Maryland: Muslim immigrant & developer face lawsuit for selling homes to Muslims only
Source: Development under fire for only selling homes to Muslims – The Washington Post h/t Aida
JOPPATOWNE, Md. — Dueling legal complaints and allegations of Islamophobia have marred an unfinished retirement community in Maryland after homes were sold only to Muslims.
Planners say interest in the River Run development was strong before stalled county permits halted construction. Some elected officials and residents complained that the community violated fair-housing laws.
Stuck in the middle are Muslims who put down deposits to live in the quiet neighborhood overlooking the Gunpowder River — and non-Muslims who already live there.
The River Run development is slated for about 35 wooded acres in Joppatowne, Md., a community of about 12,000 people 20 miles northeast of Baltimore. More than 56 homes were approved for the lot more than a decade ago, but the project fell into disrepair after just four homes were built when a previous developer folded.
Then, last year, 46-year-old Faheem Younus, an infectious-disease doctor and an immigrant from Pakistan, teamed up with a different developer [Gemcraft Homes] to build a retirement community for older Ahmadiyya Muslims, adherents of a branch of Islam who preach tolerance and face repression from other Muslims around the world.
“There are many Jewish, Christian communities — we’re not reinventing the wheel here,” Younus said.
After a nationwide search, Younus settled on River Run. With a planned mosque and views of the river, the development offered what was advertised as a “peace village” for people 55 and older.
“This will be a community of 49 spacious brand new homes (Villas) for Ahmadi Muslims with a dedicated mosque within walking distance,” read a website this year advertising the community. That language was later removed, replaced with an update that touted an “audio feed from the adjacent mosque” for the daily call to prayer — before that language also was removed.
Some elected officials and residents, however, complained, saying the planned community violated fair-housing laws. Others questioned whether their town should open its arms to a neighborhood initially designed for Muslims.
Real estate agent Gina Pimentel filed a complaint with the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development last month, claiming she couldn’t get information about the River Run units because Younus was “unlawfully privately marketing and selling only to Ahmadi Muslims.”
In an interview, Pimentel said she is not worried about Muslims living in the community, but about her business. She can’t earn a commission if she can’t sell homes, she said, and she was also concerned that lenders charging market interest rates might be cut out by Islamic rules against usury.
Elected officials entered the debate, including Maryland Del. Richard K. Impallaria (R-Baltimore County), who held two meetings about the community last month. Impallaria said the controversy is not about faith, but fairness.
“The leading problem on this project is the housing discrimination,” he said. “We really don’t need a group of people coming in that’s going to isolate themselves from the rest of the community — come in and do an end run around state, federal, county laws. It’s not a good way to start out as a good neighbor.”
At several town hall meetings, Younus and two fellow Ahmadis responded as about 25 residents asked about mortgages, diversity and Islam.
Younus said there were many misconceptions about the Joppatowne retirement community. River Run is open to everyone, he said, and was initially marketed only to Ahmadis because demand was high, which meant further advertising was unnecessary. Its planned mosque would now be a community center, he said.
The meeting occasionally grew heated. One man wearing a Rolling Stones T-shirt challenged Younus about the definition of “jihad.”
“Jihad is a war on the infidel, and I am the infidel,” he said. (The man declined to give his name to The Washington Post, calling it the “lying press.”)
There’s more, but what a better place to stop as WAPO is indeed part of the lying press. The Ahmidiyas are lying about jihad and the Koran too.
And don’t think that’s the only Muslim community in Maryland, it isn’t. Read – Maryland: Muslims buying row houses from city to ‘carve out a Muslim community’.
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