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Officials lay bricks in symbolic start for Muslim center
09:01 PM CDT on Tuesday, June 14, 2005
By LINDA STEWART BALL / The Dallas Morning News
PLANO – The Ismaili Muslim community announced Tuesday that it is building a $6.5 million worship and community center in Plano, where it has found a warm welcome.
Gov. Rick Perry flew in to lay the first ceremonial brick for the center's foundation. It was a symbolic gesture since the site for the new center will be a few miles northeast of the Gleneagles Country Club in Plano, where the foundation ceremony was held.
The governor, who is friends with the Ismaili Muslims' spiritual leader, His Highness Prince Karim Aga Khan, said he was honored to participate.
"Our culture is enriched and our society strengthened by a diverse mixture of traditions, heritages and faiths," Mr. Perry said. "While differences may exist on the surface, there is a common hope for the future that dwells in the heart of every Texan."
The Ismaili Jamatkhana and Center is a house of worship for Ismailis and a gathering place for youths. The proposed 30,000-square-foot Plano facility will be the first one in Collin County and one of five Jamatkhanas in North Texas.
Wazir Lalani, vice chairman of Imara Development Services, points out features of the Ismaili Jamatkhana and Center at the foundation ceremony at Gleneagles County Club in Plano. The center, planned for Alma and Seabrook drives, will include spaces for religious and cultural activities for Ismaili Muslims in and around Plano. In the next few months, members hope to break ground on the Plano site, which is on 8.5 acres at the northeast corner of Alma and Seabrook drives.
When it's completed, possibly in fall 2006, the center should be able to accommodate about 1,400 people.
"We can't wait until it's open," said Andrea Merchant, an Ismaili who moved to Plano with her family 13 years ago. She said Plano had everything her family needed except a place to worship.
"Over the years, it's become very cosmopolitan, a more pluralistic society where you can meet all kinds of people," which makes it all the more appealing, said Ms. Merchant, a senior project manager for MCI.
About 17 percent of Plano residents are foreign-born, and roughly 30 percent identify themselves as a racial or ethnic minority, according to the 2000 census.
Area Ismailis hail largely from East Africa, India, Pakistan and Afghanistan.
Alaudin Bhanji, president of the Ismaili Council for the United States, said group members chose Plano because of the growth of the Ismaili community in the Dallas area, their confidence in the region's prosperity and the welcome they've received.
"We hope it [the center] will become a symbol of the growing understanding among our neighbors and the real meaning of Islam ... one of a spiritual and thinking faith ... also actively engaged with the larger community," he said.
There are Jamatkhanas in Colleyville, Carrollton, Euless and Farmers Branch. For the past year, about 400 Ismailis have gathered to pray each Friday night in a leased space in Plano.
"We're so glad you're here," said Plano Mayor Pat Evans, who also took part in the bricklaying ceremony. She said the center will be an "interesting and welcome addition to Plano's cultural and architectural diversity."
The complex eschews the domes typically found atop Islamic mosques in favor of a more contemporary structure with gardens, a prayer hall, social space, and administrative and education wings.
There are an estimated 20,000 Ismailis in Texas, half of whom are in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Members said the faith is focused on charitable acts and promoting tolerance and understanding.
Ismailis belong to the Shia tradition of Islam, which is a sect of the Shiite group. As such, they believe in one God and consider the Quran the holy text through which God's words were revealed to the prophet Muhammad. They believe that Muhammad was the last of God's messengers to mankind.
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