The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community’s request to build a mosque and retreat facility on a farm land in the rural town of Walkersville, Frederick County, was rejected by the Walkersville Board of Zoning Appeals with an unanimous vote. The dispute has been going on for several months now, and the story is not likely to end with this decision.

The Muslim community is trying to get approval for building a religious center, to host annual conventions that could gather up to 10,000 people. The reason for the idea to be rejected: the town only has 5,000 inhabitants, and such a large number of visitors endangers the town’s water supply and the traffic would be disturbed.

Roman P. Storzer, the legal representative of the landowner, says the decision is irrational and discriminatory, and that “this conflict has been defined from day one by a desire to keep a Muslim group out of the area,” as he said in a statement.

The vote came at the end of an 11-day public hearing over the past four weeks, and the board’s decision will probably become official within the next weeks. The next board meeting is expected to take place in approximately one month’s time, on March 6.

This is not an isolated case of rejecting the idea of building facilities to receive large number of Muslims. An approval of the Ahmadiyya’s’ request would have meant thousands of tents were to be established during the three-day Jalsa Salana festival, ant the population of the town would have tripled. In other words, the towns’ infrastructure and emergency services are not capable of sustaining such a large number of people.

The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community originated from Pakistan, where they were declared to be non-Muslims by the Parliament, and consequently, they fled the country. Unlike other Muslims, they believe that Mirza Ghulam Ahmad was a prophet, just like Muhammad, which is why their government rejected them and considered them to be a sect.