Kisah Sebuah Masjid di Davis, California

Davis Little Blue Mosque Built With Community Support


http://www.sanfranciscosentinel.com/?p=161063
By Jennifer Garza
The Sacramento Bee

A student arrives Friday for services at the Islamic Center of Davis.
The city’s first mosque was completed
this month, three decades after it was first envisioned

It is the first and only mosque in Davis, one of more than 1,900 in the U.S., according to the Pew Report. Davis, with its large student population, posed different hurdles for mosque leaders. In addition to building a mosque in a post-9/11 world, they had financial and congregational issues.“Most of the people who come here are students and very transient, and they don’t have the money to build,” Alsoud said.

The Davis mosque began with a group of UC Davis students who wanted a place to pray. In 1982, they bought a single-story home and renovated it to fit their needs. They soon outgrew the building.

Alsoud traveled to other mosques in the state, asking for donations. Money came in, with some donations as small as $10. Items or services were donated for the mosque, which Alsoud estimated cost about $800,000. In 2008, the new little blue mosque opened. The color – reflecting the sky, said the architect – soon attracted attention. “I don’t think I’ve ever had a project go so smooth, and that is unusual for any building,” said architect Maria Ogrydziak. She praised mosque leadership.

“Everything they overcame – and it was a lot – showed their dedication,” Ogrydziak said. “They never gave up. That’s why I call it the little mosque that could. They did it.” Many pray at the mosque five times daily. For Friday prayers, the mosque is packed with believers shoulder to shoulder.

Alsoud recently gave a quick tour of the mosque, the smallest in the Sacramento area. Prayer rooms for men and women, a small kitchen, a library, a children’s room and restroom make up the 4,000-square-foot building. Alsoud said he would continue to invite non–Muslims to the house of worship. He pointed to a lamp. Then to the rug. Then, a bench.

“When I look around the mosque, I see the faces of the people who contributed,” he said. “And that’s the whole community.”