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Planting Islam in America

By Jamshid Mousavinezhad and Lensay Abadula | amNY.com and amNewYork Staff Writer

Out of the grass of a gated compound on the Upper East Side looms a stunning building at 96th Street and Third Avenue, the sun glinting off its white stone walls and copper-green dome.

"Our parents wanted us to stay used to our culture, so we come here to learn," Adama Kabe says of the Islamic Cultural Center of New York.

Many of the seven male teenagers spend a lot of time at the mosque, attending Friday prayers and youth classes on Saturdays and Sunday.

There are no benches or pews on either of the mosque's two floors. Instead, shoe-less worshippers line up in the direction of Mecca in straight rows on the carpet. Men and women are separated, to help maintain a strong focus on prayer.

Often Imam Omar Saleem Abu-Namous reminds worshippers to stand "foot-to-foot" and "shoulder-to-shoulder," since according to Islamic tradition the devil can enter in these small gaps between individuals.

About 1,500 worshipers gather to pray Jummah, or Friday prayer. A khutbah, or sermon, is offered before Jummah prayer by the imam. Around 250 "young people" regularly attend the mosque, Imam Abu-Namous says, where they're exposed to its "message of peace, message of mutual understanding."

"We are doing our best to counter" negative stereotypes of Islam, the courtly, well-spoken imam says, teaching the teens to reject all forms of extremism and fundamentalism.

The imam admits it can be frustrating trying to reach young Muslim Americans. "In the U.S., it's very hard" to stay Muslim. If it weren't for the active efforts of parents and the mosque, many teenagers might well choose American culture, which the imam calls "more joyful, more delightful".

But ultimately, the imam thinks most teenagers will stay Muslim for the rest of their life. And he sees a "reciprocal effect" for the second and third generation of Muslims growing up in America.

"They'll be affected by the American culture--and also the Americans will be affected by them."

Email: jamshid.mousavinezhad@newsday.com