Muslim Community in North Carolina Regains Access to Mosque after 3 Years
The mosque at the university has been closed for public services since the pandemic started in March 2020. Members of the Muslim community who use the mosque worked with Shaw University to come to an agreement and regained access on Aug. 9.
A board member of the mosque Nigel Edwards said they had started negotiating a Memorandum of Understanding before the pandemic. But when the pandemic kicked in, the negations were put on pause. Now that it’s in place, it guaranteed the Muslim community access to the building for three years.
“We are happy to be here. It took quite a bit of efforts,” Edwards said.
After in-person religious services at the mosque stopped in March 2020, members of the Muslim community asked if they could come back a couple of times. Edwards said their requests were denied. But, he said, there were community worship services being held at the university’s chapel. In response, the Muslim community started publicly protesting in January of this year.
“We first requested to come back to this facility in 2021, obviously, in the pandemic in 2020 we agreed to not have in-person religious services as many institutions did nationwide,” Edwards said. “As things started to reopen in 2021, we felt as if it was time to come back.”
Through those efforts and talks with local government officials, they were able to regain access to the mosque. They were also able to get that Memorandum of Understanding signed by both parties.
The downtown Raleigh University has plans to rezone this property, Edwards said, so there are questions about the future plans for the mosque.
“While the rezoning was ultimately passed and the university was able to continue forward with its plans to rezoning, the amount of attention that we attracted, it made it possible to bring the university to the negotiating table,” Edwards said.
Under the agreement, both parties will use the next two months to negotiate and find a long-term solution.
“I understand that this is only temporary. The agreement that we have is only for three years, and if we want to stay here we have a lot more work to do to ensure our future long-term,” Edwards said.
If a permanent solution is not agreed on during those first 60 days, then either side can pursue litigation to get a final verdict.
The MOU also says that the nonprofit will need to contribute to the maintenance and financially contribute to the facilities. They will also need to follow university policies.
The group will hold a meeting this Saturday to discuss the current legal status, upcoming programs, and the future of the mosque.
Source: Spectrum News
