NY Judge Orders Mosque Reopened While Dispute Is In Court

In Suffern, New York, a lawsuit has been filed in state court in an internal disagreement over finances and administration between factions in a local mosque. The board of Masjid Darul Ehsan had changed the locks on the mosque's doors, leading congregants to have to pray in the mosque's parking lot and in the village of Suffern's gazebo. After a hearing on Wednesday, Justice William Sherwood ordered the mosque be reopened for daily prayers under the leadership of Imam Mohammad Abdul Rehman Shah, who had been fired by the board earlier this month. However the order does not call for the mosque's summer school to be resumed. The lawsuit asks for an accounting of the mosque's income and expenditures, including the use that has been made of donations. The Lower Hudson Journal News yesterday reported on the developments, saying that another hearing in the case is scheduled for Sept. 14.