Mohammedi Center of Woodland Hills holds open house
Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 3:49 am
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
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