Answered Prayers

Praising American freedom of religion, a Saudi prince Friday dedicated an $8.1-million mosque in Culver City--the first major Muslim house of worship on Los Angeles’ Westside and the first Islamic center in North America to be fully funded by the Saudi Arabian royal family.

With its 79-foot-tall minaret towering over Washington Boulevard and its twin domes, one of them glass, the gleaming white King Fahd Mosque “is one of the five most beautiful mosques in this country,” said Muzammil Siddiqi, an Orange County Islamic leader who is president of the Islamic Society of North America.

The new mosque, covered with imported marble and decorated with blue tiles inside and out, “is a welcome addition,” said Hassan Hathout, outreach director of the Los Angeles-based Islamic Center of Southern California.

About 75 mosques serve the growing Muslim community in Southern California. Estimates of the population vary. Local Muslim leaders say it is as high as 300,000, although non-Muslim demographers say that estimate is too high.

Some U.S. Muslim leaders said privately that Saudi influence is not always greeted happily in America, where freedom of expression and faith are taken for granted. The Saudi Arabian kingdom--guardian of Islam’s holiest sites, Mecca and Medina--enforces a rigidly orthodox code for Muslims in that country and bars the slightest non-Muslim religious expression, making it illegal, for instance, for a Christian to wear a cross.

Imam W.D. Mohammed of Chicago, leader of the American Muslim Society, a primarily African American Muslim organization, extended official congratulations to the prince, Abdul Aziz, and the directors of the new mosque. But in a brief interview, Mohammed said he “was not pleased with the problem of not accommodating people of [non-Muslim] faith in the kingdom; we ought to do something about it.”

Others, however, said the new mosque and Saudi internal affairs are separate matters.

The Saudi donors and foundation “are doing a good thing by building a mosque,” Hathout said. “It is irrelevant in this context to bring up the full spectrum of opinions about the internal affairs of Saudi Arabia.”

Similarly, William Baker, an advisor to the Rev. Robert Schuller at the Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, said, “In truth, there is intolerance all over the world, against both Christians and Muslims.” Baker heads a bridge-building organization called Christians and Muslims for Peace.

Aziz spoke of “peace and love” for fellow Muslims and for religious cooperation with non-Muslims in this country.

And he praised America’s openness to other religions, according to an aide, who summarized the prince’s remarks, which were delivered in Arabic before about 400 people in a sound studio next door to the mosque.

“I thank the U.S. government for allowing us to present Islam in this country,” the aide quoted the prince as saying.

The son of King Fahd was greeted in kind by Culver City Mayor Sandra Levin. “In addition to building a stunning mosque, you are building relationships between people,” she said.

The wealthy Saudi royal family has endeared itself to many Muslims by expanding the holy sites in Mecca and contributing to the erection of 210 mosques around the world, including a dozen in the United States.

Several years ago, a small Westside mosque serving mostly UCLA students and faculty requested help from the Saudis. The prince responded with a gift of more than $1 million to buy land and pay planning costs. Construction began after King Fahd donated funds for the mosque and an adjacent religious school.

One goal of the new mosque is to seek understanding “among different religions through open dialogue,” said Khalil Al Khalil, a university professor in Saudi Arabia who directs the mosque’s Islamic Foundation of Shaikh Ibn Taymiyah.

The dedication came as the Saudis released about 10 Christians, most from the Philippines, who had been detained for illegally distributing Christian materials and other violations in the kingdom.

In Washington, a State Department official, speaking on condition of anonymity, confirmed that “it is our understanding that a small number of people held on religious grounds were released in the past few days” by Saudi officials. “We believe they were of Dutch and Philippine nationality. We welcome the release.”

The official declined to elaborate, but it is believed that the State Department worked to win the Christians’ release in connection with the prince’s visit for the mosque dedication. The official said there had been no publicity about the release or U.S. efforts to obtain it because officials have learned that prisoner releases only occur when a low profile is guaranteed.

Mohammed Al-Salloum, the Saudi consul general in Los Angeles, said that his office had heard nothing official about the releases.

Saudi rules on non-Muslim religious expression “have nothing to do with the government; it’s an Islamic issue,” he said.

There are more than 60,000 non-Muslim workers in Saudi Arabia, and the number is growing, he said, but he added that “all people entering Saudi Arabia know there is only one religion there and they cannot exercise their religion in churches or in public.”

The oft-stated Muslim hope of countering U.S. stereotypes of Muslims--that they are either terrorists or rigid fundamentalists--was echoed Friday by Abdullah Al-Obaid of Mecca, secretary general of the Muslim World League.

Muslims “have to work hard to correct that image and show people the real, positive image of Islam,” Al-Obaid said, according to an English summary of his talk, which was delivered in Arabic.

The Southern California mosque closest in size and appearance to the new structure is the $8.5-million Masjid Omar Ibn Al-Khattab near USC, one of a dozen U.S. mosques that have received partial Saudi support.

But the King Fahd mosque “is much more lavish in architectural design,” said Siddiqi. He added that it is as impressive as large Islamic worship centers in New York City, Washington and Cincinnati and Toledo, Ohio.

Architect Ardeshar Bahar of Newport Beach, who began work on the project six years ago, said the steel-and-concrete structure has two underground parking levels and a restaurant, and two floors of offices, classrooms and worship space, including a prayer balcony for women, totaling 63,000 square feet.

In the Middle East, minarets would have loudspeakers broadcasting the call to prayer five times daily, in keeping with Muslim faith requirements. In this country, the minarets serve only a decorative purpose.

Times staff writer Tyler Marshall in Washington contributed to this story.