COMMUNITY NEWS

Taking part in interfaith dialogue

East Meadow, Westbury mosques welcome community members to Ramadan programs

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Muslims in East Meadow and Salisbury began celebrating Ramadan — a month of fasting to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad — on June 6. But in the midst of what they consider to be the holiest time of the year, community members said, political leaders and pundits are questioning their religion and stereotyping it as violent because of the actions of one man who they feel does not represent Islam.

Omar Mateen — the 29-year-old who killed 49 people at a gay nightclub in Orlando, Fla., on June 12 in the worst mass shooting in U.S. history — claimed allegiance to the Islamic State. However, Dr. Isma Chaudhry, president of Westbury’s Islamic Center of Long Island, said that Mateen is simply not a Muslim.

“That’s our biggest challenge as a community — to define it for what it is,” Chaudhry said. “This person is a criminal. A person who does this kind of heinous crime … the religion does not teach that. We have to stand shoulder to shoulder, as fellow human beings, and say no.”

Chaudhry and leaders at another local mosque — the Long Island Muslim Society, on East Meadow Avenue — said that, to prevent misconceptions and hate and promote unity and understanding, their congregations have welcomed hundreds of Nassau residents for interfaith programs during Ramadan in recent years. Both congregations opened their doors for these special iftars — post-sunset meals during which Muslims break their daily fasts — last week.

Bringing leaders together

ICLI, one of the largest mosques in the region, hosted an interfaith iftar on June 15. Chaudhry, the center’s first female president, conceived the idea for the program 13 years ago.

The focus of Ramadan, she explained, is not simply hunger and isolation. Instead, Muslims are encouraged to lead dynamic, active lives by showing extra care for others around them.

“The challenge is not to stay hungry — the challenge is, how do you stay engaged with your community, your family, your friends while you are in a state of physical challenge?” she said. “The whole idea behind this is to bring out the true spirit of the month of Ramadan — staying away from extravagance and self-indulgence while tapping into spirituality and being aware of your obligations to your fellow human beings.”

Having grown from a group of 30 to more than 100, ICLI’s interfaith iftar is attended by residents, spiritual leaders, nonprofit organizers, police officers, civic and elected officials from across Long Island. After Chaudhry and other ICLI leaders told the audience of people of different ages, ethnicities and faiths a bit about Ramadan and their mosque, other clergy were invited to speak.

The Rev. Thomas W. Goodhue, a United Methodist minister and the outgoing executive director of the Long Island Council of Churches, was honored at the program. He commended ICLI for the programs it hosts, educational events it organizes through its own interfaith institute (which launched last year), and the values it promotes that, he said, counter extremism and violence in the Muslim community and address how to combat hatred in other communities.

Referencing the Orlando shooting, Goodhue said it was time for people of all religious backgrounds to address violence and extremism worldwide. If to be Muslim is to follow the will of God, he said, then the faithful should note that someone who commits murder is not really a Muslim anymore. He also noted that Christians who spread hatred of others are not following Jesus Christ’s teachings.

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