Islamic Society’s Prayers Answered with Mosque, after 20 years
Tehran (Iqna)- Islamic Center of Santa Barbara Built After 20 Years of Planning and Backlash.
After the 9/11 attack, people of Middle Eastern descent were targeted simply for the way they looked and the couple from Saudi Arabia could not have picked a worse time to decide to build a mosque in Santa Barbara.
“Everyone was so suspicious about our faith,” said Afaf Turjoman, talking about the day she and her husband, Mukhtar Khan, went before the County Board of Supervisors to request a building permit.
“Everyone was so suspicious about our faith,” said Afaf Turjoman, talking about the day she and her husband, Mukhtar Khan, went before the County Board of Supervisors to request a building permit.
At the 2001 board meeting, which went on for hours, not one person spoke up in favor of building a mosque. By the last public hearing in 2013, however, the hours of public comment were overwhelmingly in favor of Santa Barbara County’s first-ever mosque.
This winter, 19 years after that first public meeting, the Santa Barbara Islamic Center will finally open its doors in Goleta on Los Carneros Road.
