assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh

This masjid is beautiful and immaculately cleaned. It is BY FAR the most beautiful masjid I have ever been to in America! This is even the Masjid where I said my shahadah. All the beautiful things about this masjid still can't cover up the issues.

There seems to be a lot of political tension in the masjid. People are always complaining about how money is spent, how much things cost, and how the masjid should be run but isn't. I personally am there to pray and worship Allah so these things don't bother me much and are to be expected with any large group of people. Alhumdullilah we are human :)

The issue I can't look past is my attempted wedding at this masjid. I am American so a vast majority of my family is Christian. This is the only masjid who wanted to make every woman, Muslim or not, wear the hijab just to attend. After that they then wanted to separate our families (read FAMILIES not women from men) and then divide the men from women with a bed sheet. Yes I said a bed sheet.

After looking through hundred of Muslim wedding pictures, even from Afghanistan and Pakistan, I cant find any "divided weddings". Other Imams even think I am making this up when I first tell them. And non of the weddings I have ever seen while in the middle east were divided.

Alhumdullilah we found Roswell community masjid which was GREAT! The Imam was very wise and made sure we, I especially since the culture was new to me, understood everything about every step. The masjid was beautiful and clean with a hint of roses and sandalwood when you entered. They greeted my non Muslim family with open arms and welcomed them as children of God, not serpents.

Personally if there is no compulsion in religion then I cant understand how forcing people to do things to fit into a specific mold, which was created by humans in the first place, isn't compulsion. The part I feel most Brothers and Sisters miss about this beautiful religion is the part about PEACE. Allah is the only judge. We can never know the path another child of God walks and this is why we are specifically forbidden from judgement.

I live very close to this masjid and plan to attend for prayers. I just post this in hopes of change. Inshallah, may these words only bring about good and never empower evil.

assalamualaikum warahmatullah wabarakatuh