Dome, minarets to mark new Islamic mosque in Yuma

Building permits have been issued for an Islamic mosque to be built on a two-acre site in east Yuma, city officials said.

Community Development Director Mike Steele said that according to information on file with the city, plans for the two-story building have been approved, although the permits haven't been picked up yet.

Steele said initial plans are to build a mosque on only half of the site at 7831 E. 24th St., leaving Yuma's Muslim community room to expand their Islamic Center later.

The mosque will be domed with small, eastern-flavored towers, like minarets, on either side, according to the plans. The mosque will hold a prayer hall, a warming kitchen, separate women's and men's ablution rooms (for ritual washing), and rooms for offices and storage.

The structure can hold up to 175 people, Steele said, with a first floor of 3,295 square feet and a second floor of 1,488 square feet.

Dr. Mohammad Mushtaq Kahn, who is listed as the contact person on the plans, said the nonprofit Islamic Center of Yuma wants to build the mosque.

Kahn, a Yuma internist, said he's not sure yet when building on the mosque will actually start because the Islamic Center is still a little short of the necessary funds. He said the group is hoping work can begin later in 2004.

He said the Muslim community in Yuma is bigger than most people think, with at least 30 families, most of them with small children. Many Yuma Muslims are doctors, he said.

"Our community needs it," Kahn said of the mosque. The facility will have room to provide Muslim children with a basic Islamic education, he continued, and teach them how to pray and read the Koran, Islam's holy book.

The domed mosque and towers "will be good and traditional," Kahn said. "Yuma needs that kind of building."

Local Muslims currently worship at the Church of Religious Science building.

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T.M. Shultz can be reached at tshultz@yumasun.com or 539-6852.