The changing complexion of Islam in New Haven
By Brett Orzechowski, Register Staff
NEW HAVEN – Shoes slide off and silence fills the New Haven Islamic Center. The mosque resembles others in the greater New Haven area – inconspicuous and immaculate in one-time residential buildings, not cavernous and elaborate like other houses of worship in the world.
Taxis, BMWs, ice cream trucks and Fords are in the parking lot. Businessmen, students, drivers and laborers fill the lines 12-deep in the mosque. The majority are of South Asian, Middle Eastern and African descent. Most are also first- and second-generation Americans and comprise half of the changing Muslim mosaic in the city.
Of the five largest religious groups in the greater New Haven area, Islam has grown the fastest within the last 15 years, according to three national statistical surveys, and with the progression, the Muslim community’s complexion has changed through mostly immigrants and converts.
Still, some Muslims in the New Haven area feel isolated from the rest of the religious community while practicing a belief a large percentage feel is misunderstood. Dr. Jimmy Jones, a professor at Manhattanville College and Amir of Masjid Al-Islam on George Street, says three factors have shaped perception not only in New Haven but across the country - September 11, the Nation of Islam, and the current political and military strife in the Middle East.
He arrived in New Haven in 1968, became a Muslim in 1979 and watched the Islamic community turn into one of the most diverse religious clusters in the city. As the population changed in the last four decades, so has the attitude toward Muslims.
“I came into Islam during a period of social change but it’s a very different world we live in now,” Jones says. “There is still no infrastructure to transmit our culture and overall, people’s attitude toward the religion varies from ignorant to hostile.”
Jones’ view is consistent with a survey released in Sept. 2007 by The Pew Forum, a Washington, D.C.-based nonpartisan organization dedicated to promoting an understanding of religion and public affairs in America.
The survey claims that Muslim-Americans are seen more positively than Muslims worldwide (53-43 percent) yet unfavorable opinions of Muslim Americans have increased from 25 percent in 2005 to 29 percent today. Through its research, The Pew Forum’s survey also revealed that even though Islam has gained national visibility, most Americans said they know little about the religion’s practice.
Islam has grown in a transient city. The Association of Religion Data Archives lists Connecticut fifth (8.71) in the country in Muslim adherence rate (New Jersey, first, 14.35). Consistent with the state’s population, New Haven County is second to Fairfield in the same category (16.6-14).
That number is expected to rise when the next U.S. census is compiled in 2010. Members of both Masjid Al-Islam and the New Haven Islamic Center say they know. They see more faces at the mosque everyday, five times a day.
Dr. Shaikh Mohamed, the New Haven Islamic Center’s prayer leader, settled in New Haven from Egypt in 2000. Like most in the congregation he arrived at the end of the last large immigration wave. Screening has become more stringent and the Department of Homeland Security has made the process more rigorous since September 11.
He presides over a filled room one Friday, the holiest day of the week for Muslims. Members of the congregation file through the doors near the University of New Haven campus for Jumu'ah, the week’s obligatory prayer. Mohamed says he feels the mosque’s presence is acknowledged in the immediate community but beyond the building’s fences, acceptance wavers.
“I don’t know about the non-Muslims in the New Haven community but there is a need to form a relationship with other organizations. We are growing so there is a need for understanding,” Mohamed says. “We just don’t know if they have the right idea of Islam but we have to try to reach.”