HORN LAKE and OXFORD, Miss.—The City of Horn Lake should pursue a private settlement to allow the Abraham House of God to obtain permits to build a mosque, Federal District Judge Michael P. Mills said in an order. The mosque was originally blocked from movie forward in 2021.
A legal complaint claimed that at least one Horn Lake alderman recognises the denial of the mosque’s building permits as discrimination, Mills wrote. As a result, he added, “this court strongly suggests that they voluntarily enter into settlement negotiations regarding the resolution of this matter"
The mosque is intended to be a 10,000-square-foot (929-square-meter) building with a worship space that holds 156. It would have 44 parking spaces. Elkhayyat, who sometimes goes by the name Ray Elk, told Horn Lake aldermen that the building would not have outside loudspeakers to issue calls to prayer. He also said the mosque would have significantly less traffic than if he developed the site into a subdivision.
“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 in the news release. “By discriminating against our clients simply because they are Muslim, Horn Lake officials violated that right, and they must be held accountable.”
A judge ordered the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a federal lawsuit against a town in Mississippi over a rejected zoning request for a mosque, to handle the matter privately.
The ACLU sued the town of Horn Lake and Mayor Allen Latimer over evidence that officials had disingenuously rejected a mosque's zoning requests. The town's board of aldermen had denied the mosque's approval, and the ACLU has cited evidence that shows the denial of the mosque was driven by anti-Muslim discrimination.
Now, a federal judge is telling both parties to settle the affair privately.
"This court directs that the parties consult with its staff regarding the setting of such a hearing," wrote District Court Judge Michael Mills in an order. "And it encourages defendants to carefully consider their legal position in light of the allegations set forth in the Complaint."
FLURRY OF LAWSUITS TO GREET BIDEN ADMINISTRATION'S VACCINE MANDATE
Mills suggested that Horn Lake enter into "settlement negotiations" to resolve the matter if the allegations are true. If both parties decline to do so, the court will proceed as requested.
The suit was previously filed Wednesday morning by the ACLU, the ACLU of Mississippi, and New York City-based firm Simpson Thacher & Bartlett LLP. It would be considered by the United States District Court for the Northern District of Mississippi.
"The city's decision was clearly motivated by anti-Muslim bigotry," claimed ACLU of Mississippi Legal Director Josh Tom in a press release. "People of every faith should have a safe place to practice their religion, and we intend to make sure that's the case in Horn Lake and DeSoto County."
The ACLU alleges that the denial of the mosque's zoning approval breaches the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act. This act states that "no government shall impose or implement a land use regulation in a manner that imposes a substantial burden on the religious exercise of a person, including a religious assembly or institution," unless the government can demonstrate it has a "compelling governmental interest" in the regulation.
The lawsuit also alleges that the rejection of the mosque was a violation of the First Amendment.
Riyadh Elkhayyat and Maher Abuirshaid, two Muslim residents of Horn Lake, spent two years designing their mosque with the hope of not needing to drive out of the county to attend religious services.
ACLU: ‘Clearly Motivated by Anti-Muslim Bigotry’
Judge Mills’ order was in response to a lawsuit the Mississippi American Civil Liberties Union filed at the federal courthouse in Oxford this morning. The ACLU claims that the City of Horn Lake unjustly denied the Abraham House of God mosque a building permit, representatives said at a press conference this morning.
Josh Tom, the Mississippi ACLU legal director, opened the press conference. “A mosque is for Muslims as a church is for Christians or a synagogue is to Jewish people,” Tom said.
