24 years after opening doors for the first time, Al-Farooq Islamic Center of Nashville has moved to a new location to accommodate the growing Muslim community.

The mosque relocated to its new 40,000-square-foot space on Thompson Lane after purchasing and renovating an old Boys and Girls Club, The Tennessean reported.

“Serving is what really matters and that is what we hope to establish and nurture and allow to grow and not only to benefit ourselves, but to be a benefit for this wider community,” Salaad Nur, chairman of the board of directors at Al-Farooq, said at the ribbon cutting event Saturday.

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The event was attended by Mayor John Cooper, Metro Council members, Metro Nashville Public School board members and other Muslim community leaders.

“The opening is a testament to the power of faith in our community and the human spirit,” said MNPS board member Berthena Nabaa-McKinney, who is Muslim, at the event Saturday.

“I believe that Masjid Al-Farooq has the potential to become a cornerstone of the community, a place where people can come together to gather, to celebrate, to seek solace and guidance.”

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Al-Farooq opened in 1999, primarily by a group of people who attended the Islamic Center of Nashville. The mosque started the process to move to its new home in 2019.

Nur said Saturday’s event symbolizes an “affection and bond that connects us. That bond is not limited to the Muslim community. The things that feed the city is not limited to a brotherhood of one type.”

Tennessee developed its first substantial Muslim enclave in the 1990s, when the Clinton administration admitted thousands of Iraqi Kurds.

Al-Farooq is one of 12 mosques in Middle Tennessee. According to estimates, there are 70,000-plus Muslims in the state.