Center to Break Ground for Mosque

The Islamic Center of Northridge will break ground Sunday in Granada Hills for what will be the first mosque built in the San Fernando Valley.

The Muslim worship center, approved by the Los Angeles City Council in September, 1990, after imposing a record number of restrictions, received the construction permit from the city last week, said Ahmed El-Gabalawy, public affairs director for the center.

“People were embracing one another--there were tears in their eyes,” El-Gabalawy said, describing the reaction when the news was announced at Friday’s prayer meeting attended by about 300 people at the Knights of Columbus hall in Canoga Park. He said about 150 people responded similarly at the center’s second hall, a converted residence on Tampa Avenue in Northridge.

The new mosque complex will sit on a 2.2-acre site on Encino Avenue south of Rinaldi Street. Architectural plans, which included 44 modifications and conditions imposed by the city, call for Spanish-tile roofing and a 35-foot tower topped by the crescent moon, a familiar Islamic symbol.

El-Gabalawy said center officials want to begin construction as soon as possible, beginning with the worship hall, which was designed to hold as many as 550 people.

The groundbreaking ceremony will be held at 3 p.m.

Originally estimated as a $1.53-million project, the total bill will probably be about $2 million because of rising costs, El-Gabalawy said. He said officials of the center were confident about raising the money.

Word of the city permit to begin digging came coincidentally only a few weeks before the center’s annual fund-raising dinner Nov. 13 at the Universal Sheraton Hotel. The featured speaker will be Siraj Wahaj, an imam, or spiritual leader, from New York City who was the first Muslim to say opening prayers before a session of Congress.