Wow. This mosque hiding behind the trees is believed to be the largest mosque in the NYC area. Its primarily funded by the Kuwaiti government.
Lined around the masjid gates were vendors and congregants waiting for iftaar.
http://bassamtariq.com/30days/IMAG0007.jpg
http://bassamtariq.com/30days/masjid_wait.jpg
This is also the first masjid in New York that resembles a traditional masjid.
http://bassamtariq.com/30days/IMAG0010.jpg
There was a brief drought of dates which led everyone to attack the bananas. Thankfully, a new batch of dates appeared on the table with the accompaniment of milk.
http://bassamtariq.com/30days/milk_96.jpg
Maghrib comes in and we still didn’t hear the adhaan. So when a congregant had enough guts to eat a date without hearing the adhaan, we all followed. It was the first time I ate a date at a mosque without the adhaan accompanying me.
The mosque provided food so we ate there as opposed to going to a restaurant. It was catered food from the infamous Kabab King.
We ran into our friend Rasul Miller and some of his buddies so we kicked it eating our food outside, cracking jokes and talking politics.
Outside of the mosque stood a Bangladeshi man who was selling vegetable and chicken samosas for a dollar.
http://bassamtariq.com/30days/vendor_96.jpg
Don’t be fooled by the little cart. Not only did he serve hot samosas, he had bangadeshi rice, bananas, shezan mango bottles and, of course, chai. All the ingredients of my mother’s iftaar pulled around Manhattan and plastered in gift wrapping paper.
