After a 17-year search, the Al-Madany Islamic Center is observing Ramadan the way members had always envisioned it — in a mosque of their own.
Some 150 worshippers gathered Friday afternoon for a prayer service at 1 Union Park, the former Grace Episcopal Church. Al-Madany’s volunteer imam, Azzeim Mahmoud, said this is the first time since moving to Norwalk nearly 30 years ago that he felt at home in his worship for Ramadan.
“This is a truly a gift from God to us,” Mahmoud said. “It took a while to get here, but God has his own way. Maybe he was testing us, but in the end, he gave us a location that was better than what we expected.”
Hussein Qadri said that for the last 33 years, he held Islamic services in the basement of his home because there was no mosque.
“There would be 125 to 130 people packed in there. Sometimes, it would become so crowded that people would be forced to worship on the stairs,” Qadri said.
As attendance grew, followers knew that Qadri’s basement would no longer cut it. In 1999, these followers banded together to form the Al-Madany Islamic Center, and they began to search for a place where they could build a permanent place of worship.
Little did they know that this search would take so long to come to fruition.
In 2008, Al-Madany purchased land at 127 Fillow St. to build a mosque, but an outpouring of complaints from neighbors and opposition from the city eventually dashed those hopes.
“For a lack of a better word, it’s like we were refugees — or itinerants, if you will. People either had to go pray on their own or they would have to gather in friends basements,” said Farhan Memon, a spokesperson for Al-Madany.
“We were always hopping around, now we have a place where a community can finally flourish,” Memon said.
“It’s like upgrading from a bicycle to a Rolls-Royce,” added Qadri, when comparing Al-Madany’s humble beginnings in his basement to the 18,000-square-foot building at 1 Union Square.
After moving in to their new location earlier this year, Al-Madany will finally be able to provide its worshippers with amenities that basements and rented out spaces never could afford. Though renovations to the mosque have not been fully completed, Memon said that the completed mosque will include a wudhu room, which is a washroom that provides cleaning stalls for worshippers to perform ablutions before their prayers; a dining hall for community meals; a prayer room that is uniquely outfitted for the religion’s five daily prayers and other special services; and a collection of classrooms for Sunday teachings.
With a permanent home, Memon said that Al-Madany now has an opportunity to participate more deeply in the life of Norwalk. The group has already partnered with the Open Door Shelter of South Norwalk to help fight hunger in the city.
As part of this new partnership, Al-Madany members will donate the money that they are saving by fasting during Ramadan to the shelter's food bank program.
"This initiative is about caring and making a difference together," said Memon. "Before we were too focused on where we were going to pray to think about anything else."
Regardless of the extended wait for a home, Memon is just happy to be able to finally celebrate one of his religion's most cherished holiday seasons in a place of their own.
“This truly is a blessed Ramadan for us and our community could not be happier,” Memon said.
Ramadan is an annual event that marks one of the five basic acts, or Pillars as they are referred to, of Islam. It is a monthlong observance to commemorate the first revelation of the Quran to Muhammad, according to Islamic belief.
The celebration includes fasting from sunrise to sunset every day for the entire month. This fasting includes no consumption of food, liquid, smoking and engaging in sexual relations. This fast is typically broken each night at sunset in a ritual known as iftar, which is essentially a community or familial meal.
With a location finally secured, Al-Madany will be able to celebrate Ramadan in its entirety on site
source : hawzahnews
