Local Tenn. Judge Almost Stopped Construction of Mosque Before Federal Judge Intervened
A Muslim congregation fighting for two years to open its new mosque won a round in federal court order just in time, because a Tennessee judge was intending to stop construction, according a court order filed Friday.
Members of the Islamic Center of Murfreesboro are pushing to get into their new 12,000-square-foot building before the holy month of Ramadan, which began at sundown Thursday, ends in August.
Opponents have waged a two-year court battle to stop them, challenging the county’s approval of the mosque building plan. They have claimed in court that Islam isn’t a true religion and that local Muslims want to overthrow the U.S. Constitution and replace it with Islamic religious law.
In orders filed Friday in Rutherford County court and obtained by The Associated Press, Chancellor Robert Corlew wrote that he was preparing to order the county to stop mosque construction but the federal ruling superseded him. Corlew also stayed all his decisions in the case indefinitely.
Corlew had nullified the county’s approval of the new mosque after finding there was inadequate public notice of a controversial issue. He also ordered the county not to allow the mosque to open.
The mosque and federal prosecutors persuaded a federal judge Wednesday to intervene. U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell issued a temporary restraining order and directed the county to begin the process of granting the approval needed for the congregation to begin using the mosque.