Chandler mosque set for completion in fall 2008

The Associated Press

CHANDLER — A Chandler mosque is nearing completion following 12 years of delays and setbacks, escalating costs, and several turnovers of building contractors.

Part of the three-story, 10,000-square-foot Islamic Center of the East Valley will be ready for Ramadan on Sept. 1. Mosque members say that’s a miracle compared to the way things looked a couple of months ago, just before trustees brought a new contractor into the picture.

The mosque is set to be completed in its entirety later in the fall.

“It is an extreme joy for me to see that we are going to finally be praying in it,” said David Hadley, trustee and communications director. “It is a realization of a lot of hopes and dreams for many of the Muslims in the Valley to see it finally come to completion after so many people thought it would never be opened up.”

The mosque has a 30-foot-high dome that will be painted gold and topped by Islam’s symbol, the crescent. A traditional minaret, or prayer tower, will be erected later with a crescent on top.

The mosque sits on property bought in 1996.

“We had difficulties with details on the plan, and with contractors going bankrupt, contractors not being honest,” Hadley said.

Plans also were slowed because of strict Islamic rules against obtaining loans and paying interest. Instead, the mosque is owned by the local community through establishment of a separate trust.

Once the project was back under construction, trustees raised $600,000 toward construction costs in three months, Hadley said, noting that a growing Muslim population in the area makes it easier to raise money.

As they’ve waited for the mosque to be built, Muslims in the Chandler area have held their Friday prayer services in the fellowship hall of nearby Holy Trinity Lutheran Church.

“If it wasn’t for them, I don’t know what we would have done,” Hadley said.