A new beginning for embattled West Philadelphia mosque

ON THE FIRST day of spring, believers celebrated a renewal - both spiritual and physical - in their West Philadelphia mosque and Islamic school, once run by a corrupt imam now in federal prison.

For 18 months, the Philadelphia Masjid and Sister Clara Muhammad School were closed for lack of heaters and other problems.

Meantime, members conducted a fundraising drive, which netted $55,000, and they obtained a $30,000 loan. The total was half the amount needed to repair decades of neglect.

Now, the three-story building, at 47th Street and Wyalusing Avenue, has a new roof, a new heater, new plumbing, a gleaming kitchen, newly painted and plastered walls in the prayer area, sealed holes in an exterior wall, sparkling bathrooms and clean carpets.

And at the behest of the growing congregation, interim Imam Malik Mubashshir and Rafiq Kalam Id-din, chairman of the board of trustees, re-established ties with Imam W. Deen Mohammed, who spells his name differently than his late father, Elijah Muhammad, who headed the Nation of Islam.

W.D. Mohammed, the spiritual leader of 60,000 to 100,000 American Muslims, who follow orthodox Islam, will rededicate the Philadelphia Masjid and Sister Clara Muhammad School - named after his mother - on April 11 in a citywide Muslim celebration.

"I'm so enthused. I can't wait to see the believers, to see this place open," said Bertha Ali, 76, who won a seat on the new board of trustees in a court-certified election in 2006.

Ali - one of the original "pioneers" who scrimped to buy the former St. Thomas More High School for the mosque and school in 1975 - was not disappointed.

Last Friday, about 300 believers, including many young people, attended the first Jumah prayer service since October 2006.

"My heart is sputtering. This is like when we walked in in '75," said Yusef B. Karim, 58, a longshoreman from South Philadelphia.

"I feel blessed and really thankful to have it open," said Janet Bashir, 56, a member for 33 years.

"We want the community to know we're alive and kicking and we're going to do some good things here," said Leon Shamsudeen, 52, a board member.

Tomorrow, the mosque will open daily for five-times-a-day prayers.

But the Islamic school won't open until the fall of 2009. Mubashshir said the academic committee needs time to achieve the high-tech transformation he envisions for the school to attract students.

The three-story building was closed in October 2006 after prayer services were disrupted by a faction led by ex-imam Shamsud-din Ali, who ran the mosque and school for 30 years, then lost a court-certified election to continue in a leadership role.

Ali, 68, is serving an 87-month sentence for racketeering, fraud and other offenses in federal prison in Fort Worth, Texas. A jury found he used the mosque and school as his headquarters to operate seven illegal money-making schemes.

When the reform group took over in 2006, the mosque and school were left in a shambles - leaky roof and plumbing, moldy walls, shaky stairs, electrical problems - with a pile of bills.

Missing was computer equipment, tables, desks, chairs, filing cabinets, school records and four boilers that heated the building intermittently. Rooms and halls were filled with trash.

Shamsud-din Ali, and his wife, Faridah, the director and assistant director of Sister Clara Muhammad School, had lost the confidence of most of the congregation when they tried unsuccessfully to turn the 30-year-old Islamic school into a $5.7 million public charter school, without consulting the members.

On April 1, Faridah Ali will be resentenced in a 26-count fraud conviction for operating a "ghost teacher" scam at the school. Her daughter, Lakiha Spicer, also will be resentenced that day for being a "ghost teacher" - receiving $71,000 for no work.

As the legal issues unfolded, the reform group learned valuable lessons. The Alis would not discuss the building's finances. Trial testimony and wiretapped conversations showed that the couple pocketed most of the money for their personal benefit.

Now, Id-din makes sure the finances are transparent. Members can see finance reports showing donations and expenditures. A recent report showed a total of $85,245, including the $30,000 loan for renovations. About $2,300 is left.

The report shows payments of $17,255 for utilities and phone; $12,750 in roof repairs; $34,500 for a new heater installed recently; about $10,000 for plumbing; $4,500 for building supplies; and other monies spent for security, trash bin, awning removal, postal services and sermons by Imam Mohammed on CDs. The Board still owes $4,500 for the heater, and $400 for plumbing.

Three mosques - Masjidullah, Masjid Muhammad and United Muslim Masjid - have helped the Philadelphia Masjid with donations, volunteers and support.

Wayne Rahman, 57, director of community affairs for Universal Companies in South Philadelphia, volunteered to head the construction team, and enlisted volunteers.

Yesterday, Khalid Earp, 53, and Omus Johnson, 57, both wearing masks to avoid inhaling dust, cleaned up fallen plaster in a balcony overlooking the prayer area.

The two South Philadelphia men, who work on housing construction, said they volunteer when they don't have other jobs. Pointing to newly painted and plastered walls in the prayer area, Johnson said, "We did all this work."

As excited congregants walked through the door last Friday, they were asked: "Have you registered to vote?" They were also asked to sign a petition to keep the name of the park in front of the building as "Sister Clara Muhammad Square." Volunteers cleaned up the park after a neighbor complained it wasn't being tended.

Still, there is much more to do.

Mubashshir said he wants to get at least two Dumpsters so volunteers can remove trash from the upper floors and classrooms and make cosmetic repairs. The community also needs to raise money for another boiler to heat the school and buy construction supplies.

"This is just the first step of our community life, and saving our souls," Mubashshir told believers during closing Jumah prayers. *