Walking into the Auburn Islamic Center on a Sunday afternoon, people can find children scurrying around the lobby, bare feet and men preparing to pray.
The women are already upstairs, cleansing and preparing for prayer.
The lobby is a small, carpeted room with nine shelves on one wall, designated for the shoes visitors remove as they enter the building.
The shelves are stacked with a variety of footwear, from dainty, pink flip-flops to Nike tennis shoes.
The chairs surrounding a fold-out table by the window are plastic, and one wall is ordained with a bulletin board with sign-up sheets for Sunday school classes and childcare.
Mark Dougherty, professor in the agricultural engineering department, sits in a white, plastic chair around a table in the kitchen at the Auburn Islamic Center and talks about the history of the organization and the building.
Two teenage girls wearing hijabs and sweaters sit around the table as well.
Dougherty serves on the board of directors at the Auburn Islamic Center.
Dougherty can also officiate an Islamic wedding.
One would not know any of these things about him unless they asked, however, because he is quick to divert attention away from himself and even quicker to talk about the everyday happenings at the center.
According to Dougherty, the center has been in Auburn for approximately 25 years, and it was simply a community before that.
Doughtery said the Islamic Center had an interesting background.
"This building used to be a fraternity house," Dougherty said.
Dougherty said one man, who was a student at Auburn during the days the building was a fraternity house, spent some time there and then returned years later as a devout Muslim.
"It was quite the experience for the man coming back," Dougherty said.
The building, located on Armstrong Street, can be called a mosque, but Dougherty calls it a masjid.
"Masjid -- it comes from the word 'sajda,' which is to prostrate, which means to go down on your head to pray, so the masjid is the place where you prostrate," Dougherty said.
Dougherty said he thinks Auburn is a great place to practice his religion.
"We're in a non-Muslim country, so it's no different than any other place," Dougherty said. "We just take care of our business in here. If I would say anything, I'd say it's better here because Auburn is such a progressive place because of the University."
The masjid is open at any time for members to pray.
It is filled on Sundays with men, women and children. The children attend Sunday school.
Sara Elawad, 13, spoke upstairs in one of the rooms where the women go to pray.
Elawad wore a hijab, a head scarf, a long sweater and jeans.
"We have Islamic studies, like learning the history and the modesty and stuff like that," Elawad said. "Basically, we just learn about their prophets and their history."
Yousra Omer is a 14-year-old Muslim girl and attends the masjid regularly.
Omer attempted to brag on Dougherty and his role in the masjid, but Dougherty casually steered the conversation to discuss the building of a new mosque in Auburn.
"The new Islamic Center, we have a plan," Dougherty said. "We have a property of 5 acres south of town."
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