Muslims in Joplin celebrate new mosque

JOPLIN, Mo. — Two years after Muslims in Joplin suffered the traumatic loss of their place of worship at the hands of an arsonist, a new $2 million mosque is now open.

Families gathered Monday for the first time at the new mosque to celebrate Eid al-Fitr, a religious holiday that marks the end of the holy month.

Navid Zaidi, a pulmonologist originally from Pakistan, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch that the mosque means a lot to the small Muslim community in the southwest Missouri town.

A man awaiting trial for two arson fires at a Planned Parenthood clinic is also suspected of burning down the mosque in 2012, just a year after the tornado that devastated Joplin. The man has not been charged in connection with the mosque fire.

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