(RNS) — On the first night of Ramadan,worshippers stood shoulder to shoulder on rows of blue prayer rugs beneath the glow of string lights in a former elementary school gym in Lubbock, Texas.
Just weeks earlier, the building had been abandoned and in disrepair.
Mohamad Altabaa, a third-year medical student at Texas Tech University, and his physician friend bought the former Arnett Elementary School in January with an ambitious goal: open a mosque and community hub in 45 days, just in time for Ramadan…