"It's the center," Imam Alhagie Jallow says as he walks the Watts Road location on the city's west side. With thousands of Muslims living in Madison, he says the time for the mosque is now. "The population is growing, they are moving in and the youth are getting married."
With just a few final permits needing approval, Imam Jallow believes the groundbreaking date will be in September.
"It would be great to have it [the mosque] before next Ramadan." The mosque will feature a unique design-plan. A three-story structure containing a basement with a kitchen, the main-floor for prayer and the third story, for women and children.
"Then phase two is a gym and then phase three, a school for the children," Imam Jallow says all this while pointing out why he loves the land.
"The Muslim community live around this place, we want to have a bigger place to accommodate everybody and everybody can be comfortable," he says. As for community backing, he says Madison Mayor Paul Soglin is on board with the project.
"He even made a promise that he will attend the ground breaking, so that is an indication that the Muslim brothers and sisters have a good connection with their city -- and their neighbors."
WKOW