New Mosque Offers More Space
By Larissa Metcalf

Lake Street mosque will accommodate growing Muslim population.

“If you came on a Saturday, you would feel bad for us,” says Jamal Ahmed, a volunteer at the Islamic Center of Fort Collins (ICFC).

He is referring to the fact that in the years since the ICFC was first created it has been steadily growing and can no longer comfortably accommodate all of their members.

The ICFC has been conducting fundraising in order to build a new mosque which will be located on the west end of Lake Street next to the church. They need to reach $1.3 million to build the mosque and, so far, almost $500,000 has been raised.

Ahmed estimates that hundreds come through the mosque at some point every year despite the fact that an accurate count has never been done. Now, as more families are bringing their children to be educated in the ways of Islam, the mosque fills to the brim every Saturday.

The new mosque will have the prayer area that will face in the direction of Mecca. The prayer area will be arranged to have a lower floor and an upper balcony with the balcony reserved for women so that everyone can pray without distraction. There will be an outdoor area for children to play and adults to meet. A new school will be built in to allow space for the studying that is difficult with the limited space of the current mosque.

All of the money for the project has been raised through donations. “We raised $100,000 [in one] weekend,” says Philip Howard, the vice-president of the ICFC. To see the plans for the new mosque or to donate money, visit the Islamic Center of Fort Collins Website~ ICFC.ORG.