20 Long Island mosques uniting in new Suffolk organization

For the first time in 50 years, all the mosques in Suffolk County have united under a single organization, as they seek to counter negative perceptions of Muslims, push for peace in Gaza and get a major Islamic holiday recognized by school districts.

The Muslim Council of Suffolk County, bringing together 20 mosques, is emerging amid the conflict in Gaza and as Muslims conclude the holiest month of the year — Ramadan — on Tuesday night. Starting Wednesday, Muslims across Long Island will end the sunrise-to-sunset fasting of Ramadan with Eid al-Fitr, a three-day festival of prayers and special meals.

One council founder, Mamoon Iqbal, a board member of Masjid Noor in Huntington, said the new group “is a long time coming. We had so many different mosques from different backgrounds, different cultures, different languages.”

Now they have decided that “all the mosques should get together on one platform.”

Partly due to the council's lobbying, at least a half-dozen school districts in Suffolk have decided to recognize the holiday for the first time this year or next, leaders said. Across Long Island, the total is now about three dozen, according to Muslim leaders and school officials.

A unified response to the Israel-Hamas war

A major goal of the council has been to provide a unified response following the Oct. 7 terrorist attack by Hamas against Israel that left 1,200 people dead, and the subsequent Israeli bombardment of Gaza. Leaders of the group said some of their congregations' children were bullied in school because of anti-Muslim sentiment. 

In late October, the group organized a pro-peace Palestine rally that attracted hundreds of people in Hauppauge.

The purpose of the group is “to show unity among Muslims,” said Mehdad Islam, imam at the Islaamic Center of Mastic-Shirley. If mosques had tried to organize the rally individually, “We wouldn’t have a crowd turn out like that.”

Islam, who helped found the council, said his religion rejects violence, no matter the source.

“I do not agree with killing of innocent lives,” he said, calling the Oct. 7 attack by Hamas “a disgraceful act.”

However, he added, “We should not only look at atrocities on one side of the table.” The estimated 32,000 people killed by Israel’s counterattack, according to officials in Gaza, “is just staggering,” he said.

“I think the global community is witnessing the disproportionate” response by Israel, which he called “horrific.”

Israel contends that civilian casualties are part of the inevitable collateral damage from its campaign to wipe out an organization that is embedded within the society, including in hospitals under which they contend Hamas hides in tunnels. 

The council encompasses a variety of mosques and nationalities, with Muslims from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Egypt, Gambia, Sierra Leone, Tunisia and Turkey, as well as some African Americans and Anglo Americans. The mosques are in communities that range from Southampton to Port Jefferson Station to Melville.

Dr. Mohamed Sameen, a pulmonologist who is president of the new council, said another of its goals is to provide college scholarships for Muslim students. He said mosques can collaborate with each other to help meet the needs of residents, and provide a forum for young people from different mosques to meet and discuss issues they face.

The Muslim community — estimated at 100,000 throughout Long Island — is growing, with a new mosque or two seeming to open every year in Suffolk, Iqbal said.

“Every single mosque is at their breaking point in the sense they are bursting at the seams,” he said. “There is no room to hold people, so they just need to expand and grow.”

Worldwide, Islam is growing too, with 1.9 billion followers, or one-fourth the global population. It is the world’s second-largest religion after Christianity.

During the holy month of Ramadan, Muslims fulfill one of the five pillars of Islam by fasting throughout the day. The faithful must refrain from eating or drinking any liquid, even water. Muslims also are expected to perform acts of charity and service, engage in self-reflection, and focus on their spirituality.

Eid al-Fitr marks an end to the fasting, as Muslims gather for special meals in their homes. At morning prayers in mosques to start the festival, they wear colorful traditional clothing and greet each other with the refrain “Eid Mubarak!” or “Blessed Eid!”

Recognizing the growth locally, an increasing number of school districts are declaring Eid al-Fitr a school holiday, said Imran Latif, who heads education efforts for the council.

New recognition for Muslim holiday

The group has helped get the holiday recognized in a half-dozen Suffolk school districts by meeting with school officials and connecting with parents and students who also could make the case to them, he said. Some of the districts have relatively few Muslim students, but are honoring the holiday as part of diversity initiatives, they said.

Another organization, the Eid Holiday Coalition, started the effort on Long Island nearly a decade ago. Syosset became the first district to agree in 2016, with three dozen more later following, said Dr. Uzma Syed, a leader of the group.

In Suffolk, the Connetquot and Sayville school districts are marking Eid al-Fitr for the first time this week, school officials said. So is the Middle Country district, Superintendent Roberta Gerold said. A high school student made the request last year, and a survey she did found that at least 300 Muslim students at Centereach and Newfield high schools said they miss school to celebrate Eid al-Fitr.

“We’re becoming more diverse as a community, and we want to recognize that diversity,” Gerold said. “I’m proud of it. We celebrate so many different groups, and it looked like that was the group that we didn’t celebrate as actively as we could.”

Middle Country also for the first time hosted a “breaking of the fast” event like the ones Muslims do each night during Ramadan when the daylong fasting ends. Gerold said 200 people attended, and there was a waiting list to get in.

The district includes the Islamic Association of Long Island, a mosque in Selden that in 1974 became the first one established in Suffolk County.

The Patchogue-Medford district decided to start recognizing Eid al-Fitr as a school holiday next year as part of its "mission to promote diversity and inclusion,” Superintendent Donna Jones said in a statement. The district also is now offering halal food in its cafeteria.

“The district will continue to reach out to all members of its community, and is proud to be one of the leaders, alongside several other districts on Long Island, that has taken the positive, proactive step of officially recognizing Eid al-Fitr,” Jones said.

The Longwood, Mount Sinai and William Floyd districts also will start recognizing it next year, officials said, though in Mount Sinai, staff will still have to report to work for a “superintendent’s day.”

In Port Jefferson, schools will close starting next academic year for both Eid al-Fitr and another major Muslim holiday, Eid al-Adha, Superintendent Jessica Schmettan said in a statement.

The district “is committed to recognizing and honoring all cultures, religions, and ethnic backgrounds represented in our community,” she said.