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Judge grants Tenn. mosque's petition to open

Published: July 19, 2012 Comment on this article

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (AP) — Muslims in a Tennessee congregation are preparing for the holy month of Ramadan a day after a federal judge ruled they have a right to occupy their newly built mosque. The order overrules a county judge's order that was keeping them out.

photo - FILE - In a Thursday, June 21, 2012 file photo, a worker walks out of the construction site of a mosque being built in Murfreesboro, Tenn. The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro and its religious leader, Imam Ossama Bahloul, sued Rutherford County on Wednesday, July 18, 2012 and asked the federal court for an emergency order to let worshippers into the building before the holy month of Ramadan starts at sundown on Thursday. In May, a Rutherford County judge overturned the county's approval of the mosque construction and this month he ordered the county not to issue an occupancy permit for the 12,000-square-foot building. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig, File)

FILE - In a Thursday, June 21, 2012 file photo, a worker walks out of the construction site of a mosque being built in Murfreesboro, Tenn. The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro and its religious leader, Imam Ossama Bahloul, sued Rutherford County on Wednesday, July 18, 2012 and asked the federal court for an emergency order to let worshippers into the building before the holy month of Ramadan starts at sundown on Thursday. In May, a Rutherford County judge overturned the county's approval of the mosque construction and this month he ordered the county not to issue an occupancy permit for the 12,000-square-foot building. (AP Photo/Erik Schelzig, File)

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The Islamic Center of Murfreesboro sued Rutherford County on Wednesday and asked U.S. District Judge Todd Campbell for an emergency order to let worshippers into the building before the holy month of Ramadan starts at sundown Thursday.

Federal prosecutors also filed a similar lawsuit.

The future of the mosque had been in question since May, when a local judge overturned the county's approval of the mosque construction. This month he ordered the county not to issue an occupancy permit for the 12,000-square-foot building.