Mohammedi Center of Woodland Hills holds open house

[aqs]

They had prayed in peoples' homes. Kneeled inside a former church. And had waited decades to face Mecca in a real mosque.

Now their new Mohammedi Center of Woodland Hills, modeled on the magnificent mosques of a millennium ago, has been built to survive the ages.

"It's a proud moment for us," said Behlul Bhaisaheb Hashimi, imam of the center's small Anjuman-e-Burhanee community of the Dawoodi Bohra sect of Shi'a Islam, which held a pre-inauguration open house Friday. "This is not just a masjid," or mosque.

"It's been built to last a thousand years."
Fifteen years in the planning and seven years in the making, the $6.5 million Mohammedi Center hovers on a hill above the junction of Platt and Burbank avenues, its minaret visible from the street.

Its walls rise out of Jerusalem gold stone. Its arches hold windows of Honduran mahogany, which lines its second-floor balcony.

Its prayer-hall marble has been cut from Greece, lit by gold-and-glass chandeliers from Spain and Egypt, opened by complex doors and windows made in Germany.

But for the mostly Indian-born Dawoodi Bohra, the 18,000-square-foot masjid, fellowship hall and courtyard is not just a nod to their Fatimi forebears of 10th century Egypt.

It means an immigrant community come of age.

"This masjid complex represents more than just a complex," said Aamir Bhaisaheb Hatimi, the center's moavin, or assistant imam, during a ceremony. "It is a dream of settling in the United States.

"It shall be a beacon to all generations."

It was two generations ago that 10,000 Dawoodi Bohra, devotees of spiritual leader Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin of Mumbai, India, began immigrating to U.S. cities.

Be loyal to the countries you live in, Burhanuddin, who just turned 101, told them. Spread peace and harmony to the world.
The Dawoodi Bohra, who trace their roots to the Fatimid Caliphate that once spanned the Arab world, now number a million members worldwide. Known for its religious tolerance of other faiths, the Shi'a sect also values education, medicine, philanthropy and preservation of ancient landmarks across the globe.

The San Fernando Valley congregation is now home to 120 families of nearly 400 members whose professional breadwinners include business people, doctors, lawyers, architects and engineers.

But while its entrepreneurial immigrants built masjids in Detroit, Boston and even Ontario, they had yet to build a mosque in Los Angeles.

The first community prayed in one another's homes in La Puente. Then they bought a red-tagged Lutheran church in Woodland Hills a few years after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.

But it wasn't oriented toward Mecca. Its sanctuary had to be partitioned for men and women. And its organ remained silent during Muslim prayers.

After obtaining a building permit a dozen years ago on condition that its minaret would issue no noisy daily Islamic call to prayer, construction began in 2005.

The driving force was its late imam, Turab B.S. Hatimi, who died in December as the mosque was finished. He is buried next to its gurgling fountain, beneath camphor, pear and crepe myrtle trees.

Its master builder was Shabbir Saifee, a former Hughes Aircraft engineer, who constructed what some believe to be the finest Fatimi-style mosque in the nation.

"We're excited about it," said Saifee, who oversaw every detail, from the 45-foot chandelier in the stairwell to the floral etched windows, from 100 gilded names for Allah to a high-tech computerized lighting system. "We have gone for the best (materials) in every field.

"But money (alone) can't do this thing. It's only a labor of love."

The Dawoodi Bohra - the men dressed in white robes and embroidered caps, the women dressed in resplendent shawls - mixed for shoeless tours inside the grand stairway. A luncheon included local political aides.

Official prayers won't begin at the masjid until His Holiness, Mohammed Burhanuddin, can fly half-way across the world to personally bless the prayer hall. The men will pray below; the women from a second-floor gallery.

"This is the best feeling I've ever had since I came to the United States 15 years ago," said Hatim Fatehi, 37, of Canoga Park, a native of Mumbai, India. "This is a dream come true - the whole idea of practicing our religion in this land, with no fear.

"Back home, in India and Pakistan, we sometimes worry about sects. But here, we are safe. We are free."

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_205536 ... open-house

[Muslim First]

Known for its religious tolerance of other faiths, the Shi'a sect also values education, medicine, philanthropy and preservation of ancient landmarks across the globe.

They might be tolerant of other faith but they are not tolerant of their fellow Muslims. They might not openly say that but cursing and hatread is part of their ritual.

