Masjid Design Concept

The Dawoodi Bohra Jamaat of Washington DC, States of Maryland, Virginia, Delaware and South Central Pennsylvania has grown in the recent years to fifty member families. Since 1990 we are using a small three bedroom single family home on two acre lot converted into a make shift Markaz For some years there has been a desire to build a Masjid on this land but due to lack of public sewer and public water, we will have to build a septic system and we need minimum five acres of land for that. The location of the present markaz is convenient to majority of the mumineens but we were landlocked with a Church on one side and a single family house on 3 acres of land on the other side. On several occasions the owner of the single family house was approached but he had no plans of moving.

In 1996 July on the occasion of London's Masjid Iftetah Maulana (TUS) disclosed his wish that no single town of Iman should exist without a Masjid and he prayed for the same. Some jamat members and our Aamil Saheb immediately after the waaz talked about the Maulana's kalemaat. Taking the opportunity of his Mustajaab Dua planned to rush back and try to work it out. We started looking for a larger piece of land, not finding a suitable land , we decided to approach the next door owner once again. To every one's surprise he agreed to sell his adjacent 3 acre lot with two houses on it. (Maulana had arrived in Huston) Every one of us spontaneously said that this was the barakat of Maulana's Qadam mubarak on our country. Since then every thing is moving forward with good pace. Here is a short chronology of it:

• 09/10/96 Contingency contract signed (Contingent upon perk test and Satisfactory Feasibility Study).
• 11/01/96 Architectural Design started.
• 11/14/96 Civil engineering tests and design started.
• 01/1597 Pre application plan filed with the County.
• 02/10/97 Preliminary review meeting with the County (preliminary approval to build a Masjid. Received)
• 02/11/97 Application for review of perk test made to Montgomery County Health Department.
• 03/08/97 Contingency removed and settlement date finalized.
• 04/11/97 Preliminary study and perk test completed by the Civil engineer.
• 05/15/97 Settlement of the Property.
• 05/15/97 Preliminary Architectural design submitted to Hazrat Aaliyah.
• 07/20/97 Comments received from Hazrat Aaliyah and drawings revised.
• 07/28/97 County reviewed the perk test and Civil engineers received several comments. Have to address all the comments and resubmit the preliminary Subdivision plan.
• 09/04/97 Revised Drawings resubmitted to Hazrat Aaliyah. For the approval.
• 07/26/98 Review and comments by Shahzada Qaidjohar Bhaisaheb Ezzuddin at Dallas, Texas.
• 10/30/98 Additional Perk Test done per Request of the Health Dept.
• As soon as the plans are approved by Maulana (TUS) and by the county, we will be starting the construction documents for building permits and finally the construction.
• 3/9/99 Final Design approval received from Hazrat Aaliyah.
• 7/1/99 Final approval received from the Planing Board of Montgomery County, Maryland.
• Construction Documents started 7/10/99. Tentative date to complete the contract documents is 10/15/99.
• Submit the drawings for Bids and building Permits 11/15/99.
• Tentative date to Start Construction 2/01/99.
• Total construction time required 9 to 10 Months.
• Total amount Pledged from our Jamaat's 26 Riba free families is 1.3 Million Dollars.
• Estimated Masjid Project's cost is 1.6 Million Dollars.

At last we pray that may Allah by Maula's wasila fulfill all his wishes for us and grant him a long life till the day of Qayamat. Aameen.