Los Gatos mosque seeks extended hours amid neighbors’ complaints

A Los Gatos mosque nestled in a quaint residential neighborhood has asked the town for more leeway in observing the holy month of Ramadan, which started on Tuesday. But neighbors say 30 days of traffic and noise created by the additional prayer services held during Ramadan has a negative impact on their quality of life.

The West Valley Muslim Association operates three places of worship across Los Gatos and Saratoga, but their mosque on Farley Road in Los Gatos is their largest location. The association applied for an updated conditional use permit with the Town of Los Gatos in September 2024 to allow them to operate the mosque for extended hours so they can pray longer before sunrise and up to midnight during the holy month of Ramadan. However, some of their neighbors complained of unsafe street conditions, constant noise and traffic during the holiday creating an “unconducive living environment,” according to public comments submitted to the town.

Ramadan recognizes the first revelation of the Quran to the prophet Muhammad, according to Islamic belief. It is observed through 29 or 30 days of fasting and abstinence from numerous habits, like smoking and sex. Fasting is one of the Five Pillars of Islam; the others are profession of faith, prayer, almsgiving and pilgrimage. For the growing Muslim community in the Bay Area, abstaining from eating or drinking during the day is regarded as an act of worship by practicing self-restraint, growing closer to God and empathizing with people who are poor and hungry. Additionally, Muslims pray five times a day before dawn, midday, late afternoon, immediately after sunset and at night.

Razi Mohiuddin, who founded WVMA in 2007, is helping the Los Gatos mosque modify its existing conditional use permit with the town. If the amendment is approved, it would allow for indoor services 90 minutes before sunrise or past 10:30 p.m. daily with an exception for Ramadan, according to an email from the town. During Ramadan, indoor services may extend to 11:30 p.m. when sunset is before 7:30 p.m. or until midnight when sunset is after 7:30 p.m. to account for daylight saving time.

“A mosque is not a mosque if it cannot offer the five daily prayers, and the mosque is not a mosque if it cannot offer Ramadan prayers,” Mohiuddin said when asked what WVMA would lose if they could not complete their prayers. “It would not be a mosque in that sense, so I would say we would lose everything.”

Mohiuddin added that the mosque serves as a community center to help children form their identities and maintain relationships with their religious community. Islamophobic hate crimes were five times more common after Sept. 11, 2001, according to a 2016 research article. Mohiuddin recalled instances of children being called “terrorists” or girls wearing hijabs facing exclusion, and he emphasized the need for a mosque.

“It’s a safe haven to provide them a safe space for them to be themselves, to be with their friends, with their colleagues, in a nonjudgmental place,” Mohiuddin said.

Prior to WVMA’s purchase of the Los Gatos site in 2018, the lot stood vacant. Since then, the mosque has seen a notable increase in activity following the COVID-19 pandemic. Mohiuddin said daily congregations grew from about 70 people at their first night of Ramadan prayers to 500 to 600 people observing the holiday per night. On Fridays, which is the main day of worship for Muslims, WVMA attracts 300 to 400 members.

The uptick in activity has caused some of the mosque’s neighbors on Farley Road to complain about automobile noise, headlights shining through their windows and traffic. Kim and James Ratcliff have lived next to the property for 25 years and said that WVMA is not following the rules of its current conditional use permit. Kim Ratcliff said they’ve experienced noise ordinance violations during Ramadan as late as midnight.

“They have 180 (parking) spots, so it’ll be 180 cars coming out of this narrow driveway right next to us,” Kim Ratcliff said. “It’s cars turning, it’s headlights shining in our bedroom windows. People are packing up strollers, people are talking, laughing, walking back to their cars.”

James Ratcliff said that the late night traffic during Ramadan has impacted his sleep. The couple said police could not get down Farley Road during Ramadan last year because of the traffic.

“We’re simply asking for the same conditions that are required of any other Los Gatos religious institution zoned residential, nothing more, which is really, when we bought this home, what we expected,” Kim Ratcliffe said.

The town attorney sent a letter to WVMA in July 2024, saying that the mosque must adhere to ending worship services at 10 p.m. every month except for Ramadan, which allows them to close at 11 p.m. She also advised the mosque to not rent the Los Gatos facility for events not related to mosque activities and to avoid noise disturbances prior to 8 a.m. and after 10 p.m., which are the town’s curfew hours.

Some conflict between the neighbors happens in many residential areas near land zoned for religious use, but Samer Darwish, board member and former president of the Muslim Community Association, said that it is possible for the mosque to be good neighbors. The association’s mosque on Catherine Street in Santa Clara is in a residential area. Darwish said that they try to remedy problems immediately, whether it be a car blocking someone’s driveway or buying a new garage bin to replace one that was broken or knocked over. He also emphasized the free services that they offered during the pandemic, like COVID testing and feeding hungry people through their food bank.

“People want to sleep early,” Darwish said. “It’s part of the relationship to accommodate. It doesn’t impact us negatively.”

But for WVMA executive director Lubna Shaikh, the constant negotiating with neighbors has started to feel like self-policing. She shared documents of the mosque’s outreach to their neighbors and the efforts they’ve made to meet their requests. Those include removing security gates that people complained rattled when cars drove over the track and notifying neighbors of special events at least 30 days in advance. Numerous requests to limit noise and lights have led the mosque to dim the lights and point them downward and reminding their attendees to stay quiet as they leave and not speed down the residential streets.

Some neighbors suggested that the WVMA operate a shuttle service to limit traffic on the street, but Shaikh said that wasn’t possible since a shuttle service would mean people would be arriving and leaving more slowly and would miss most of the prayer once they got there.

“As a Muslim who grew up here, you always feel the need to make yourself smaller in order to make space for others,” Shaikh said. “You always feel the need to move over because you don’t belong, like you’re occupying a space that you should be in anyways. Even though I don’t want to say that that’s the town’s intention or the neighbors’ intentions, it’s hard not to feel that way.”