US Muslims struggle to get approval for mosques in towns, cities

WASHINGTON: Muslims in the United States are finding it increasingly hard to get approval for the construction of new mosques as they claim rising anti-Muslim sentiments is driving local administrations in various towns and cities to unfairly deny their applications to build places of worship.

However, while Muslims are fighting legal battle for their right of worship in courts, the US Department of Justice is trying to end the discrimination against Muslims by filing law suits against towns and cities denying permissions to build mosques.

Last week, the Department of Justice announced that Bernards Township in US state of New Jersey will pay $3.25 million to settle a lawsuit over its denial of a permit to build a mosque. The department has also opened investigation into denial of a mosque in Bayonne, another city of the same state.

In its special report last year, the US Department of Justice had pointed out a sharp increase in the number of its investigations into religious discrimination involving mosques or Islamic schools over the past six years. The department opened 17 investigations involving Muslim groups under the Religious Land Useand Institutionalised Persons Act, which protects groups from discrimination in land-use decisions.

The report cites "particularly severe discrimination faced by Muslims in land use." It notes that 84 percent of investigations that don’t involve Muslim issues ended in a positive resolution without any lawsuit compared to only 20 percent of cases involving mosques and Islamic schools. 

New Jersey, with a growing Muslim population, has seen several recent discrimination cases involving mosques. In 2014, Bridgewater paid $7.5 million to settle a lawsuit after officials rejected a proposal to turn a former banquet hall into an Islamic community center. And in February, the Garden State Islamic Center alleged in a federal lawsuit that Vineland discriminated when it denied a permit for full use of the mosque, also citing unequal treatment. 

In Vineland, Bernards and Toms River, where a mosque application is also pending, boards have changed their zoning rules in ways that have made it more difficult for mosque proposals to proceed.

Adeel Abdullah Mangi, an attorney representing Muslim groups in Bernards and Bayonne lawsuits told the local newspaper NorthJersey.com about hate being spread by Anti-Muslim elements.

Anti-mosque fliers were put in children’s mailboxes at school. The church basement where they used to pray was spray-painted with slurs and curses. A “stop the mosque” Facebook page has drawn hundreds of followers and bigoted comments.

“How much uglier can it gets than that?” said Mangi. “Municipalities around the country should pay close attention to what happened in Bernards Township,” he said. “The American Muslim community has the legal resources, the allies and the determination to stand up for its constitutional rights in court and will do so.” 

Dina Sayedahmed, 22, of Bayonne told the paper that it was hard to hear hateful comments from people in the city where she grew up and attended school. "If someone tells us 'Go back to where came from' or 'We want to save the community from you guys,' that’s going to hurt," she said.