WestEndIslamicCenter.org

Introduction:

West End Islamic Center or WEIC is a non-profit 501c3 organization formed in May 2011. The main purpose of the organization is to provide a facility for prayers, education, youth foundation and community service for the Muslim community of the greater Richmond area. The WEIC Masjid project is the first in the West end Richmond area and the Masjid site is located in the heart of the West End near the intersection of Shady Grove and Twin Hickory Road.

History:

In 1996 the first permanent Musallah for prayers was established by ISGR (Islamic Society of Greater Richmond) at the Rigsby Rd area. This musllah comprises of a rented building which grew to 2 buildings next to each other as the community grew. For many years it was the only location where Muslims would assemble, primarily for Friday prayers as well as 5 time prayers and other Islamic occasions. However, over the years the growth of Muslim population as well as increasing needs of the Muslim community in the area essentially showed the need for a permanent Masjid and Community Center for Muslims. In 2009, after several negotiations with various locations, ISGR was able to secure a deal on a 5 acre land in a very sought after neighborhood within the west end Richmond. The land was purchased with an owner financed program (to avoid financing through conventional banks). This is the site at 5000 Shady Grove rd.

The land was purchased under a contract where payments would be made to the owners at 6 month intervals including large balloon payments for the duration of the contract. At the time of purchase in 2009, a $200,000 down payment was made along with multiple $50,000 payments since the purchase. A balloon payment of $250,000 was also made in April of 2011. As of May 2011, a total of $600,000 has been paid leaving an outstanding amount of $200,000 to complete the payoff.

Most of the Richmond community is well aware of the fact that in March of 2011, ISGR sent several communications that a balloon payment of $250,000 is needed immediately or the land will go into foreclosure.

A few things need to be mentioned here. Prior to 2007 the community was very much engaged with ISGR in gathering funds and getting support from the larger community to work towards a permanent Masjid project. In fact, the initial amount of $200,000 paid as down payment in 2009 for the land was mostly collected due to a cooperative effort from several community members who were engaged with ISGR at the time. However a few years before the purchase, around 2006, there was much criticism about the ISGR operational model and the way it conducted its affairs around disclosure and management of its activities concerning the Masjid project. At that time, an influential group of such supporters broke off from ISGR due to above mentioned reasons and created a new organization to work on a separate Masjid project. A majority of the community supported this new organization as it provided the type of operational model that they wanted. Therefore, for the most part, ISGR lost practically all of its primary support to collect and make the required payments towards the land immediately after its purchase.

A little needs to be said here about the land and its dimensions. Henrico County had marked a certain portion of this 5 acre land as unusable for the use of the Masjid. In other words, approximately 1.1 acre of the land could not be improved upon due to its frontage for the purpose of the Masjid even for constructing parking lots or Imam’s residence. Secondly, another 0.4 acres of the land was also rezoned by the county to enhance the single lane roads to double lanes at shady Grove Rd. After these demarcations, the actual land allocated for the Masjid project is about 3.59 acres approximately. These demarcations can be seen in the Masjid land layout diagrams in the “Masjid Plan” section of the website.

As mentioned earlier, once ISGR lost support of the majority of the community, it had to find alternate means to acquire funds and continue making the required payments towards the land. One of the decisions it made was to offer the 1.1 acre of demarked piece of land as an investment opportunity to the community. The money collected through this investment opportunity (approximately $145,000) was utilized to make the payments. Without many options available at the time, ISGR did not have much choice than to create this investment opportunity to collect funds. The county also paid approximately $46,000 for the rezoned piece of land for improving the road system. This money was also used towards the land payments. However, by the time the balloon payment of $250,000 was due in April of 2011, most of these funds were exhausted in making earlier payments and ISGR was left with a limited amount looking at possible foreclosure. ISGR contacted many community members and several people came forward with various amounts of donations as well as qarz-e-hasna, but that still only accounted for half of what was needed.

It was at that time when foreclosure seemed imminent, a group of people who still held a lot of value and emotions attached with ISGR and the Masjid project came forward and conducted a series of discussions with ISGR about the situation. To call these sessions intense would be an understatement. These were highly energetic, at times, emotional discussions that were done almost on a daily basis at the ISGR location with one purpose only, to save the Masjid from foreclosure. At times there were tears in people’s eyes while at other times there were emotions that are hard to describe. The motivation for these people came from the thought that how would we be able to face our future generations when they would ask us that how could you let a land which was bought for building the house of Allah SWT go into foreclosure and not even try your best to save it? This question was too difficult to comprehend and ignore.