Here are core principal of DB sect

1.Dawoodi Bohra consider Mola Ameer-al-Mumineen Ali (A) is the only and the sole successor of Prophet Mohammed (S)?
2. Fatimi Dawat believes that Hazrat Umar murdered Molatina Fatima (A).
3. Fatimi Dawat considers that Hazrat Abu Bakr, Hz. Umar and Hz. Usman plotted in Sakifa to usurp the right of Mola Ali (A).
4. Fatimi Dawat believes that those three poisoned Nabi Mohammed (S).
5. Fatimi Dawat do "Barat" with Hz. Abubakr, Umar and Usman.
6. Fatimi Dawat consider Hazrata Aaisah as enemy as she came on Camel to fight with Mola Ali (A) in the war of Jamal as Fatimi Dawat does "Barat" with all the enemies .
7. Fatimi Dawat send "Laanat" on Maviya, the murder of Imam Hasan (A).
8. Fatimi Dawat send "Laanat" on Maloon Mukhtaar Saqafi.
9. Fatimi Dawat consider Imam Tayyeb (A) as the true Imam and send "Lanat" on his enemies (Isnashari Imams after Hazrat Moosa Kazim).

Anyone calling themselves as the Dawoodi Bohras irrespective of any side of divide MUST abide by above.
Adepted from: http://dawoodi-bohras.com/forum/viewtop ... f=1&t=7223

[Adam]

True.
Bara'at and La'nat on them is a part of that tolerance.
Just like the Quran recites La'nat on Zalemeen
لعنة الله على الظاليمن

Someones jealous I can tell

[Muslim First]

Adam
Why would Mainstrem Muslims jealous of feet kissing, grave worshipping Mushriks. What good is 6/7 millin $ shirk house when other Muslims are discoraged to come for prayers.

[Muslim First]

True.
Bara'at and La'nat on them is a part of that tolerance.
Just like the Quran recites La'nat on Zalemeen
لعنة الله على الظاليمن

Someones jealous I can tell

Bara'at and La'nat on them is a part of that tolerance.

What! where in world gali Galochi (even in civilized language) is considered tolerance?
Show me a single Sunni Masajid which spends any time on Lanats?
Lanats are main part of Bohra religion. Prayers are secondary.

[SBM]

Show me a single Sunni Masajid which spends any time on Lanats?

Unfortunately it has been done in Salafi run Masjids and they have send Lanats on Shia, fortunately that shaikh was not invited back for Friday Khutaba

[ghulam muhammed]

Official prayers won't begin at the masjid until His Holiness, Mohammed Burhanuddin, can fly half-way across the world to personally bless the prayer hall

The Masjid will not get its religious sanctity unless it is given away as waqf to the dai and the bohras who have spent 6.5 Million Dollars will again have to shell out the same amount in order to get the dai's clearence........ Recession or no recession, it is always boom time for kothar !!

[Muslim First]

Show me a single Sunni Masajid which spends any time on Lanats?

Unfortunately it has been done in Salafi run Masjids and they have send Lanats on Shia, fortunately that shaikh was not invited back for Friday Khutaba

At a boy for that salafi masjid.
Lanats are part of Shia DB religion, ask Adam

[Hanif]

They had prayed in peoples' homes. Kneeled inside a former church. And had waited decades to face Mecca in a real mosque.

Now their new Mohammedi Center of Woodland Hills, modeled on the magnificent mosques of a millennium ago, has been built to survive the ages.

"It's a proud moment for us," said Behlul Bhaisaheb Hashimi, imam of the center's small Anjuman-e-Burhanee community of the Dawoodi Bohra sect of Shi'a Islam, which held a pre-inauguration open house Friday. "This is not just a masjid," or mosque.so what is it?

"It's been built to last a thousand years."
Fifteen years in the planning and seven years in the making, the $6.5 million Mohammedi Center hovers on a hill above the junction of Platt and Burbank avenues, its minaret visible from the street.wHY DID IT TAKE 15 YEARS IN planning and seven years in making an 18,000 square foot Masjid which includes the courtyard? $6.5 Million dollars for an 18,000 square foot masjid which includes a courtyard???? How many people can pray there? What was the cost to the Abdes and non-Abdes e jamaat cardholders. Am truly happy for you guys.

