Eileen Farhat, left, prepares to give Gov. Kathleen Sebelius a tour of the new Wichita mosque on Wednesday.
Posted on 07/16/2005 9:02:48 PM PDT by BigFinn
Wichita-area Muslims on Wednesday celebrated the grand opening of Kansas' largest mosque.
The event drew hundreds of visitors -- including Gov. Kathleen Sebelius -- to join the celebration and tour the facility.
The 10,050-square-foot mosque -- which has yet to be officially named -- is at 6655 E. 34th St. North and adjoins the Muslim Community Center, where Muslims had previously prayed.
The mosque includes a carpeted prayer area on the main floor, a 10-foot-high speaker's platform or pulpit, an area to wash the bodies of people who have died and an office for the imam, a prayer leader.
For Muslims, the opening of the mosque marked the end of nearly 10 years of concept planning and four years of fiscal planning. It was built at a cost of more than $800,000, debt-free.
"It's just like home," said Nabil Seyam, spokesman for the Islamic Society of Wichita. "The mosque, it is a place of worship, but it also is a place where it feels like home. There is no evil in it. It's a place of peace."
Eileen Farhat, left, prepares to give Gov. Kathleen Sebelius a tour of the new Wichita mosque on Wednesday.
As part of the grand opening ceremony, there were readings from the Quran. Muslim leaders and Sebelius gave speeches to a standing-room only audience of several hundred inside the community center.
Sebelius told the group she was impressed with the facility not just as a faith center, but as a community center and education center. There is a school inside the building.
After the speeches and readings, visitors were allowed to tour the mosque. Visitors removed their shoes as they entered the carpeted prayer area. Women were given scarves to cover their hair.
After the tour, Sebelius said she hoped the visibility of the mosque would prompt non-Muslims to visit and learn more about the faith.
"I'm a big believer that the more we learn about one another, the more we learn how much we have in common," she said. "People tend to view each other with a little suspicion until they figure out these are parents and professionals and community leaders. I think this is great."
Assem Farhat, president of the board of trustees for the Islamic Society of Wichita, saw another positive in having such a large mosque in the city.
"It improves the attractability of the city to Muslims" from outside the city, he said. "They would be more likely to consider Wichita."
Following the tours, people gathered in the community center for refreshments.
At one table sat Sharfuddin Shah, the former president of the board of trustees for the Islamic Society. He moved to Dallas last year before the mosque was complete, so seeing the finished building was important and special.
"It's very nice," he said. "I was glad to hear it was finished and glad to see it finished."
I firmly believe that the most beautiful (and useful) manifestation of a mosque (or madrassa) is as a fresh, smoking crater.
In that way, and in that way only, evil ceases to be practiced there.
Whats up with the B.O.T. [Breeder of Terrorists] in the upper left corner? Looks to me like she is wearing an infidal invention under those robes, a pair of eyeglasses?
You make a good point.
LMAO!
You mean the dark woman to the left? Could be, can't really tell, or it could a member of the govenor's staff. Either way, my point is that you can properly respectful without giving up your own values. When I visited Japan, and visited Buddhist temples, I could be respectful, humble and quiet; but as Christian, I would not pray there.
Well, I don't have any inside information or anything. It's just that when you see the politicians acting in the dhimmi-like, subservient manner like in this story/picture, you wonder what possibly could be the motivation. And nuclear blackmail is just one of the possibilities.
Yes, they can.
Dumb, yes. Blind, yes. But - even more ominously - COMPLICIT.
Including the top guy in the White House (especially when it comes to immigration).
- John
Spot on, Sir. This is the truth of the entire matter.
Rumor also has it that if you decide to convert to Islam and then think you can just change your mind and become a Hindu or a Jew or whatever, think again. The only way out of that religion (so peaceful...right?) is to die. At the hands of Jihadists I'm sure.
Check this out....
Your reference was an excellent one. There are plenty of other ones as well, as I'm sure you know.
God's blessings........
TC
I don't know about the Synagogue or Mormon temple, but speaking as a Catholic, she would not be interested except if it were some new agey interpretation of 'Cathedral' such as the new one in LA, and then careful to visit in a way that didn't link her to Catholicism. She'd have some statement at the ready about how her visit didn't violate separation of church and state. And, yes, the ACLU would be salivating, waiting for her to slip up on her most outrageous visit to something Catholic. Same would go for a synagogue or temple.
That's terrible news for the good folk who live in Wichita!
With all due respect, I must say your comments and sentiments are borne of an ignorance of current affairs and history.
You should read up a bit...
With all due respect, I could say the same of your denial. But if you want to talk about it, show me the benefit of your reading.
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