islamic Relations has characterized the campaign against the mosque as a "viciously anti-Muslim groundswell" that included accusations of treason and disloyalty along with insinuations that Muslims were predisposed to violence.

Bahloul addressed opponents' allegations in his sermon, saying that the new facility was simply a place for people to pray and children to play. And he said his congregation does abide by the U.S. Constitution.

"You can be a good Muslim and a good American," he said.
Despite the opposition, the mosque was finally able to open this week, in the middle of the holy month of Ramadan when Muslims fast from dawn to dusk, and ahead of the Eid al-Fitr feasting holiday that marks Ramadan's end.

The congregation had expected protesters on Friday, but only one showed up. Dan J. Qualls, a Murfreesboro resident who works at a nearby factory, said he felt compelled to carry a message to those at the gleaming new mosque. "Jesus Christ
http://news.yahoo.com/tennessee-mosque-opens-fight-message-forgiveness-024653097.html

http://www.npr.org/2012/08/10/158582716/first-prayer-service-held-in-tennessee-mosque?ft=1&f=2

http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=158582716&m=158594449

http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?p=mosque+tennessee&tnr=21&vid=344397972478&l=140&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts3.mm.bing.net%2Fvideos%2Fthumbnail.aspx%3Fq%3D344397972478%26id%3De6d49866dae7fa2721e35dfa897f235d%26bid%3DSwBif10ZhBSqXA%26bn%3DThumb%26url%3Dhttp%253a%252f%252fwww.cnn.com%252fvideo%252f%253f%252fvideo%252fbestoftv%252f2012%252f08%252f10%252fexp-early-george-howell.cnn&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.cnn.com%2Fvideo%2F%3F%2Fvideo%2Fbestoftv%2F2012%2F08%2F10%2Fexp-early-george-howell.cnn&sigr=12guah58p&newfp=1&tit=Controversial+mosque+opens+in+Tennessee

MURFREESBORO, Tenn. - A judge denied a request Wednesday for a temporary restraining order to stop construction at the site of a proposed mosque in Middle Tennessee.
Rutherford County Chancellor Robert Corlew said after closing arguments that he didn't find that the "county acted illegally, arbitrarily or capriciously," when county planners approved the site plan for an Islamic center in Murfreesboro.
The lawsuit claimed that the Tennessee open meetings law was violated because the planners failed to file adequate public notice of the meeting.
But much of the questioning from plaintiffs attorney Joe Brandon Jr. during seven days of testimony since late September focused on whether Islam qualified as a religion and his theory that American Muslims want to replace the Constitution with extremist Islamic law.
Corlew said the court did not find that members of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro adhered to extremist religious ideas.
Mosque leaders want to expand their facilities to accommodate a growing congregation and currently the proposed site is being prepared but no construction has started. Federal investigators are looking into arson at the construction site that burned a dump truck, and vandals have twice defaced a sign announcing the Islamic center is being built there.
Brandon had his hands on his face and at times was bent over the desk as the judge read his ruling. Afterward he briskly walked out of the courtroom without speaking to reporters.
Laurie Cardoza-Moore, who opposes the mosque but was not among the plaintiffs, said the plaintiffs are disappointed with the judge's decision. She said the judge did recognize some of their concerns regarding public meeting notices.
Although Corlew found no violation of the state's so-called "sunshine law," which specifies that government meetings are open to the public, he said the case raised questions about what amounted to the "adequate public notice" the law requires. The meeting notice was published in the Murfreesboro Post, a free weekly newspaper that claims distribution to 45,000 homes in the county of more than 250,000 people.
"We felt like the judge did hear us on those issues," Cardoza-Moore said.
During the testimony, witnesses pointed out that Islamic Center of Murfreesboro board member Mosaad Rowash previously had pro-Hamas postings on his MySpace page, something the mosque's leaders have not denied. The U.S. government considers Hamas, a Palestinian Islamic political party with an armed wing that has attacked Israel, a terrorist organization.
Corlew said the actions of some individuals associated with the mosque amounted to poor judgment.
Brandon said before the ruling that the dispute would continue, however the judge rules. "If the court rules against us, we're not going to stop," he said.
Cardoza-Moore said the legal team would meet with the plaintiffs to decide what to do next.
Jim Cope, the attorney for the county, said officials are prepared for any further challenges.
"We will continue to defend the county's rights and interests in seeing the actions that we took were upheld appropriately," he said.
Layla Hantouli, a 22-year-old Muslim woman who has been following the testimony, was glad the judge ruled against the mosque opponents.
http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2010/nov/18/order-to-halt-murfreesboro-mosque-denied/?comments_id=1559860

video

http://video.search.yahoo.com/video/play?p=new+mosque+tennessee&tnr=21&vid=413121512513&turl=http%3A%2F%2Fts2.mm.bing.net%2Fvideos%2Fthumbnail.aspx%3Fq%3D413121512513%26id%3D564aee8b04a2535ecad622f578c45074%26bid%3DyxcSPprQwlHeVQ%26bn%3DThumb%26url%3Dhttp%253a%252f%252fwww.dailymotion.com%252fvideo%252fxsqv5u_after-long-fight-opening-day-for-tenn-mosque_news&rurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.dailymotion.com%2Fvideo%2Fxsqv5u_after-long-fight-opening-day-for-tenn-mosque_news&sigr=12phcau17&newfp=1&tit=After+Long+Fight%2C+Opening+Day+for+Tenn.+Mosque

http://news.yahoo.com/photos/u-s--slideshow/general-view-shows-u-flag-front-newly-opened-photo-024653535.html

http://articles.cnn.com/2012-08-10/us/us_tennessee-mosque_1_tennessee-mosque-islamic-center-veals-road
But from the start, the new center divided this small city 35 miles southeast of Nashville that has 104,000 people, more than 140 churches and one mosque.
Opponents of the mosque protested, citing zoning concerns and worries about radical Islam.
Proponents cried religious intolerance.
Early on, Kevin Fisher, who led the protests, said opponents are going to contest "every brick that's laid."
Tennessee Lt. Gov. Ron Ramsey didn't mince words, either.
"You could even argue whether being a Muslim is actually a religion, or is it a nationality, way of life, a cult, whatever you want to call it," he said during his failed run for governor.
A fire at the construction site destroyed an earth mover and damaged three other vehicles. Authorities determined it was arson.
A sign announcing the new center was vandalized. The message said: "Not welcome."