Established in the early 1980s, the ICM supports about a thousand congregants, drawn from local permanent residents and numerous students at Middle Tennessee State University.

The rise since the late 20th century has resulted in part from the arrival of refugees from Somalia and Kurds from Iraq, who were resettled there by the federal government upon fleeing the repression of Saddam Hussein after the first Gulf War.

Prayers were held in a poorly ventilated 1,200-square-foot (110 m2) room while women, who worship separately from men, had to use a converted garage nearby to watch the proceedings on closed-circuit TV.

[1] In November 2009, the ICM purchased an area of undeveloped land at the intersection of Bradyville Pike and Veals Road on the outskirts of Murfreesboro, about 4 miles (6.4 km) from its existing facilities in the town center, at a cost of $320,000 cash.

[7] A sign advertising the "Future Site of Islamic Center of Murfreesboro" was put up on the vacant lot, but in January 2010 it was vandalized during the Martin Luther King, Jr. Day weekend.

Rabbi Rami Shapiro of Middle Tennessee State University blamed misinformation and misplaced fears, commenting that "there are some who are just anti-Muslim and will do anything to keep a mosque out of their neighborhood.

She declared: "Until the American Muslim community find it in their hearts to separate themselves from their evil, radical counterparts, to condemn those who want to destroy our civilization and will fight against them, we are not obligated to open our society to any of them.

He said that Ramsey's comments were part of "a disturbing trend in our nation in which it is suggested that American Muslims should have fewer or more restricted constitutional rights than citizens of other faiths.

", conducted Christian group prayers and heard anti-mosque pastor Dusty Ray of the Heartland Baptist Church telling them, "Lord, we're trying to stop a political movement.

The building of the Roman Catholic church of St. Rose of Lima had prompted a march by angry residents to the town courthouse to highlight their fears that the project would endanger their security and way of life, amid claims that "suspicious outsiders" were funding it.

[27] Two days after the fire, 150 local residents attended a candle-lit vigil on the steps of the Rutherford County Courthouse to protest the arson attack.

"[25] The planning commission's September 16, 2010 meeting was dominated by supporters of the mosque, who said that they represented the majority opinion in Murfreesboro and expressed concern that the controversy was hurting the town.

[30] The litigation was spearheaded by lobbyist Laurie Cardoza-Moore, who demanded that the Rutherford County sheriff investigate a supposed conspiracy linking the mosque with Islamic militants in Somalia and Gaza.

[7] He had walked out of the planning commission's meeting the previous day, telling the Murfreesboro Post newspaper, "All I heard was this socialist garbage being spewed by the pro-mosque crowd.

"[35] The Anti-Defamation League intervened in the case, Estes v. Rutherford County Regional Planning Commission, to support the mosque on the grounds that the plaintiffs were seeking to interfere with the builders' religious freedoms.

As well as reiterating the requirements of RLUIPA, the Justice Department's brief affirmed that Islam was protected under the First Amendment to the United States Constitution and emphasized that mosques should be treated no differently from churches or synagogues.

"[17] The plaintiffs' lawyer spent six days trying to convince the court that Islam should not be considered a religion and that the mosque was not entitled to religious land use zoning regulations "because these are the same people who flew jets into the World Trade Center on 9/11.

"[38] The lawyer, Joe Brandon Jr, called a series of non-expert witnesses, including anti-Islam activist Frank Gaffney, accused the ICM of being linked to terrorism, and claimed that its members wanted to impose Sharia law on the United States.

He said that there were some legitimate concerns about the county's public notice requirements and suggested that they should be reviewed, but found that the ICM's members did not adhere to extremist religious ideas.

In July 2011, Herman Cain, a former pizza tycoon and candidate for the 2012 U.S. Republican Party presidential nomination, told Fox News that communities, including the residents of Murfreesboro, should have the right to block mosques being built in their areas.

According to Professor Saleh Sbenaty of Middle Tennessee State University, a board member of the ICM, "kids [began] asking their mothers who have head scarves not to go to the malls because they're scared of seeing their mom being harassed," while adults had become "afraid to come to the mosque and pray.

[44] A few days later, an anonymous caller left a bomb threat on the ICM's voicemail, accompanied by "extreme profanities and derogatory remarks toward Muslims.

[46] Correa was charged with violating the civil rights of mosque members by infringing on their religious freedom and faced up to 30 years' imprisonment and a fine of up to $250,000 if convicted.

[47] He pleaded guilty and was sentenced to five years' probation, including eight months of home detention, on a charge of obstructing the free exercise of religious beliefs.

[51] The opponents' subsequent motion to halt construction was denied by Corlew on June 13, but he ruled that the county could not issue the ICM with an occupancy certificate because he had previously voided the approval of the site plan.

The Justice Department's filing criticized Corlew for treating the mosque unequally by imposing a heightened requirement of notice of a kind to which other religious organizations had not been subject.

[56] The mosque's opponents filed a motion in the federal district court, claiming that Judge Campbell had accepted "false allegations" and questioning whether Islam was a religion.

[57] The local US Representative, Republican Diane Black, and her primary opponent, Lou Anne Zelenik, both issued statements criticizing the federal intervention.

Black said: "Christians' rights to freedom of religion are violated frequently and the Obama Justice Department doesn't come rushing to our aid, but they will meddle in a local zoning matter to promote Islam.

[61] Shortly before the opening, members of the neighboring Grace Baptist Church erected 13 white crosses in a field across the road from the mosque "to make a statement to the Muslims about how we felt about our religion, our Christianity.