In 1981 a group of foreign Muslim students of UGA performed their Friday prayers in a rented room on Rock Spring Road near Clarke Central High School. The students and about a dozen immigrant Muslims from Athens and surrounding counties performed their congressional EID prayers on the Baxter Street extension in front of the old UGA Book Store (now the open space in front of Tate Center). In 1985 a proposal was made to build a permanent mosque in Athens. The students got excited and immediately initiated fund raising activities. Some of the spouses of the students donated their jewelry and many students even skipped their lunch to save money for the project.
It was a vitalizing period for the Muslim student community in Athens. The local community were not fond of the idea of having a mosque in Athens. However, with the help of a local influential Attorney, Mr. Bentley, and a sympathetic City Engineer, Mr. Ben Williams, who served as a Peace Corps volunteer in Bangladesh, the group succeeded in obtaining a permit to build a mosque. A local benevolent businessman came forward to advance money for the project. The result was the construction of a mosque and the establishment of Al-Huda Islamic Center, Inc. in 1987.
Since 1987 the community has grown more than 3-fold with the influx of Muslim students and faculty at the University and other professionals in the Athens area. From this project the Muslim community should realize that if Allah wills, nothing can stand in the way of any project, big or small, as long as the intention is good and the group is determined.