Excerpt:
Hudson Islamic Center leaders pledged to encourage women to serve on their executive leadership board after Muslim women were excluded from a groundbreaking event of the new center last week.
On April 29, more than 200 people celebrated the new center to be built at 35 N. Third St. after nearly 20 years since the organization was founded. The new $1.5 million community center will consist of a library, separate prayer rooms for men and women and classrooms to be constructed at the site, according to the center's website.
After the groundbreaking, Islamic Center leaders said there was no space to accommodate women at the groundbreaking because of limited seating.
Men and women must be separated as a matter of religious law, the leaders said. Several women community officials outside the faith were invited to the event.