‘He loved Rock Hill and its people’: Rock Hill Muslim mosque founder dies at 73

Abdul Khanani, a founder of Rock Hill’s first Muslim mosque and cemetery who was an advocate for two decades for peace and love among religions while denouncing terrorism, died Wednesday after battling cancer, family and mosque officials said.

Khanani, also widely known from his Heckle Dry Cleaner business on Herlong Avenue that is a staple in Rock Hill’s business community, was 73.

Khanani and his wife moved to Rock Hill from Canada in 1998 and raised five children in York County.

“He loved Rock Hill and its people,” said son Muhammad Khanani. “He believed that one’s deeds in life matter, and he always tried to bring people together.”

Rock Hill’s mosque on West Main Street opened in 2013 after a decade of raising money. Khanani was vital to the mosque opening and its success as a religious center that teaches community, love, peace and harmony, said James “Jumah” Moore, a senior official at the mosque.

“Abdul Khanani was my mentor and a mentor to so many in Rock Hill and York County,” Moore said. “He loved all people. He loved his community. He will be terribly missed.”

Khanani also was the leader in creating a Muslim cemetery in Rock Hill that was completed in 2017 after an initial attempt to build the cemetery was rebuffed by city officials and neighbors.

After the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks and other terrorist activity around the world and in America, Khanani was outspoken in interviews with The Herald in condemning terrorism as against teachings of Islam. Khanani invited other religious and civic leaders to tour the mosque and attend services.

Khanani said this after ISIS attacks in 2014: “What these ISIS people are doing over there is not Islam, it is terrorism. ... It is horrible.”

Khannai was born in Uganda, Africa. He and other people of Indian descent were expelled from Uganda, so Khanani emigrated to England and Canada before finding a home in Rock Hill.

A funeral service was held Wednesday evening following the Muslim tradition that a person be buried the same day of death.

This story was originally published August 16, 2018 at 11:02 AM.