Posted on 06/17/2008 6:57:45 AM PDT by MplsSteve
The historic flooding of the Cedar River last week sent water into the Mother Mosque of America, likely destroying nearly a century's worth of records, documents and artifacts, officials said Monday.
Imam Taha Tawil, executive director of the mosque, 1335 Ninth St. SW, said no one expected the floodwaters to come as far as the building, the oldest surviving mosque in the United States.
"I couldn't even believe that this would happen or that it would come close to us," Tawil said Monday.
"In 1993 I was there, and it didn't reach even Second or Third Street."
Tawil said he is certain the waters flooded the mosque's basement, where most of the books, artifacts, historic documents, old photos and filmed documentaries are stored. He said he believes water also got onto the first floor of the mosque.
"There is nothing we can do to be prepared when things like that happen," Tawil said. "This is above our capacity. We have to accept God's will and move on."
The Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations is asking American Muslims to help repair damages to the Mother Mosque.
"The mosque has been visited by people from all over the country," Tawil said. "It is part of the American Muslim identity."
(Excerpt) Read more at gazetteonline.com ...
Cedar Rapids?!
That's about the last place I'd have expected.
So I drove by just to take a look at it. It's a relatively unobtrusive building.
OK, comments or opinions - anyone?
cry me a river
There goes Obama’s birth certificate!
That's what their intention was...............
Good thinking.
Oh well.
You better nuke the site from orbit to be sure.
Things happen for a reason. There are no coincidences.
“... works in mysterious ways”.
I hope it is never rebuilt.
How long before it’s blamed on Pres. Bush?
“Cedar Rapids?!
That’s about the last place I’d have expected. “
Why?
Mother Nature knows the score.
Aside from hearing all the remarks about it being a Mosque...I just wonder WHY people place documents and things that are treasures in the BASEMENT OF BUILDINGS!!!! Put them on the top floors for heaven’s sakes. At LEAST they have a chance of being preserved but in the basement? Wow...
It’s an ill wind that blows no good...
His Honor:"Oh, Ok, I believe that, go forth in Peace!"
CAIR:(mutters to himself)"That was too easy, we dont even need homicide bombers, just liberal judges, to take over America.."
(Hell) Yeah!
Unless it burns.
Here’s a history of Islam in Iowa, from their website:
http://www.crmosque.com/history_of_islam_in_iowa.htm
“There is nothing we can do to be prepared when things like that happen,” Tawil said. “This is above our capacity. We have to accept God’s will and move on.”
I thought allah was in charge ...
There's Muslim Identity and there's American Identity.
Having both is intellectually impossible.
Stampede pigs there to clean it up!!!
After a couple of weeks of protests, which featured increasingly strident rhetoric by the (Rev.) Al, calling the Jewish owners of Freddy's a "White Interloper", etc, somebody torched the store, killing three people.
Unfortunately, all of (Rev.) Al's tax records, which were under subpeona but had yet to be produced, were lost in the fire...
True but we’re mostly talking about floods here. I had a friend who lost a lot of memories in the same way as this flood.
L
” just wonder WHY people place documents and things that are treasures in the BASEMENT OF BUILDINGS!”
I would assume because people want windows, and documents do not. Indeed, documents generally don’t like light exposure.
I am really sorry to hear about their bad luck. Ha,Ha!
Great links in commentary at article source. Thanks for posting.
I grew up in Iowa and am watching this flooding with sadness.
On the other hand I hope there was a ton of pig feces in the flood waters that ran thru this terrorist recruiting center.
And keep going!
Yes it happens, but you stand a larger risk of loss by fire than flood unless you live in a less than 50 year flood plain.
Cedar Rapids folks: be sure to tell Imam Taha Hawil that the contents of a big hogyard upstream washed right through his “Mama Mosque”...
Best News I’ve Read All Day!
I’m not speaking for Steve, but I suspect that it’s because it would be reasonable to expect mosques in N. California, Vermont, Mass., ....
ROTFL
All those guns will clean up real well if you don’t let them sit long. The C3 also handles water well.
I’m sure their armory will be back up to snuff shortly.
Considering Muslim aversion to all things feminine, why is this not called “The Father Mosque”?
Inquiring minds want to know./s/
I don’t know if I have interpreted it wrong, but looking at all those old photographs and the Muslims in them, it seems like they were more assimilated then, than they are now.
“I’m not speaking for Steve, but I suspect that it’s because it would be reasonable to expect mosques in N. California, Vermont, Mass., ....”
There are mosques in every state. My question was somewhat rhetorical. Those who have studied Islam in America would know that.
God really does work in mysterious ways!!!
Hate crime....
Must have been allah’s will
Can’t believe it took 38 posts for someone to come up with that. I was going to post ‘They had to store the papers in the basement because the upper floors had the the AK-47’s and the C4 that they really don’t want to lose’. But you beat me to it.
great minds..... ;^)
Exactly. Look at all those little boys in shorts and little girls in American style dresses. But in the more recent photos, they are starting to dress their kids like good little Muslims.
And it ends on the usual note of resentment. “We’ve become Americans. Now Americans must learn to be nice to Muslims.”
I love postings that have GOOD news in them!
OH CRY ME A RIVER!
THIS THREAD IS USELESS WITHOUT PICS!!!!!
Show us the mosque under water!!!!!!!
True but...if I lived in an area where there was always that good possibility of flooding I would NEVER keep such personal and memorable treasures in such a vulnerable place. Fire? That’s another whole ball of wax. No floor could keep anything safe against it. I’m talking high risk areas like those happening right now.
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