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Staten Island definitely has some of the most precious hidden gems in New York City’s Muslim community. So tonight Bassam and I were joined by our homey Jordan Robinson and together we hopped on a ferry to Staten Island to do some treasure hunting. Hello Statue of Liberty.

We got off the ferry and took a short cab ride to our destination the Albanian Islamic Cultural Center. Before I begin our story, just take a few moments and soak in how majestic this building is.

The Albanian community is fairly large in Staten Island, which came to fruition here in the late 1980s. After a few years, the community got together and built this mosque and the building you see now has been in existence since the mid 1990s. They also have a full time Islamic school that started off with only a handful of Pre-Kindergarteners in the mid 90’s and today has over 200 students and has classes up to 11th grade.

As soon as we walked in the building our curiosity was immediately piqued by the soothing dhikr  we heard on the loudspeaker. We slowly found our way to this large gathering inside the main prayer hall of people remembering Allah through some soothing dhikr. I should also mention this mosque is fairly hi-tech, they had a camera man working a switchboard broadcasting the feed in the prayer room to other areas of the building where the women were sitting.

After the dhikr session, we broke our fast with dixie cups of water and prayed. The imam’s recitation was incredible. This may sound hokey, but his voice sounded a lot like a perfect pitch violin, the way his voice glided seamlessly from letter to letter in his recitation. You couldn’t help but close your eyes and take it all in.

After prayer, a long line  formed in front of the imam, as people patiently waited to greet him. His name was Dhul Qarnain and is a hafiz of Quraan that got his Islamic education from Al-Azhar University in Cairo. I briefly said hello to the imam and told him about the 30 mosques project. He said he had heard of it (yay!) and encouraged us to head downstairs and eat food with the congregation.

Round one of food was this rice soup. We asked the people around us what was in it and many of them were not sure. But we definitely tasted some chicken in there too.

Dinner was just as good, steak and rice with a side of vegetables. The mosque has its own chef that prepared the food, may Allah reward him for his talent.

But the food didn’t compared to our true experience at the mosque. We sat among many of the younger kids in the community just picking their brains a bit about the community.

After a few minutes of breaking the ice, I mentioned the word “Call of Duty 4” and immediately a group of kids swarmed me. We had a blast during dinner cracking jokes. One thing I really love is seeing younger kids come to mosques because they genuinely enjoy being there, not because they are dragged by their parents. Its kids like these that make me feel good about where the Muslim community as a whole is headed in this country.

One thing that surprised me about this community is the fact that this mosque doesn’t do any fundraising to sustain itself. Many times, you go to mosques that have these huge annual fundraisers that they depend on to survive, almost like a quarterback in football throwing a hail mary pass with less than 10 seconds left in the 4th quarter (sorry, NFL season starts this weekend and its heavily on my mind lol).

But this place is clearly different. Not only is there a sense of pride among the people in this mosque, but the people here have a genuine sense of love for their mosque.

Anyone that is frustrated about not being able to fundraise at their own mosque really should visit this place. Because here is a small community of mostly Albanians that had a love for their religion so strong that they were able to create something so majestic with patience and time.

Anyone can shell out money, but it takes true character to shell out love.

Today we visited this new masjid that was established a couple of months back. Take two steps away from the bodega and you’ll miss it.

A brief dhikr took place before iftaar. The congregants at the masjid were incredibly hospitable. Everyone I walked by asked if I had enough orange juice, tea or coffee. The majority of the people were from West Africa and spoke both Walaf and Arabic. We were the only South Asians.

As we broke our fast with bread and butter, a lady asked, “what is your name?”

I replied, “Bassam.”

“Bachan? Like Amitabh Bachan”

It took me a second to realize she meant the legendary Bollywood heartthrob. We all laughed as she listed her favorite Indian movies

Dinner was going to be served after Isha prayers, but I had to get going. I promised them that next time I come I’ll make them a nice Pakistani dish and they are holding me to it.

On my way back, I started listing off all the different dishes I could make. Turns out I couldn’t make that many. Looks like I’ll head over to Patel Brothers in Jackson Heights and buy some daal.

A few blocks from the subway in Brooklyn, Bassam and I took a stroll down Coney Island Avenue and found a bustling street of Pakistani run businesses, including a hospital. Check out the banner on the hospital celebrating Pakistan’s Independence Day last month.

Across the street from the hospital was our destination, the Makki Masjid.

It’s a predominantly Pakistani mosque that is basically in its first phase of construction, as indicated by the scaffolding on the outside.

Our friend Adeel Rahman said he used to go to this mosque as a kid, here’s what he had to say in this post’s comment thread:

“This is the Mosque I grew up with and still pray Eid at. Before the reconstruction it was three conjoined four floor apartment buildings with a capacity that had to be over 2000. Thanks for checking it out!”

