Quantico Islamic Center Dedicated

Ceremony Held In the Shadow of Haditha Probe

In the official speeches, no one mentioned Haditha. But as the Islamic Prayer Center was dedicated yesterday at the Marine Corps Base in Quantico, recent violence in Iraq, including the killing of 24 civilians in the western Iraqi town, allegedly by Marines, was on the mind of some.

Aisha Greenleaf Abdul-Mateen sat in a folding chair behind rows of other folding chairs, listening as Deputy Secretary of Defense Gordon England and Gen. Michael W. Hagee, commandant of the Marine Corps, spoke about the significance of the day -- the first Muslim prayer center for the Marines. She sat there as they pointed to the small white building behind them as a symbol of America's religious tolerance. And she remained there after they finished their speeches, took off their shoes and walked inside the center with a gaggle of journalists in tow.

"If they would have asked someone like me to say something, they would have got the truth," said Abdul-Mateen, a Muslim and wife of a veteran.

She would have stood at the podium and said that the Islamic Prayer Center was a "beautiful, beautiful thing" but long overdue. She would have said that it shows "equality" and "justice" and "respect," but that those qualities were being lost in the bigger picture of the Iraq war. That the leaders weren't following what God wants.

"If they were," she said, "we wouldn't be in Iraq doing what we're doing -- hurting innocent people, having them take their clothes off and siccing dogs on them, and even what they're doing in Cuba."

Yesterday's ceremony marked the dedication of the building that has been in use by the base's Muslim community since the end of last year. The plan is to build a larger facility by 2009 to serve as a religious activities and family support center. Several who attended the ceremony described it as a positive step in relations with the Muslim community in the United States after a series of reported missteps recently in Iraq, such as the alleged atrocity in Haditha.

"The event was timely," said Ghayth Nur Kashif, an imam who served in the Korean war. "It's not going to be enough, but it's a start."

Lt. Abuhena Saifulislam, a U.S. Navy chaplain and religious adviser to the U.S. Marines, said the idea for the center came last July when he was assigned to the base. Muslim service members and international students came to him for help.

"They started asking me, 'Can we get a place to pray?' " he said, adding that they had been going off the base to Woodbridge and Stafford.

Saifulislam estimates that 30 people use the center, but he's confident that the number will grow.

"As it is known, they will come," he said.

England said 4,000 Muslim Americans are serving in all branches of the U.S. military. He said the center will be not only a space for them but also a place to educate people about Islam. Inside the center, which is mostly a large, empty room, the walls are decorated with educational posters topped with such questions as "Who is Allah?" and "What do Muslims believe?"

"At the end of the day, we are all brothers and sisters," England said.

Hagee said he believes that everyone shares the basic values of respect for human life, for the truth and for personal property.

"The Islamic Prayer center is really an extension of our ethos, this ethos we take care of one another," he said. "We are a family."

Even those at yesterday's ceremony who did not agree with the war and were solemn when talking about recent events under investigation in Haditha agreed that the center was a positive symbol of religious respect.

"This couldn't happen in any other country except America. It wouldn't happen in the Middle East," said Christopher Bell, a Vietnam veteran who started the Muslim-American Veteran Association. "We have our problems, but this is the greatest country as far as freedom goes."