Before this page existed we had already raised $88,700 of the $180,000 needed — almost all of it from the families who pray in a hotel conference room in Abilene every Friday. This page is for the last

$71,300.

Every Friday, around ninety people pray Jum'ah in a hotel conference

room in Abilene, Texas. A year ago there were ten of us.

Abilene has no masjid. We are about to build the first one.

The nearest masjid is 150 miles away, Fort Worth to the east, Midland

to the west, Lubbock to the northwest. Between them, across this whole stretch of West Texas, there is nothing. And Abilene sits on Interstate 20, where it meets the highways to Lubbock and San Angelo. Truck drivers, travelling families and crews working the oil and wind fields come through here every day of the week. Some of them already pull off the highway on a Friday, find us, pray, eat with us, and drive on.

We have found a building at 135 Shelton Street. It is under contract

and the deposit is paid. What stands between this community and a

masjid is the rest of the money.

WHAT THE BUILDING MAKES POSSIBLE

Right now we have one prayer a week in a room we don't own. A masjid means all five daily prayers, every day, with a door that's always open. It means Quran classes for our children instead of driving them two hours to the nearest one. It means Taraweeh in Ramadan, Eid in our own building, janazah when a family needs it, and a place for the next family moving to West Texas to walk into and not be alone.

WHERE WE STAND

$88,700 raised of our $180,000 goal.

$71,300 still needed by October 31.

That money has come from this community! People here giving cash,

checks and Zelle, many of them giving more than they can comfortably

afford, week after week. On October 2nd alone, $15,000 came in. We

are now past the halfway mark on the purchase price.

What the total covers:

- $160,000 — purchase of the building

- $20,000 — renovation: wudu facilities, carpet, a women's prayer area

October 31 is our funding deadline. The money has to be in hand and cleared before the purchase can complete later this year.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

$100 sponsors a square foot of the prayer hall.

$1,000 makes you a founding family of Masjid e Aamina.

$5,000 sponsors a room.

And if those are out of reach: some of the brothers here give $50 every Friday. Twenty people doing that is $4,000 a month. That is how a masjid actually gets built — not one large check, but a lot of people who don't stop.

"Whoever builds a masjid for Allah, Allah will build for him a house in Paradise." ← bold this line

— Sahih al-Bukhari

COME SEE IT FOR YOURSELF

Jum'ah every Friday — khutbah 2:00 PM, salah 2:25 PM, lunch after.

Econo Lodge Inn & Suites, 849 East Highway 80, Abilene, TX 79601.

Everyone is welcome. Just walk in and someone will point you to the room.

Masjid e Aamina is a project of the Mumtaz Shamim Foundation, a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit. Donations are tax-deductible to the extent allowed by law. Receipts are issued by the foundation.

JazakAllahu khairan. Please share this with anyone who might help.