New Mosque Planned For Minnepolis Suburb; Mosque Operator Part Of Charter School Controversy

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Local media is reporting that a suburban Minneapolis planning commission has approved changes clearing the way for construction of a new mosque to be operated by a part of the Muslim Brotherhood in the US. According to the report:

August 27, 2015 The Rosemount Planning Commission on Tuesday supported comprehensive plan and zoning changes that clear the way for the construction of a mosque and community center in Rosemount.

The mosque, which would be operated by the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, is planned for the former City Limits Lanes building at 15400 South Robert Trail.

For the plan to work, the city needs to change the property from regional commercial to business park in its comprehensive plan and rezone the property from highway commercial to business park. The city will also need to approve a conditional use permit to allow a place of worship in that zoning district.

The city council is currently scheduled to discuss the matter at its Sept. 15 meeting.

City Limits closed its doors as a bowling alley in 2012. John Zellmar bought the building in 2014 and is using it to house his landscaping business.

According to planning commission agenda documents Minnesota Education Trust plans to buy the building and make it available to the Muslim American Society of Minnesota. The building would be used for daily prayers, Sunday school, community lectures, youth activities, weddings and community parties. There may also eventually be a food shelf and a free community clinic, but Muslim American Society executive director Asad Zaman said those are plans for farther down the road.

Zaman said there is a growing population of Muslims in the Rosemount area.

Read the rest here.

The GMBDW reported last month that the opening of a charter school in Minnesota had been delayed over concerns that the new school has ties to the leaders of an earlier school in turned linked to the Muslim American Society.

The MAS was established in 1993 by leaders of the U.S. Muslim Brotherhood and a Hudson Institute report authored by the GMBDW editor has discussed the relationship of the MAS to both the Egyptian and US Muslim Brotherhood. 

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