Brooklyn Borough President Antonio Reynoso held his annual Ramadan iftar at Borough Hall on April 5 to honor the borough’s Muslim communities during their holy month.
“Our Muslim community unites in peace and love in an incredible diversity of cultures, stories, and heritage right here in our beautiful borough of Brooklyn. It was my honor to celebrate the holy month of Ramadan at our second annual iftar dinner alongside so many of our neighbors,” said Reynoso in a statement.
Imams Abdulkarim Samarkandiy and Siraj Wahhaj gave the call to prayer and were joined by hundreds of Brooklynites in observance of Ramadan. The tradition during Ramadan is to fast from sunup until sundown and then break the fast with a meal called iftar. The sit-down dinner featured Uzbek plov, samsa, dates, and other traditional foods, followed by prayers.
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“The marks our Muslim Brooklynites have made on this borough reach far back in time,” said Reynoso. “In fact, one of the oldest mosques in the United States lives right here in Brooklyn— the Powers Street Mosque, which was founded back in the 1930s—and resides in my old Council District.”
Currently, neighborhoods like Bay Ridge, Sunset Park, Coney Island, Brighton Beach, and more are home to Muslim communities.
At the event, Reynoso honored two individuals: Dr. Salman Haq, a cardiologist who trained at Brooklyn’s Methodist Hospital, and firefighter/EMS Farooq Muhammad; and two organizations: Bed-Stuy’s Masjid At-Taqwa and the Silk Road Foundation.
The iftar was sponsored by the Silk Road Foundation and the Council of People’s Organization (COPO) provided prayer rugs for the event.
Ariama C. Long is a Report for America corps member and writes about politics for the Amsterdam News. Your donation to match our RFA grant helps keep her writing stories like this one; please consider making a tax-deductible gift of any amount today by visiting https://bit.ly/amnews1.