NEW YORK – For the fourth year, the Islamic Center of Mastic-Shirley hosted students from St Joseph’s College New York seeking to learn more about Islam.

“I always learned that it was a very peaceful religion. I had known about it before it was all on the news,” a student told AboutIslam.net.

Though she does not have close interactions with Muslims, she does not readily believe media narratives that frames followers of Islam as violent.

“I never pay attention to what the media says about the religion because I know it is just people being ignorant and afraid of what they don’t know,” she added.

The students are part of a world religion class taught by Thomas Petriano, who includes visiting the masjid in the course syllabus.

Students arrived at the Islamic Center of Mastic-Shirley and sat with masjid officials and community members.

During the visit, assistant imam Mehdad Islam explained basic aspects of Islam and provided opportunities for students to ask questions about the faith and its adherents.

Many of the students expressed that it was their first experience talking to Muslims and learning about the religion.

Most of them knew little about Islam beyond what they’ve heard in the news.

Learning about Ramadan

Initially hesitant, students eventually opened up and asked questions specifically about Ramadan.

Many students wanted to understand the excitement surrounding the approaching month of daily fasting and were interested in learning how Muslims prepare for it.

“When Ramadan comes, the air feels different,” imam Islam explained to students, “the world feels different. Everything feels spiritually pure and natural.”

Professor Petriano described his experience in fasting and partaking in the breaking of the fast with his Muslim acquaintances.

“A number of times I’ve been invited by Muslim friends to come over for dinner. If I decide to attend the dinner, I’ve always tried to fast during the day in solidarity with my fasting Muslim friends. It’s a very good practice, and it is very good way of understanding and appreciating what Muslims do; it is a pretty amazing thing to do.”

Islam also described the local community iftars and the popularity of breaking the Ramadan fast communally in US masajid around the country.

“We have a calendar, and people from the community put their names on the calendar indicating which day they want to host an iftar. In our community, only about 50 people come, but in other masajid they have probably 200 to 500 people.”

“It is free for everyone; I don’t know of any mosque that charges for iftar. It is something where the community gets together and gets the job done. The good thing is every day it is a different culture. One day you have Indian [another] you have African, Guyanese, Trinidadian or Chinese food.”

The imam told AboutIslam in addition to local Muslims, community members of other faiths as well as local law enforcement annually, attend community iftars at the Islamic Center of Mastic-Shirley.

“Every year, police officers come here as well as priests and ministers from local churches and sometimes the local rabbi. They come in solidarity and to give us support,” Islam said.

Real-Life Interactions

AboutIslam asked Petriano why he chooses to return every year to the center with his students.

“I think it is important for students to have an experience of being in a mosque; what it feels like, meeting Muslims,” he said.

“A lot of them don’t know Muslims. I think that the only way to overcome some of the stereotypes is for students to realize what [Islam] is like, and there is nothing mysterious or intimidating about it. Because I am not a Muslim, I can say that 100 times in class, but it doesn’t mean as much as them experiencing it themselves directly.”

Petriano also expressed the benefits of visiting the Islamic Center of Mastic-Shirley as part of the course he teaches on religion.

“Experiential learning is always more valuable than simply talking about something, and this has more of an impact. They have to write a reaction paper to what they experienced. It has also been my experience that visiting the mosque frequently prompts more questions and further discussion.”

The Islamic Center of Mastic-Shirley provided copies of the holy Qur’an for students to take home.