July 03, 2006

Prayer center for Muslims opens at Quantico

By Gayle S. Putrich
Times staff writer

Muslim Marines finally have a place of their own, and it’s right at the crossroads of the Corps.

The first Islamic prayer center for the Marine Corps was dedicated June 6 at Quantico, Va. The center is a nondescript white building near Lejeune Hall, with a long shelf for worshippers to stow their shoes before going inside. There, they’ll find walls adorned with posters explaining “Who is Allah?” and “What do Muslims believe?” for those who may come to learn rather than pray.

The sparse room is the first step. It will be in use until 2009, when the new Religious Activities and Family Support Center is expected to be finished. Construction on the center, which will include a new prayer room for leatherneck Muslims as well as family members and international military personnel, is expected to begin this fall.

The June 6 ceremony recognized diplomatic representatives from predominantly Muslim nations such as Indonesia, Singapore, Iraq and Jordan, and heard from dignitaries such as Marine Commandant Gen. Mike Hagee and Deputy Defense Secretary Gordon England.


“This Islamic prayer center is really an extension of our ethos, this ethos [that] we take care of one another,” Hagee said. “We are a family.”

England spoke of the value Americans put on freedom of religion and of drawing together, particularly in a time of war.

“At the end of the day, we are all brothers and sisters in the human family,” England said after introducing Muslim-American veterans of WWII, Korea and Vietnam.

But most touched by the dedication were those who will benefit most from the prayer room: Marines of the Muslim faith who are stationed in the area.

Staff Sgt. Madun Shahid has been stationed at Camp Lejeune, N.C., and Marine Corps Air Station Beaufort, S.C., and has worked as a recruiter in Atlanta.

In a city such as Atlanta, there are worship options for practically any religion. But in tiny Beaufort, worship is a challenge, he said, and Muslim Marines must do what they can, visiting the chapel on base and finding lay readers from Parris Island, about 15 miles away, to come read the Koran.

The Quantico center, Shahid said, is more than a convenient place of worship or even a place for Muslim Marines to come together. It is an opportunity for all Marines to take part in their own way.

“Just as the Marine Corps in some ways is all the same, religion is all the same, and just as we appreciate how Marines are different, we can learn to appreciate how religions are different,” he said.

Ellie