This graphic shows the location where the new Tyler Islamic Center mosque and a small subdivision will be built. Organizers are hopeful the $1.2 million mosque will be completed next spring or summer. The subdivision would come after that. Staff Graphic

For a Muslim, the call to prayer is serious. It is one of the five pillars of the faith. It teaches discipline, provides a time to recite portions of the Quran, the Muslim holy book, and encourages the believer to focus on the values of the faith.

“It gives you like a fullness,” Tyler resident Dr. Hedayat Khan said. “And also you (are) worshiping only God, nobody else, no statues, nothing else, just God.”

It’s a time for the believer to appreciate God’s mercy, and everything provided by him, Khan said.

Though a Muslim can pray in different locations, they are highly encouraged to pray at a mosque.

It is in part because of this obligation to pray that a group of East Texas Muslims has purchased 14 acres just outside Tyler city limits to build a mosque and small subdivision.

The property is off Rhones Quarter Road, less than a mile south of East Grande Boulevard. It is divided into two parts, with the first phase of work coming on the front portion, which is adjacent to Rhones Quarter Road.

That part, which amounts to less than five acres, will include the mosque and duplexes across a new private street.

The back portion of the property, about nine acres, is slated for houses, possibly 20 or so, but those are still several years from construction, according to organizers. The first priority is completing the mosque.

The plan is for the new mosque to accommodate about 200 people. Khan, who is a spokesman for the future mosque, said it is being built in stages as the funds come in from donations.

It is slated to cost about $1.2 million and the hope is that it will be completed next year. As of mid-October, the land had been cleared and a slab poured. The next step would be to frame the building and put in the roof and windows.

This mosque would be the second in the Tyler area. Though the people who are starting it attend the existing East Texas Islamic Society mosque, they have formed a separate corporation – Tyler Islamic Center Inc. – and the new mosque will operate separately from the existing one, which is on Texas Highway 64.

Those involved in the planning for this second mosque said it is needed because of the growth in the Islamic community and where its members live.

“The main convenience is for the mosque, so the elderly folks (do not have to) travel too far,” Khan said.

HISTORY IN EAST TEXAS

The organization of the East Texas Islamic community dates back to 1988, when several Muslim families realized the need for an Islamic Center, according to the East Texas Islamic Society’s website.

At that time, the families desired a center that would include a mosque for prayer and a school to teach their children Arabic and the proper basis for their Muslim faith.

Another desire was to allow the community to learn more about Islam and eliminate misconceptions, according to the website.

These families formed the Islamic Society Corporation for East Texas, known as the East Texas Islamic Society, and purchased four acres.

Between five and 10 families worshiped together during the early years, when a mobile home provided the space for prayers, Islamic classes for the children and gatherings. 

Today, society spokesman Anwar Khalifa said between 300 and 500 people attend Friday afternoon worship, and as many as 1,000 people gather for religious holidays.

The East Texas Islamic community comprises people from as many as 30 countries, and the existing Tyler mosque draws people from at least a five-county area, Khalifa said.

The nearest mosques outside of the Tyler area are in Longview, Nacogdoches and Garland.

As Tyler’s East Texas Islamic Society community has grown in number, so too has its space. Now, the society owns more than 15 acres and has a mosque and the Islamic Faith Academy, which serves children from pre-K through fourth grade.

GROWTH IN THE COMMUNITY

It is in part because of this growth that some members of the East Texas Islamic Society began looking for a location to build another mosque, particularly one that is closer to where some members live.

M.A. Ghene, who is on the newly-formed Tyler Islamic Center’s board of directors, said when the Rhones Quarter Road property came to their attention, several families came together to make the purchase happen. Khan said these same families plan to live in the subdivision.

The neighborhood remains unnamed, but Ghene said once a homeowner’s association is formed, that group will determine if it has a name and what that is, as well as if it is gated or not.

The street names as planned have an Islamic theme. The private street coming off of Rhones Quarter Road will be named Quba Avenue, according to the final plat submitted to the city of Tyler.

The name Quba is significant because it is the name of one of the oldest mosques in the world and, according to some sources, the first mosque in the history of Islam.

The other main streets listed on the preliminary plat for the subdivision are Mecca and Madina, the names of the top two holiest sites in Islam.

Ghene, whose son, Murtafa, is building the mosque, said they got the idea to create this type of development with a mosque and subdivision from bigger cities such as Dallas and Houston.

The city of Tyler’s involvement with the project thus far has been limited to the Planning and Zoning Commission approving the preliminary and final plat applications on Sept. 6 for the subdivision in the city’s Zone 2 – Extraterritorial Jurisdiction.

City of Tyler Planning Manager Kyle Kingma said a proposal is approved as long as it meets all the conditions required for approval as outlined in city ordinance.

Although the current property owners are all members of the local Islamic community, Ghene said he would be happy to sell his lot to a non-Muslim if they wanted to buy it for a good price.

For his part, Ghene said his primary reason for purchasing a lot in the yet-to-be-developed subdivision was convenience.

It’s close to Tyler, Loop 49, his Whitehouse office, the Village at Cumberland and the soon-to-be completed mosque.

Ibrahim Hooper, spokesman for the Council on American-Islamic Relations, which is the nation’s largest Muslim civil rights and advocacy organization, said this kind of development is a sign of the growth and maturity of a Muslim-American community.

He said these communities often start with one mosque or even a group of people praying in a person’s basement and grow from there.

This growth could include building a mosque, school and cemetery, Hooper said, likening it to the growth of any traditional religious community in the United States.

Because Muslims pray five times daily and are encouraged to make these prayers in the mosque, it helps to be close to the mosque.

Khan, who was born in India and raised in Long Island, New York, said the new Tyler Islamic Center mosque would be autonomous, with a local board of directors and an Imam who will be hired to lead prayers. The existing mosque also is autonomous.

At the center of all they plan to do is the community, Khan said. This includes not only the tight-knit Muslim community, but also the East Texas community as a whole.

As part of the new development, they plan to offer a free health clinic to the entire community, Muslim and non-Muslim alike, as well as a mosque open house, something which the existing mosque has done as well.

Khan described the Islamic community as very diverse, with doctors, nurses, teachers, university professors and business people. He said they are honored to call Tyler their home.

“Our agenda is to work with the community as part of the community,” he said, adding that they would like to participate in interfaith meetings and other community events.

 Twitter: @TMTEmily