Muslims to Build First Mosque in Antelope Valley : Religion: The Islamic Center still needs to raise more than half of the expected $400,000 cost. Neighbors opposed a residential site, so a corner lot in an industrial area was purchased.

After being rebuffed in an attempt to locate in a residential area, Muslims have obtained approval to build the Antelope Valley’s first mosque in an industrial area of Lancaster.

The 120-family Islamic Center of the North Valley still faces the task of raising more than half of the expected $400,000 expense to construct a building for its Friday prayers and Sunday classes.

“It’s not going to be easy in a recession,” said Walid Farrukh, the Lebanese-born project manager who lives in Palmdale.

Yet the Islamic Center has already come a long way since beginning three years ago with three families who met in private homes. As the group grew, it occasionally rented halls for monthly potluck dinners.

In 1990, the center entered escrow on the purchase of a house in an unincorporated area between Lancaster and Palmdale. Farrukh and other Muslim leaders simultaneously tested the attitudes of the neighborhood on their plans.

“The neighbors were not happy, and we knew that it was going to be an uphill battle,” Farrukh said. Islamic Center officials finally decided not to buy the property.

In a similar case earlier in the San Fernando Valley, the Islamic Center of Northridge had abandoned plans to locate in a neighborhood near Cal State Northridge because of residents’ objections and instead bought a lot near the Simi Valley Freeway in Granada Hills.

Even then, agreements were struck with neighbors and city officials to take steps to reduce traffic, limit the size of the congregation and design the building to blend into the neighborhood. Similar requirements have been imposed on several Valley churches in recent years to obtain city building permits.

The Antelope Valley Muslims took a different tack. After confronting neighborhood opposition in their attempt to build in a residential area, they bought a corner lot in a light industrial area of Lancaster--at Avenue L-4 and 4th Street East.

At a hearing this month, city planning commissioners approved the Islamic Center plans unanimously with the stipulation that the Muslim leaders sign a statement acknowledging that the noise level could rise as more companies build in that area.

“We will build a wall to help reduce any noise, but we don’t think we are going to have any problems,” Farrukh said.

Brian Ludicke, principal planner for Lancaster, said the next step is for the Islamic Center to submit architectural plans to city agencies for approval. The center has two years to begin construction on the site, he said.

The project calls for a 7,350-square-foot, two-story building with two dome-topped towers rising about six feet above the roof line.

Although a grander design might have drawn no objections because of its distance from homes, the teachings of the Prophet Muhammad, the founder of Islam, recommend “that we do a mosque as simple as possible,” Farrukh said.

“If we do it more elaborately, it would cost more money,” he added. “We need something as economical as possible.”

The Muslim population of the Antelope Valley is estimated by Farrukh at 300 families. No ethnic or racial group is dominant among residents active in the Islamic Center, he said.

“We have Arabs, Iranians, people from India, some from Africa, one or two American-born black families and one white American who became a Muslim,” Farrukh said.

“Most of the regulars have lived in the Antelope Valley three years or longer,” he said.

The dedicated Muslim is expected to pray five times daily at home, work or school. In countries with a high Muslim population, Islam pervades the social fabric and the mosque itself is not as important as it has become in the United States, according to Islamic experts.

In this country, where recent surveys estimate that Muslims total less than 3 million, members of the faith have steadily been establishing Islamic centers, which include not only a mosque for Friday midday services but also meeting halls for lectures, classes and social activities.

“It is important that Muslims get to know other believers and to help them become better Muslims,” Farrukh said.

He said Islamic Center leaders hope to begin construction within six months.