PASADENA, California (AP) — All that is still of Masjid Al-Taqwa is an indication that bears its title.
The mosque in Altadena, which served a tight-knit Muslim group for 42 years, burned to the bottom in one of many Los Angeles space’s deadliest fires in January — leaving the congregation heartbroken and with no place to hope and break their upcoming Ramadan quick collectively.
With that weighing on their minds, about 20 mosque members and some related households met on a current Saturday at a neighborhood Islamic college to hope and share a meal, their first collectively for the reason that fireplace. Many who got here live in motels or with household after dropping their houses within the Eaton fireplace, which killed 17 individuals and scorched hundreds of houses and over 14,000 acres throughout Los Angeles County.
Aasi introduced the varsity was providing this house for 4 nights every week throughout Ramadan. There have been gasps of reduction, and utterances of “Alhamdulillah,” an Arabic phrase meaning “praise be to God.”
Aasi mentioned many locally have been anxious about Ramadan and having this room, even when just for some days every week, is a blessing.
“Ramadan is not only a time when we pray and eat together, but we also help and support each other and others in the community,” he mentioned. “This year, with so many who have lost so much, it’s going to be more important than ever.”
The imam, with a secular job as an IT skilled, has volunteered on the mosque for the previous 25 years. He has been revisited the property for the reason that fireplace. Typically, he says, he can nonetheless see the whole lot the best way it was when he closes his eyes.
The place the place individuals would carry out wudu — the ritual washing of palms, toes and face earlier than coming in to hope. The thick carpets the place they prayed. Copies of the holy Quran. A fig tree exterior.
“I still can’t believe it’s all gone,” Aasi mentioned.
He mentioned many members are nonetheless displaced and hurting emotionally.
“One member just texted me that they were on their way here but stopped to check out their (burned) home,” Aasi mentioned. They had been so overwhelmed, he added, that they couldn’t carry themselves to the gathering.
Aaron Abdus-Shakoor, one of many mosque’s founders and present board president, misplaced his residence, the constructing that housed his actual property enterprise and several other funding properties round Altadena. He mentioned the mosque, which started within the Nineteen Seventies as a gathering place for Nation of Islam members, developed right into a mainstream, multicultural Muslim group. It was referred to as the Pasadena-Altadena Daawa Middle till members in 1997 renamed it Masjid Al-Taqwa, which suggests “pious and god-conscious.”
“All these years, we’ve been good citizens,” Abdus-Shakoor mentioned. “We’ve always kept our doors open and have tried to be a positive influence in the community.”
Within the early days, the communal Ramadan celebration solely occurred on Eid al-Fitr, which marks the tip of the holy month, he mentioned. However for a few years now, members have hosted a every day group iftar, the night meal throughout Ramadan, which breaks the day-long quick.
For a lot of, the mosque has been a second residence.
Salah Eddine Benatia, an Algerian immigrant, has solely been within the nation three months. He found Al-Taqwa on-line and had been using the bus from Pasadena for prayers.
“I felt so warmly welcomed by this community,” he mentioned. “I miss home a lot especially around Ramadan. I was so sad when I heard the mosque burned down. Being here gives me a sense of being with family.”
Farzana Asaduzzaman, who has lived within the neighborhood since 2016, mentioned Ramadan on the mosque has at all times been “a family affair.”
“Everyone brings food, we fast, we break our fast together,” she mentioned. “The kids would play Uno, make arts and crafts, and assemble Eid gift bags. We would put up heaters in the outside area, sit down, sip hot chai and talk for hours.”
Asaduzzaman, her husband and their three youngsters, ages 14, 10 and three, misplaced their residence within the fireplace as effectively. They spent two and a half years renovating the property earlier than it burned down.
“Our masjid may be gone and our neighborhood may be gone, but our community is strong,” she mentioned. “This is our support system. We’ll be together for Ramadan, no matter where it is. We’ll find a place where we can see our kids run around and where we can gather and be together again.”
For Mohammed AlDajani, a second-year medical scholar, the mosque was a five-minute stroll from his condominium, which was additionally misplaced within the fireplace. For AlDajani, who had no kinfolk or pals close by, the mosque fulfilled the necessity for social and religious nourishment.
“The masjid was actually a nice incentive for me to move here,” he mentioned. “It’s a place that has helped ground me in this community.”
AlDajani mentioned, in contrast to many mosques he has attended, Masjid Al-Taqwa’s members characterize many nationalities and ethnicities — Arab, African American, Afghan, Indian, Bangladeshi, Turkish and North African amongst them.
“I found that very unique,” he mentioned.
Final 12 months was his first Ramadan in Southern California. The mosque’s youth painted a mural of the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem, a disputed holy web site that has develop into a flashpoint within the Israeli-Palestinian battle. As a Palestinian American, AlDajani mentioned the group venture touched him profoundly at a time when his coronary heart was damaged by the struggling of these in Gaza.
He mentioned he realized in regards to the Altadena mosque’s destruction even earlier than he came upon his residence was gone.
“It’s just like my chest sank when I saw the images,” AlDajani mentioned. “It was difficult because I was there for morning and night prayers every day. It was my little haven. It doesn’t feel right, having that empty space there.”
As he tries to discover a place to hire, AlDajani says the mosque group has been “keeping him afloat.”
“Our prayer group still meets on the weekends,” he mentioned. “I was anxious about Ramadan. It’s nice to know we’ll still be able to gather and pray, and this haven will still exist.”
Sakeenah Ali’s youngsters, who attended Elliott Magnet Center College throughout the road from the mosque, misplaced their college within the fireplace.
“They would hear the afternoon call to prayer from their school, which was very special,” she mentioned, including that she went out and noticed the mosque burn and the car parking zone lined in ash.
“Cars were on fire, trees were smoldering,” Ali recalled. “You could hear explosions everywhere – boom, boom.”
However she believes that her group is resilient.
“The key is to keep showing up,” Ali mentioned. “Make sure we have our prayer time, stay connected and be consistent. We are going to rebuild.”