The outcome of these sessions resulted in a consensus with ISGR that a project of this scale needs the support of the community. And since the community requires an operational model that is transparent and open, it has to be managed by a group who believes in providing to the community what it needs. This was the reason West End Islamic Center was formed.

During those days of avoiding the foreclosure, this group of people worked relentlessly day and night with ISGR and carried out a massive campaign to gather funds. Fueled with all the positivity of a new momentum towards the project, Alhamdulilah, this group was able to collect the remaining amount in a matter of days and eventually 250,000 was paid in April 2011. With the grace of Allah, these funds were collected in the shape of donations as well as qarz-e-hasna given by members of this community at the time of need. This showed that the community still values and supports the project and when things are done in the right way, a lot can be achieved.

WEIC and the path ahead

On May 6, 2011, based on the consensus with ISGR, WEIC held its formal announcement around forming the Shura and its Board of Trustees in a public meeting held at ISGR. Prior to the announcement, a one month campaign was conducted to identify interested individuals in this community who wanted to participate in this effort and volunteer themselves for the organizational positions. It was announced on the ISGR website as well as Friday prayers. This was a first Shura inauguration of its kind where the announcement was made in public while asking for their approval with any membership within the board. In most cases, Shuras are formed internally and simply announced to the community through electronic media. With full support of the participants, the board was announced and ALL board members pledged to do the following

• Create a non-profit 501c3 organization to manage the new Masjid project.
• Create a board with individuals who would take ownership of various activities of the project and own responsibility thereof.
•  Draft the by-laws for the organization under which the board will operate.
•  Providing transparency of its operations to the community.

Alhamdulilah, all of the tasks mentioned above have been completed. West End Islamic Center is now a non-profit 501c3 organization with a registered Board of Trustees that forms its Shura. The by-laws have been drafted, ratified and will be made public on this website. WEIC holds its own bank account and funds raised for the Masjid project are directed to this account.

As we go forward, there are few more administrative tasks that are needed to be performed to complete the transition towards a well managed model for the Masjid project. The land devoted for the Masjid project is currently owned by WAQF of Virginia (a sister organization to ISGR) and the ownership needs to be transitioned to WEIC. Since this requires legal activity, it was necessary for both WAQF and WEIC to come to agreement on the aspects of this transfer. For this purpose, the board met on numerous occasions to flesh out the details and create legal documents which detail the agreement to transfer this ownership. It was quickly realized that this would require legal help and both organizations are taking the assistance of attorneys to complete the paperwork. At this point, both organizations have agreed to the terms of this agreement and have handed over the task of formally drafting the paper work to their respective attorneys. The attorneys will do their final draft and after review by the Board, the agreement will be signed. The agreement will formally and legally state that the ownership of the land will be transferred to WEIC as soon as the final payments are made towards the land as well as any attorneys fees and closing costs. As part of ownership, WEIC will also assume outstanding taxes as well as qarz-e-hasna that were used to help make earlier payments for the land.

The legal work is in progress and in the hands of attorneys. We believe, Inshallah that it is a matter of days if not weeks that we will have agreements signed by both organizations. We will make these documents available to anyone who is interested in the details.

WEIC Goals:

WEIC plans to re-engage with the Muslim community of the greater Richmond area and especially the West End so that the entire payment of $200,000 plus any amount needed at closing can be raised during Ramadan. This will help pay-off the land completely and also complete the ownership process of the land to WEIC.

Once the above is complete, WEIC intends to make improvements to the current structure that already exists at 5000 Shady Grove rd. so that prayers can be held in a safe and comfortable environment at that location.

Going forward, WEIC would like to engage with the other Islamic organizations of the greater Richmond area to determine the best solutions for Masjid and other Islamic institutions for the community. WEIC also plans to conduct sessions with the larger community and obtain their suggestions as well as understand their needs and make those an integral part of its objective for the Muslim community of the West End and greater Richmond as a whole.