One by one, silhouetted figures remove their shoes and enter a quiet room in the rear of the Victoria Islamic Center, smiling and greeting one another silently as the words of the Islamic chant called Takbir fill the air: allahu akbar, “god is the greatest.” Delicate morning sunlight from the tall windows on the northeast wall, which was built to face the direction of the holy city Mecca, dances over faces as they cross through the beams.
Members of the mosque kneel in rows facing that same wall, listening intently while the mosque’s president, Dr. Shahid Hashmi, initiates the the first formal prayer service to be held in the newly-constructed Victoria Islamic Center, 201 East Airline Road, The previous building was burned to the ground January 28, 2017. Dr. Hashmi starts to speak, begins to choke up, and pauses before continuing the prayer with confidence.
“I am elated, very elated,” says mosque member Omar Rachid, who helped raise over $1 million internationally for the new mosque with a GoFundMe campaign.
“The enjoyment of seeing the new building and seeing the faces of our congregation this morning is hard to describe. It seems that they are truly excited to be in a fully functional mosque once again.”
The crowd which gathered for the Tuesday morning prayer clearly displayed the sentiments described by Omar. Several people held back tears or covered their faces as Dr. Hashmi’s prayers hovered over the room.
“We were waiting for this moment for the past year and a half,” says mosque member Amjad Nusayr, 39. “Praying for the first time was wonderful. There was a lot of emotion today.”
