07/30/2023
Brief Summary of Hackensack Masjid Case
7/26/2023
1-The period from October 3, 2021 - May 6, 2022, the Board tried by all means to sell the mosque (fully paid off) to a construction company that will demolish and put up a residential building, and it bought a nearby building to be a mosque without any convincing reason. A group of the mosque’s pioneers (the group opposing the sale) impeded the sale, and the sale was halted by resorting to the American judiciary after evasions between our group and the Board
2-the period from May 6, 2022 - Aug 4, 2022, the court decided and the parties agreed, to refer the matter to a Muslim arbitration committee with binding decisions for both parties. The committee decided that the mosque should not be demolished, and it should be sold to an Islamic entity or organization and preserved as a mosque. Here, our group formed a non-profit organization (Hackensack Islamic Center) and endowment and submitted an offer to buy the mosque to preserve it as a mosque at the price decided by the arbitration committee.
3-December 2022, the city council of Hackensack met and agreed to make the new building a house of worship, although the building is technically defective, as it is located in a flood zone, and the Board knew this from day one.
4-The period from April 2023 till now, the judge approved the sale, and the Board procrastinated in handing over the building under flimsy arguments (and they plotted and plotted against Allah). Here, the judge decided to appoint a retired judge who specializes in the role of mediation between the parties by the court. The former judge appointed by the court (technically) and paid for by the parties failed to persuade the Board to be lenient in handing over the building, especially since the sale is based on a court decision, and the whole matter is in the procedures and appointments, and he submitted his report to the court judge concerned with the case And now everyone is waiting for the judge’s intervention to set the dates that all parties adhere to, and everyone will be notified after the next session on August 2, Allah willing.
Jokes and wonders
1-The funny thing is that the Board offered our group to drop the case in exchange for a handful of money (compensation or buy-out).
2-We offered them to take 20% of the amount and stay in the mosque for a year, then hand over. They refused.
3-The Board rejected all the offers made by us to stay in the Board of the mosque for a year and asked us to wait for two years and 4 months.
4- There are still members of our group who are prohibited from entering the mosque
To remember:
1-Who pays and bears the expenses of the Board’s lawyer before the courts?
2- Who is trying to demolish a mosque in which the name of Allah is mentioned?
3- The time has come for you to join the side that insists, insists, and demands a good ending by preserving the mosque and not threatening it, and do not be like others and do not sit with those sitting behind.
4- Islam is a dynamic religion, and we have in our prophet companion; Abdullah Ebin Masoud; a good example of movement in Islam when he recited Surah Al-Rahman at the Kaaba although he was a weak man.
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