Multifaith Service for Unity on Long Island

December 10, 2001

Source: Newsday

http://www.newsday.com/news/printedition/longisland/ny-liisla102503970dec10.story?coll=ny%2Dlinews%2Darchive

On December 10, 2001, Newsday featured the article "Religious leaders reach out with unity service at LI mosque." It reported, "In an unprecedented act, the leader of Long Island's Catholic Church visited the Island's largest mosque yesterday, attending a multifaith service aimed at fostering religious unity in the wake of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks." A rabbi, Protestant ministers, and Bishop William Murphy joined some 150 participants at the Islamic Center. "'I come here feeling I am among friends, and I will always be among friends,' Murphy said. 'While we have gone through a time of tragedy, we have done it together, and therefore, we will go through a period of rebuilding together.'" The article continued, "The program also included presentations to Muslims who lost loved ones in the World Trade Center attack. Baraheen Ashrafi Chowdhury, 28, of Woodside said her husband, Mohammad, 38, perished in the attack. He was working as a waiter at Windows on the World when the hijacked airplanes struck. ... Chowdhury said the attacks had nothing to do with the Islamic faith. 'I believe they are terrorists,' she said. 'They don't have any religion.'" The Islamic Center's director of interfaith affairs, Ghazi Khankan, estimated that some "71,000 Muslims live on Long Island, and the number of mosques has jumped from three in 1991 to 16 today."