Its walls rise out of Jerusalem gold stone. Its arches hold windows of Honduran mahogany, which lines its second-floor balcony.

Its prayer-hall marble has been cut from Greece, lit by gold-and-glass chandeliers from Spain and Egypt, opened by complex doors and windows made in Germany.Looks like the only thing came out of Fatimid Egypt is chandeliers. The rest came from somewhere else. Why could not they have gotten the building materials from Muslim countries to preserve the Islamic architecture?

But for the mostly Indian-born Dawoodi Bohra, the 18,000-square-foot masjid, fellowship hall and courtyard is not just a nod to their Fatimi forebears of 10th century Egypt.It truly is beautifuyl in pics. Please show more pics of the inside and the courtyard.

It means an immigrant community come of age.

"This masjid complex represents more than just a complex," said Aamir Bhaisaheb Hatimi, the center's moavin, or assistant imam, during a ceremony. "It is a dream of settling in the United States.Very true.

"It shall be a beacon to all generations."Sure if there are generations left to go to this beautiful Masjid. Right now the sensible ones are flying in all directions, and those that go to Masjids are there until their parents are alive (which is what I am told).

It was two generations ago that 10,000 Dawoodi Bohra, devotees of spiritual leader Syedna Mohammed Burhanuddin of Mumbai, India, began immigrating to U.S. cities.

Be loyal to the countries you live in, Burhanuddin, who just turned 101, told them. Practice what you preach.Spread peace and harmony to the world. How about spread peace and harmony to the DBs? Why are they always shaking in their pants?
The Dawoodi Bohra, who trace their roots to the Fatimid Caliphate that once spanned the Arab worldDon't forget Europe, now number a million members worldwideSurely what happened to the rest of Ismailis of the Fatimid Imamat? Where did they go? Why are their rivals more in number? What does it say of the Fatimid Dawa???. Known for its religious tolerance of other faiths, the Shi'a sect also values education, medicine, philanthropy and preservation of ancient landmarks across the globe. What religious tolerance? And what have they contributed in the way of medicine, philantrhopy and preservation of ancient landmarks, except for Mausoleums for their own dead leaders and Al-Azhar university????

The San Fernando Valley congregation is now home to 120 families of nearly 400 members whose professional breadwinners include business people, doctors, lawyers, architects and engineers. That is very true. I wonder how much they shelled out for this project.

But while its entrepreneurial immigrants built masjids in Detroit, Boston and even Ontario, they had yet to build a mosque in Los Angeles.

The first community prayed in one another's homes in La Puente. Then they bought a red-tagged Lutheran church in Woodland Hills a few years after the 1994 Northridge Earthquake.

But it wasn't oriented toward Mecca. Its sanctuary had to be partitioned for men and women. And its organ remained silent during Muslim prayers.

After obtaining a building permit a dozen years ago on condition that its minaret would issue no noisy daily Islamic call to prayer, construction began in 2005.

The driving force was its late imam, Turab B.S. Hatimi, who died in December as the mosque was finished. He is buried next to its gurgling fountain, beneath camphor, pear and crepe myrtle trees.

Its master builder was Shabbir Saifee, a former Hughes Aircraft engineer, who constructed what some believe to be the finest Fatimi-style mosque in the nation.

"We're excited about it," said Saifee, who oversaw every detail, from the 45-foot chandelier in the stairwell to the floral etched windows, from 100 gilded names for Allah to a high-tech computerized lighting system. "We have gone for the best (materials) in every field.

"But money (alone) can't do this thing. It's only a labor of love."

The Dawoodi Bohra - the men dressed in white robes and embroidered caps, the women dressed in resplendent shawls - mixed for shoeless tours inside the grand stairway. A luncheon included local political aides.

Official prayers won't begin at the masjid until His Holiness, Mohammed Burhanuddin, can fly half-way across the world to personally bless the prayer hall. The men will pray below; the women from a second-floor gallery.Until then go back to the churches!???

"This is the best feeling I've ever had since I came to the United States 15 years ago," said Hatim Fatehi, 37, of Canoga Park, a native of Mumbai, India. "This is a dream come true - the whole idea of practicing our religion in this land, with no fear.

"Back home, in India and Pakistan, we sometimes worry about sects. But here, we are safe. We are free."What a lied!Here they are free from other sects but not free from Abdes!

http://www.dailynews.com/news/ci_205536 ... open-house