New Reseda Center a Spiritual, Cultural Anchor for Muslims

Spurred by Afghan immigrant families who wanted a place to teach youngsters their Muslim heritage, an emergent Islamic center has transformed a former church into an active worship and classroom complex in only four months.

The worship hall now used as a mosque is still topped by a New England-style church steeple, but the pews have been removed for about 120 men and women who kneel on the carpeted floor during traditional mid-Friday prayers.

The Islamic Center of Reseda recently completed escrow on the purchase of a dusty, empty lot next door, doubling the complex’s size. The lot will provide much-needed parking spaces off Victory Boulevard, near where the street crosses over the Los Angeles River.

The developing complex is thought to be second in size only to the Islamic Center of Northridge, which opened its new facility in Granada Hills early this year. Two other small masjids, or mosques--in Van Nuys and North Hollywood--also serve the Valley’s Muslim community, whose numbers are not documented by members themselves and for which there are no reliable estimates.

When the Islamic Center of Northridge moved most of its activities to its $2.2-million complex in the north Valley, it also ended supplementary Friday prayers at rented quarters in Canoga Park--making it difficult for Muslims in the southwestern Valley to reach a place for community worship.

Islam requires followers to pray individually at home or at work five times daily, but also asks that believers gather each week for Friday prayers--which are said at 1 p.m. at the new center.

Although the Islamic Center of Reseda aims to serve the broad Muslim community, M. Aref Abedi, its director, said that the principal impetus was that Afghan families worried about “problems with the younger generation” and the danger of gang involvement.

“The children were kind of left unattended as the parents tried to earn a living and find good places to live,” Abedi said. “We have classes for children to learn the Muslim way of life and the [Afghan] language,” he said.

Abedi, a building materials salesman, said the center does not have a permanent imam, or religious leader. “We usually invite a guest imam to lead prayers,” he said.

The Reseda center property, which includes a two-story social hall and classrooms, an office and a small residence, was last used by a Filipino Christian congregation and had been for sale more than a year when the Muslim group bought it, Abedi said.

He said there currently is no plan to remove the church steeple from the building. A permanent sign and temporary banners identify the facility as Muslim.

“This place attracts a lot of people who can walk here or who work in the area,” said Harith Tarin, 18, a Pierce College student who works as the center’s caretaker and office manager.

“The beauty of Islam is that we are not limited to one national group,” said Tarin. “You cannot control the ethnicity of people who come, and we wouldn’t want to.”

Tarin left Afghanistan when he was 4 years old. After two years in Pakistan, his family emigrated to the United States.

Pakistani-born Muhammad Aftab, 29, of Van Nuys, who had come to the Reseda center for community prayers Friday, said that he tries to attend services at various locations in the San Fernando Valley. He said that when he encounters other Muslims, he often tells them about the mosque closest to where they live or work.

“It’s my responsibility as a Muslim not only to worship God,” Aftab said, “but to encourage others toward the truth.”