In trying times of escalating rhetoric in the wake of terrible tragedy, a new mosque is proposed in Riverhead

Even as Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump this week renewed his call to ban immigration by people of the Muslim faith — and proposed additional actions in the name of national security following the mass shooting in Orlando, Florida — Riverhead Town officials are reviewing plans for a new mosque proposed for Harrison Avenue.

The Islamic Center of Riverhead filed a site plan application with the planning department in January, seeking approval to convert a two-story, single-family dwelling at 751 Harrison Avenue to a house of worship. Plans include an addition to the building and construction of a second-floor dwelling unit.

The Riverhead Planning Board is scheduled to discuss the application at its regular meeting tomorrow at Riverhead Town Hall and is expected to set a public hearing on the proposal for a date next month.

“Houses of worship are allowed in all zoning districts of the town as permitted uses,” Riverhead Supervisor Sean Walter said in an interview yesterday.

“We have to treat this application the same as any other application for a church that is being built in the town,” he said.

The supervisor said he has been contacted so far by one family concerned about a mosque being built in Riverhead.

“I understand the concern, but just because a mosque is coming to town doesn’t necessarily mean there’s going to be any increased risk to us,” the supervisor said.

In fact, there is a mosque in Riverhead already. The Riverhead Masjid operates out of a storefront on Railroad Avenue, next to a pub. It has been there since at least 2014, according to online records. Walter said he was not aware of its existence.

A dispatch operator at the taxi company a few doors down from the Railroad Avenue mosque said today many of her drivers go to the mosque for prayers. She said Riverhead Masjid is the same as Riverhead Islamic Center and is moving to the Harrison Avenue location, but that could not be confirmed; no one answered the door at Riverhead Masjid and it does not have a listed phone number.

Riverhead Islamic Center’s president, Dr. Mohammad Ibqal of Dix Hills, is a dentist who practices in Jamaica, Queens with his son, Dr. Mamoon Iqbal, also of Dix Hills. The senior Iqbal is a Pakistani immigrant who graduated from Khyber Medical College of the University of Peshawar in Pakistan, according to his company website. He completed the program for foreign-trained dentists at New York University College of Dentistry. The younger Iqbal is a graduate of Half Hollow Hills High School and New York University. He is on the board of Masjid Noor, a mosque in Huntington.

“Unfortunately, the Muslim community is more and more viewed with suspicion,” said Amin Ur Rahman, director of the Islamic Association of Long Island in Selden — the oldest and largest mosque in Suffolk County. It typically draws 500 or more people to its pair of Friday evening services each week.

While there are numerous mosques across Suffolk County there is no mosque east of Riverhead, he said, though the community extends to the tips of both forks.

Seated in the small dimly lit library at the Medford Islamic Center in Gordon Heights, where his father Muti Ur Rahman, is director, Rahman on Monday spoke freely about his faith and the desire of faithful Muslims for peace.

“Communities have to meet to understand each other,” Rahman said. “We can’t let people divide us. Regardless of color or faith or customs or cultures, we are all people. We all share the same experiences. We all want the same things. We all immigrated to America for the same reasons — a better life for our families, a good education for our sons and daughters, good jobs and homes for our families,” Rahman said.

“America is the best place. We are happy to be here and proud to be here,” said Rahman, the son of Pakistani immigrants.

It is a frightening time for Muslims in America, he acknowledged, when acts of violence are committed by people who profess the Muslim faith and non-Muslim Americans grow ever more wary of Islam — especially with the escalating rhetoric of the presumptive Republican presidential nominee.

His mosque and others across Long Island have issued statements condemning the violence in Orlando:

“Our hearts go out to the victims, their families and friends. We are here for them and stand in their corner condemning these horrific acts. May God grant patience and peace to the families of the victims, and reward the victims with his mercy,” the Islamic Association of Long Island said on its website.

Masjid Noor posted a similar statement.

Connie Lassandro, chairperson of the Riverhead Anti-Bias Task Force, said she hopes the Riverhead community will not allow recent events and the loss of lives in Orlando in to affect the decision of welcoming the new mosque in the community.

“We can’t judge everyone by a few individuals,” Lassandro said.

“I go by that old saying — united we stand divided we fall. As a community that’s what we should be doing. The Town of Riverhead should stand untied.”

Those sentiments were echoed by Rabbi Steven Moss, chairman of the Suffolk County Human Rights Commission.

“The majority of Muslims in this country — the majority of Muslims I know — are good, decent people who work very hard to secure a living for themselves and their families,” Moss said. “They should not be lumped together with a sociopath, an evil disturbed human being such as this man,” he said, referring to the Orlando shooter.

“I wouldn’t anyone to think the Ku Klux Klan or neo-Nazis are typical Christians,” said Tom Goodhue, executive director of the Long Island Council of Churches, noting, “The KKK claims to be Christian. We have real problems with radical extremism in all our religions.”

All too often, we hold all responsible for the actions of a few, both Moss and Goodhue said.

It’s something people of Middle Eastern descent and Muslims in particular have had to contend with since Sept. 11, 2001, Moss said.

“A good friend of mine who is Muslim said before Sept. 11, he was just an ordinary American citizen. That day, everything changed.”

While the town supervisor said he knows there is “a lot of hysteria” as far as Islam is concerned, he vowed that the town will “remain vigilant, as always, to make sure residents remain safe from terrorism and terrorists. It doesn’t matter where or what walks of life they come from.”