Elizabeth, NJ Mosque Fire

[NJFFSA16]

ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) - A five-alarm fire caused extensive damage
to the city's largest mosque Sunday night.
The blaze at the Dar-Ul-Islam Mosque kept 20 fire crews from
throughout Union County busy for several hours. Several
firefighters were treated for heat exhaustion, but no injuries were
reported.
More than 100 people, most of whom were members of the mosque's
congregation, gathered across the street as fire crews battled the
blaze.
Firefighters rescued a trapped man from a second-floor window as
flames consumed the historic building. Mujahid Abdur-Rahman, a
mosque security guard, was uninjured. He made the initial call to
emergency offi-cials shortly after 7 p.m. to report the fire.
The building's roof collapsed and Richard Earl, deputy chief of
the Elizabeth Fire Department, said there was also a partial
collapse between the second and third floors.
Earl said the cause of the fire is unknown.
The mosque is the largest of three mosques in Elizabeth. Imam
Ali Jaaber told The Star-Ledger of Newark that it took over the
building that housed the former Vail-Deane School 10 years ago.
About 500 to 600 people attend the mosque on Friday evenings.
Jaaber said the congregation was preparing to open a school on
the site in the fall.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[NJFFSA16]

By WAYNE PARRY
Associated Press Writer
ELIZABETH, N.J. (AP) - Smoke was still wafting from the upper
reaches of Union County's largest mosque Monday morning, hours
after a fast-moving fire gutted it, and members of the 1,000-strong
congregation were already vowing to rebuild it.
The cause of the five-alarm blaze at the Dar-Ul-Islam mosque
remained under investigation, but did not appear to be suspicious,
said Assistant Union County Prosecutor Robert O'Leary.
"There's no evidence of arson or anything suspicious at this
time," he said.
A formal cause will be determined within a few days, he said.
Abdellah Abdul Qawi, a mosque member, said it had never received
any threats.
He said mosque members will probably worship at one of the
city's two remaining mosques until temporary quarters can be found.
"A situation like this does one of two things: It brings you
together or pulls you apart," said Qawi, who conferred with fire
department investigators outside the charred three-story building
that once housed an exclusive girls' preparatory school, the
Vail-Dean Academy.
Firefighters rescued a trapped man from a second-floor window as
flames consumed the historic building. Mujahid Abdur-Rahman, a
mosque security guard, was uninjured. He made the initial call to
emergency officials shortly after 7 p.m. to report the fire.
Mosque members cried and prayed across the street as the fire
raged Sunday evening.
"We put a lot of work into this place, a lot of work," Qawi
said, wearing an olive green Muslim robe and white skullcap. The
mosque had occupied the building since 1995.
The mosque had planned to open an Islamic school there in the
fall, but those plans now look impossible, Qawi said.
"I don't think we'll be able to do it," he said. "The damage
is too great."
The building's roof collapsed, as did portions of the second and
third floors. Mujahid Abdur-Rahman, a mosque security guard who
reported the fire, was trapped at a second-floor window as flames
consumed the building, but he was soon rescued by firefighters.
Several firefighters had minor injuries, but none required
hospitalization.
Qawi was heartened that the building's sturdy brick outer walls
appeared unscathed aside from soot where flames shot out of the
windows. The six towering white pillars that marked the entrance to
the historic building also remained intact.

(Copyright 2003 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)