Saturday, December 31, 2005

The Islamic Center of the Piedmont

 
My posts about Jamaat ul-Fuqra and the Muslim Teachers College have prompted many emails from readers with tips and additional information about Muslims in remote rural locations. One of the tips concerned an “Islamic Center” near Reidsville, NC. As soon as the opportunity arose, I made the road trip to our southern neighbor to see what I could discover.
Williamsburg, NC

Islamic Center of the PiedmontAfter several misdirections and some wild-goose chasing, I found the place in question. It is called the “Islamic Center of the Piedmont”, and is located in a 1930s-era school building, just outside the small town of Williamsburg, not far from Reidsville.

Unlike the other rural Muslim locations I have visited, the Islamic Center is not hidden away, but is prominently located on a fairly busy secondary road, NC 87. The building is large and well-tended, and even boasts its own water tower in back.
Islamic Center of the Piedmont

It is divided into two large sections. The southern block seems to be the meeting area. I knocked on the door, but no one was there. A peek through the side window showed an ordinary looking lounge or meeting room, with a photo of a mosque on display.

Shad Interior DesignThe northern block was probably originally the school gym, and now boasts a sign for “Shad Interior Design.” No one answered the door on this side, either. At the back of the warehouse area on the north block is a large loading bay, presumably used by the interior design company.

After leaving the center, I talked a businessman named Lewis who has an office just up the road. He told me that the Muslims have been there a few years, and that they meet once or twice a month. According to Lewis they are not African-Americans, but look “Middle Eastern”. He said they seem to be professional people, doctors, lawyers, and so on. He didn’t know of any organizational name.

Lewis said that there used to be a used tire and rubber business renting the warehouse space in back from the previous owners. He wasn’t sure if the previous arrangement has continued under the Islamic Center, but we saw no tires or any other indication of a rubber business.

The Islamic Center of the Piedmont seems innocuous enough. A web search for “Shad Interior Design” reveals just one mention in an Eden business directory, and nothing significant can be found for the Islamic Center of the Piedmont.

According to Lewis, there is a mosque in downtown Reidsville associated with the Nation of Islam. Its imam is notorious for racist diatribes against whites. Perhaps the “Middle Easterners” of the Islamic Center felt uncomfortable associating with such Muslims, and decided to start their own organization…?

Readers with any further information about the Islamic Center of the Piedmont are invited to comment, or send an email.

5 comments:

antifraud said...

That's only about 300 miles NE of me, and I reckon I'll have to check the place out. I'll let you know what I learn from the trip.

Thanks for the alert that it's "in the area".

Epaminondas said...

Of course, the real issue is, at what point do 'teachings' become hate crimes?

Aryan Nation was broken over civil suits RESULTING from hate crimes.

If hate crimes result from the teaching hadiths like "The Stone and the Tree"..Volume 4, Book 52, Number 176:
Narrated 'Abdullah bin 'Umar:
Allah's Apostle said, "You (i.e. Muslims) will fight wi the Jews till some of them will hide behind stones. The stones will (betray them) saying, 'O 'Abdullah (i.e. slave of Allah)! There is a Jew hiding behind me; so kill him.' "
can this mosque, college, or institution be taken on?
(There are a plethora of others to choose from, but this tends to show this entire set of Hadiths for what they really can be)

Any lawyers out there?

Anonymous said...

Oh my gad, how racist are you people? Do you even have a clue what you are talking about? You ignorant people are at least half of the problem. Well done for finding a suitable quote from the Quaran, have a look through the beloved bible and see if you can find the paragrapgh saying it is acceptable in Gods eyes to kill a non-believer for working on the Sabbath, or that women are unclean. You can interprete anything any way you want. Christianity (and just to to spell this out for you - so's not to cause your ignorant brain any more confusion than it already seems to be flailing under, I'm a christian, and I'm white so according to your little racists diatrabe I may actually have a point.) isn't so amazing, look at the pope, or the nazi or IRA, or ETA. You have any more comments to make, whats 2in the area?! for goodness sake please be realistic. Look at whats going on in the world now and how we got here, you may learn something.

RedneckCure said...

I got two questions- why were you trespassing on private property? and how come after all of your so called "investigating" you didn't even bother to call the phone number on that sign?
So asshole, why dont you stick to something that you do know, like sitting in front of your crappy tv in that one bedroom apartment of yours drinking beer while you collect those welfare checks from dear uncle sam. cheers!

RedneckCure said...

REDNECKS LIKE YOU ARE THE PROBLEM I HAVE COME TO TERMINATE YOU LIKE ARNOLD. I AM THE CURE FOR YOUR SICKNESS