Muslims Make Plans For Mosque Community Outgrowing Its Prayer Centers

Hassan Mallah stops his car and steps out to look over a weed-covered field - the site of Spokane’s first mosque.

Design plans are still in the works, but it’s expected to cost $500,000 to $750,000 to build.

Mosques, the Muslim place of worship, generally feature domed roofs, green lights and a tower.

Mallah, president of the Spokane Islamic Center, surveyed the field north of Second Avenue near Altamont with pride.

“When you see a mosque, you will see more people coming,” he said Thursday, his voice rising above the rush of cars on Interstate 90.

Mallah, who owns Spokane Office Concepts, said the mosque will draw a diverse group of worshippers: Muslims from from countries such as Egypt, Palestine, Saudi Arabia and Bosnia.

Parents will bring their children for religious classes and day-care services, he said. The entire community can pray together on holidays and Fridays.

Mallah estimates up to 3,000 Muslims live in the Spokane area. On Friday, the big worship day, worshippers can’t always fit into just one of the two prayer centers in Spokane. One is behind the Fred Meyer store on East Francis; the other is near Gonzaga University.

“Every year … it’s gotten more and more full (at the prayer centers),” Khalil Islam said.

It’s time to build a mosque, said Islam, assistant dean of students at Eastern Washington University.

If all goes as planned, the mosque will be finished in two years, Mallah said.

The land was bought for $57,000, using money that had been held for 15 years by the North American Islamic Trust.

Mallah became president of the Islamic Center in December and made it clear to the advisory committee that he wanted to work fast. In March, he took a pilgrimage to Mecca, his first hajj. There, he visited with the president of the Islamic League, which helps fund mosque construction.

An Islamic League application is being prepared. Plans from a mosque in Lacey, Wash., will be adapted for the Spokane site, Mallah said.

Once that is done, they will form the budget and submit the application to the minister in Mecca. The Islamic Center must raise one-fourth of the money.

The only hitch may be a long-range highway project.

Mallah has been told the planned route for the North-South Freeway will either come close to the site, or slice through it.

A state Department of Transportation engineer couldn’t confirm that report, stressing that construction on the highway is more than a decade away.

Mallah, meanwhile, said he plans to move ahead with the project and apply for a building permit later this month.

This sidebar appeared with the story: BACKGROUND IN THE WAY? Muslims planning to build a mosque have been told the planned the North-South Freeway will either come close to the building site, or slice through it. A state Department of Transportation engineer couldn’t confirm that report, stressing that construction on the highway is more than a decade away.