Source: New Hampshire Union Leader
From a quiet perch overlooking Lake Massabesic's northern tip and hazy, blue hills to the south, history is unfolding.
The concrete foundation of the state's first mosque rises behind a chain-link construction fence.
Relatively small in scale, the project is epic in scope.
Not only did it take more than a dozen years of planning and persistence against countless obstacles to get this far, but the mosque means Muslims will join the world's other monotheistic faiths -- Christianity and Judaism -- in having a permanent place of worship in the Granite State.
"This is the place that God has given us," Mahboubul Hassan said on a recent visit to the nearly 4-acre Karatzas Avenue site. Hassan is president of the Islamic Society of Greater Manchester, which is building the mosque to serve the region's estimated 3,000 to 3,5000 Muslims. Currently, the nearest mosques are in Methuen, Mass., and Boston.