New Community Center
The Need
Their concern was that the building was too large for the expected 80 worshipers for Salatul Jumuah. In the 1980’s this was a reasonable assessment. But this changed with local Muslim residents becoming more active and many students becoming residents. By 1991 a balcony was added to accommodate the increase in numbers.
Now, twenty-six years later the Muslim population has exponentially increased with new residents and refugee influx. Many immigrants from Somalia, Iraq, and Afghanistan were welcomed by the Islamic Society of Central New York and use the Masjid, alhamdulillah. Most of these new immigrants are settling down and are not able to contribute substantially to the Islamic Community Center Project. The entire building is used on Jumuah inclusive of a tent outside in mild weather. Parking has spilled onto the street with special permission from the city, and into the facing cemetery. The overall Muslim population in the city is around 15,000. Although,
additional worship centers have opened since the inception of the Islamic Society of Central New York, none are large enough to meet the needs and the Islamic Society of Central New York remains as the focal point and receives the most traffic.
A large part of our growth is the increase of our youth. Our attention is on them and concern for their future as Muslims. The youth are not receiving adequate education for lack of classrooms. The considerable number of youth from settled immigrant families have dramatically increased the need for space for education and youth activities. Children who come with parents have no place to play and their presence in the musalla becomes a distraction to those praying or attending adult classes.
Accessibility is a problem for the handicapped and aged. Men and women who cannot climb stairs have stopped coming to the Masjid. When they do come they are lifted in their wheelchairs for Jumu’ah prayers by relatives or friends.
Growth also brings out the need for a proper place for funeral preparation. Fortunately, we do have burial plots in the nearby cemetery, but we need our own facilities for properly preparing the deceased.
Through time we have grown from a community of 80 worshipers to several hundred on Jumuah. Our community has grown and so has our needs. With the proposed new facility we would be able to effectively accommodate even more and satisfy the needs of the people who worship there.