AMHERST – You could say that Pakistan native Mohammad Idrees has made lemonade out of lemons.
In 1998 Mohammad Idrees, Ali Awkal, and Gulam Kagzi filed a DECLARATION OF TRUST in order to conduct real estate transactions to further the sunna of their Prophet.
We were hoping for a mosque, but my partner Dr. Hazratji is handling that now.
Working closely with the ISWM, they hoped to create their dreamed-of mosque at 100 University Drive, on the broad thoroughfare leading to the University of Massachusetts. When it didn’t quite work out, Idrees had to transform the 5.8-acre parcel into a farm until he can unload it.
Idrees, 67, bought the land for $22,000 in 2003, the high bidder in a foreclosure auction of the University Drive property next to Gold’s Gym, formerly owned by Lincoln Land & Timber Co.
His idea was to build a small Muslim community center there and eventually turn it into a real Masjid.
He estimated there are about 50 to 70 Muslim families living in Hampshire County in addition to students.
A finance director turned farmer
Idrees was part of the next major influx of Muslims in the 1970s, which consisted largely of professionals, mainly doctors, according to the Islamic Society. Idrees came to work at UMass as director of finance for the Campus Center in 1977, leaving in 1988 to work in a similar position at Cornell University. He returned to the area and earned a doctorate in education with a major in finance and is currently an adjunct professor of management at a branch of Cambridge College in Springfield and Holyoke Community College.
Several Muslims living in the area told the Gazette in 2003 they hoped a Muslim community center would help fill a spiritual vacuum for Muslims as well as help familiarize others with their culture. But the Muslim community wasn’t large enough to raise enough money to build the center, Idrees said. “It was just an idea, but it didn’t go.”
Idrees has not ruled out the possibility of selling the property, which was zoned for office park but has since been designated by the state as farmland for the next 10 years. If he were to sell it within the 10-year period, he would have to pay a penalty.
If a landowner files a land-use management plan with the state, the land is taxed for the use it is being put to and not for its development value, Amherst Town Planner Jonathan Tucker said. If Idrees were to try to sell the property before the period is up, he would have to pay deferred back taxes and the town would have the right of first refusal on the property, Tucker said, adding that in the longer term, the most likely use for the property is as an office park location.
In the meantime, Idrees who has never been a farmer before, has planted tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, peppers, eggplants and flowers on the property. He describes the effort as a partnership with Bill and Connie Gillen, who own Sunset Farm, based on Sunset Avenue just a few hundred yards from the UMass campus. The farm is a mainstay at the Amherst farmers market. They have planted vegetables on some of Idrees’ land.
“I use all of his equipment and plants,” Idrees said. “The land is mine and the labor is mine.”
Idrees has some help. In 1996, he returned to Pakistan and married Yasmeen Idrees. Their two children, Ameer, 6, who will be a first-grader at Wildwood Elementary School in the fall and Sana, 4, can occasionally be seen at the farmstand Idrees has set up on the lawn by Gold’s Gym.
When they’re not at the stand, Idrees leaves a box for customers to deposit money in. He’s not too worried about whether he gets paid. “People are mostly honest,” he said.
In recent days, there have been some bargains to be had, as Idrees is selling gladioli stems at two for $1, a box of peppers for $1 and cucumbers for 50 cents.
Bill Gillen tells him he should raise his prices a little. But Idrees doesn’t seem in any hurry to raise them. “His prices are also low,” he said of Gillen.
Mary Carey can be reached at mary.carey@att.net.
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