What I like about this place is even though it could take months for construction to be complete, the people there have managed to make this place look beautiful. Its amazing what a few strategically rolled out carpets and lights can do to turn a giant hollow building into a cozy place of worship.

Check out all the rolled up carpet insulation in the right corner.

Downstairs is the place to make wudhu. You have to walk across this wooden plank to get to the sink otherwise you’ll be stepping in dirt. Its quite an adrenaline rush to walk the plank on your tippy toes (if you’re easily amused like me that is).

It was time to break our fast and the imam led us in a lengthy but heartfelt du’aa (supplication). Normally we’ve grown accustomed to eating something small before prayer and then a full dinner after. But here they combined it so we broke our fast with dinner. I had some rice -w- chicken, dates, a large potato samosa and in the left corner of my plate is halwa. Its basically a dessert that tastes like Cream of Wheat.  To drink I had my fave Ramadan drink, sharbat (rose syrup mixed in milk).

Prayer started quicker than I expected, so I ate my food quickly and ran upstairs to join the congregation.

There was something incredibly humbling about this place, that’s hard for me to put in words. You don’t need things like extravagant domes and fancy caligraphy on the walls to make yourself feel at home in a mosque. Because there’s more than one way to make a place look beautiful, as the people here have done.

I had an extremely stressful day today, but as soon as I took off my shoes and walked into the place, I felt a load come off my shoulder. That’s one of the things I enjoy about going to mosques - no matter how stressful my day is, I am always able to leave my baggage at the door and step inside into a serene garden of spirituality.

I was tired and slept my way to Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Thankfully the train ride took 70 minutes so I was fresh by the time I got off the train.

There was a certain calmness in the air, something you just don’t get in Manhattan.

There are many mosques in Bay Ridge and it was tough to choose which one to visit. Somehow or another, we decided on the Muslim American Society (MAS) Youth Center.

All I heard as I entered the center was great recitation over the PA system. The sound system of the masjid worked perfectly for the space, but everything else seemed to be under construction. There were no signs to guide me to the men’s area, so I decided to follow my ears. Common sense told me - the louder the recitation gets the closer I am.

I took the stairs down to the basement and  greeted a small group of elderly women. I smiled and continued walking. One of them gasped. I looked back and saw her shaking her head. A group of younger girls also saw  me and started giggling. That’s when I realized I stepped into sister land. I smiled again and awkwardly walked back up the stairs.

A little boy was sitting outside of an office, and told me to take the elevator to the third floor. There was so much construction happening all around the mosque, the stairs weren’t functioning. One could imagine, what a logistical nightmare it must be if the stairs aren’t cleared for the Friday prayers.

The inside of the elevator reminded me of BioShock.

The prayer area was very large, but - like the rest of the masjid -  was still in development.

There were mismatched lines of tape that marked the placement of feet.

The front of the musala was plastered with MAS banners. The top one gave Ramadan greetings, the banner below stated the mission of MAS. The imam ended with a group dua in Arabic. Bay Ridge is known to be a predominantly Arab community. But today at the mosque, we noticed a very large Desi population. It seemed like the Desi’s felt comfortable. I overheard them sharing thoughts on Musharraf and Nawaz Shareef in Punjabi.

Most of the volunteers were young kids, about 12 to 16. They placed cups with dates in them on this random counter inside the musala. I wondered, why would they need a counter in the prayer area?

After we broke our fast and prayed Maghrib, Aman came up to me and said. “Dude, this used to be a banquet hall.”

And that’s when it all started to make sense. Why else would there be random mirrors on the wall? The chandelier? And, of course, the obtrusive counter.

The whole center was in the process of being converted into a full fledged mosque.

We had dinner in the prayer area. They served us rice, meat, beans and a salad in a nice box. The meal was very tasty, or as Aman would say “money!”

We chatted with  the director of the mosque, Hesham, as we ate up. I asked him how long this masjid has been around. Turns out the center has been in development since 2002! I was a little hurt to hear that. I thought to myself, thing long and still not done with renovations?

After we finished our dinner, we took the elevator down to the main floor, passed through a couple of more construction areas, and we…err I made a slight detour  into another sister’s area. In the lobby of the mosque, Aman stopped and pointed out the photos on the wall. The bulletin board showcased photos from the youth activities that took place in the center. The one photo that struck us the most was this little Muslim girl in a karate suit kicking butt. Finally, we thought, girls being allowed to participate in such activities. What’s more beautiful than a hijabi Chuck Norris?

I looked closely at the photo and noticed construction still taking place in the background. That’s when it hit me -  the masjid was going through a massive renovation, but that didn’t stop them from continuing to put on great iftaars, informative classes and, most importantly, youth activities. Amazingly, they aren’t letting the construction get in their way.

Come to think of it, the American Muslim community is still a work in progress. It’ll take us a while to get the wudu areas right, to develop gender parity and create stronger ties with the larger community. But until we get there, please pardon our dust.