Nadine Osman

Anti-Muslim discrimination motivated Horn Lake City officials in DeSoto County, Mississippi, to reject a zoning request for the area’s first mosque, a federal lawsuit filed on November 3 claims.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Mississippi (ACLU) sued on behalf of the two Muslim men, Maher Abuirshaid

and Riyadh Elkhayyat, who want to build the mosque, Abraham House of God.

The city’s planning commission recommended rejecting the plan for the mosque, and the Board of Aldermen voted 5-1 in April to uphold that decision. Aldermen said they rejected the application out of concerns about insufficient water supply for fire sprinklers and the possibility of traffic and noise.

“Despite the pretextual excuses for their decision, board members did not work very hard to hide the true reason they denied approval for the project – anti-Muslim prejudice,” said the lawsuit.

“As then-Alderman John E. Jones Jr. told the local newspaper: ‘I don’t care what they say, their religion says they can lie or do anything to Jews or gentiles because we’re not Muslims.’”

The lawsuit accuses officials of violating the First Amendment rights of Abuirshaid and Elkhayyat. In addition, the lawsuit alleges that city officials violated a federal law that extends special protections in land-use decisions to people groups that face discrimination.

The plaintiffs are asking the court to order the city to grant the land-use request for the mosque.

“A local mosque is critical for my family and the Muslim community in DeSoto County to practise our religion,” said Abuirshaid.

“The freedom to worship is one of our most fundamental rights,” Heather Weaver, senior staff attorney for the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief, said. “By discriminating against our clients simply because they are Muslim, Horn Lake officials violated that right, and they must be held accountable