Fund Raising for Mosque Reaches Milestone : Religion: Muslims own the site after gathering $900,000 by the end of February. Ramadan, traditionally a time of generosity, is about to begin.

Islamic leaders have reached a fund-raising milestone in their drive to build the San Fernando Valley’s first permanent mosque--a $2.4-million project that garnered attention in 1990 after the city imposed a record number of conditions on plans for the Muslim center.

The Islamic Center of Northridge now owns outright the 2.2-acre site in Granada Hills and an adjoining house after raising nearly $900,000 by the end of February.

With the onset later this week of Ramadan, the religion’s most important month, leaders hope to get a good start on raising another $100,000 for pre-construction costs and permits.

“During Ramadan, people are more generous,” said Ahmed El-Gabalawy, president of the Islamic Center. The holiday will begin Thursday or Friday, depending on which previous night the scores of Muslim observers in North America see the sliver of the new moon.

Ramadan, a period when able-bodied Muslim adults abstain from food and drink during daylight hours, also is a time when Muslims donate food, clothing and money to the needy, visit Muslim inmates in prisons and support projects to further the faith.

The mosque, which will be on Encino Avenue south of Rinaldi Street, could hold as many as 550 people in the prayer hall, El-Gabalawy said.

Groundbreaking for the building will take place by year’s end, “Allah willing,” said El-Gabalawy, an Egyptian-born graduate of Cal State Northridge who has become a U. S. citizen.

In seeking approval by the city of Los Angeles for the project two years ago, Islamic Center officials accepted a consultant’s suggestion to preempt neighborhood objections by proposing a building featuring a Spanish-tile roof rather than a dome and minarets common to mosques abroad.

Mayor Tom Bradley criticized the Los Angeles City Council, which approved the plans on Sept. 11, 1990, for “an affront to religious freedom” by requiring the proposed mosque to have Spanish-style architecture.

Nevertheless, an artist’s rendition of the project shows that the structure will not be devoid of Islamic symbols. A 35-foot tower topped by a crescent moon will stand near the mosque’s entrance and will probably be visible from the nearby Simi Valley Freeway. El-Gabalawy said the tower was included in the original design.

Islamic leaders stoically accepted 44 city-imposed conditions on the center’s size, appearance and activities--requirements that were criticized by several Los Angeles religious leaders. Responding to neighborhood concerns about increased traffic, city officials limited the mosque to a maximum of 250 worshipers at one time in its first year.

“We hope to increase that number by proving to be a good neighbor,” El-Gabalawy said.

Steady growth in the center’s membership means that the congregation will have to retain its present facility, a converted three-bedroom house on Tampa Avenue in Northridge.

The Islamic Center now holds its largest Friday lunchtime service--the week’s religious high point--for 250 to 300 people in a Knights of Columbus hall in Canoga Park. An additional Friday service is conducted at the Northridge building, which accommodates as many as 100 worshipers.

Fortunately, El-Gabalawy said, other Muslims are organizing Friday services in the Valley. A Van Nuys congregation attracts about 100 worshipers. A North Hollywood group, renting a commercial building, had about three dozen Muslims for its first Friday service Feb. 21. Another group plans to begin Friday prayers in Reseda within two weeks.

Nearly a dozen members of the Muslim Student Assn. at Cal State Northridge attend Friday prayers on campus. “We began the services at the end of last semester because some students didn’t have enough time between classes to go to the Northridge center,” said Mohammed Khan, president of the student group.

The Northridge center has a mailing list of 640 people, but its leaders estimate that more than 6,000 Muslims live in the Valley. At the end of Ramadan last year, about 3,000 Muslims attended the early-morning outdoor prayer at CSUN.

Mosque attendance is not a requirement for Muslims, who acknowledge the 7th-Century prophet Mohammed as the messenger of God and fulfill certain obligations, such as praying five times a day. But in the United States, where Muslims are a tiny minority, the community and educational features of an Islamic center have an appeal.

India-born Intekhab I. Shaikh, a medical technician who has lived in the Valley for nine years, said he recently became a member of the Northridge center after he noticed that his brothers had prayer schedules.

“I wanted to get those as well as flyers on festivals or potluck dinners, so I decided to become a member,” Shaikh said.

Most Muslims active in the Northridge center come from India or Pakistan, but participants also include Iranians, Afghans, Southeast Asians, Arabs, Yugoslavs, Africans and Anglos, among others.

Ages also range widely. The duties of counseling, speaking, marrying couples and burying the dead are shared by El-Gabalawy, a 29-year-old electronics engineer, and Jan Mohammed, a 55-year-old security guard.

The 14- and 11-year-old sons of Nafisa and Syed Mushtaq of Northridge get on their bicycles after school and head to the center for late-afternoon prayer.

“I don’t force them. They both like to go,” Nafisa Mushtaq said.

“At a fund-raising dinner for the new mosque, my youngest son pledged $10, about all the money he had,” she said.

“I’m glad he is thinking straight. My husband and I also give a lot more than we can afford, but we believe it is a good cause and that God will bless us.”