‘This is a peaceful masjid’: Muslims in Elizabeth, N.J., gather for Friday prayer after resident accused of bombings

ELIZABETH, N.J. — Nearly 200 people gathered at the Muslim Community Center of Union County Friday afternoon for the first jumah prayer — Islam’s largest weekly gathering — since Elizabeth resident Ahmad Khan Rahami was arrested in connection to mostly unsuccessful bomb attacks in New York and New Jersey last weekend.

“I was shocked,” said a man named Faisal, reflecting on the incidents that rocked his community just days earlier before heading inside for Friday prayer. “This is a peaceful masjid.”

Like Faisal, the suspect’s father, Mohammad Rahami, is a longtime member of MCCUC, and is known to pray regularly at the red brick mosque, which sits on the leafy corner of a charming, residential enclave less than two miles from Elizabeth’s gritty downtown.

The elder Rahami reportedly came to pray at the mosque earlier this week, but today he was nowhere to be seen. His son was charged Tuesday in connection to a bomb that injured 29 in Manhattan, another that went off before a Jersey Shore charity race took off and two other attempted bombings. He was arrested Monday after a shootout with Linden, N.J., police officers.

And while Friday’s jumah prayer also coincided with the funeral service of an MCCUC member, it was clear that Imam Syed Fakhruddin Alvi’s sermon was inspired by the younger Rahami’s alleged crimes.

“What is Islam?” Alvi asked, a small microphone on his lapel carrying his deep voice over the sound of ceiling fans attempting to cool the mosque’s sun-soaked second floor. It was an exceptionally warm day in late September, summer’s last gasp before giving into autumn. One congregant, seated with his back to an open window, lightly wiped sweat from his neck as he listened to the imam outline the tenets of Islam.

“If you want to be a Muslim, take care of those who are needy, deprived of basic necessities,” Alvi said, adding that “hunger has no religion.”

About 35 men were seated on their knees on the mosque’s red and gold patterned carpet when the imam began speaking. The men appeared to be in their late 20s and older, with just a few younger ones mixed in. Their attire was just as varied, with some dressed in traditional Muslim robes but many more sporting jeans and button-downs, flannels and polo shirts. A few wore sweatpants.

People continued to trickle in throughout the service, and by the time it ended, the room was filled with more than 100 men. More women were located behind the partition that separates the sexes.

For each hadith, or Islamic scripture, he referenced, Alvi provided the name of the book, chapter and page number. “I know after this, many people will do Google,” he said.

After going through the basics of what it means to be a Muslim, Alvi asked, “What does the Quran say about those who are not Muslim?” He transitioned seamlessly to the subject of terrorism without ever directly referring to the previous weekend’s bombing incidents, or the fact that the man authorities believe is responsible is the son of a longtime congregant.

“If anyone kills a non-Muslim citizen, almighty Allah will make paradise forbidden from him,” he said, his voice growing louder as he sternly urged those listening: “Write this down.”

“No one has any right to kill any non-Muslim,” he said. “We are living here as citizens. It is our job, our duty, to respect the law of the land.”

“Islam has no justification for terrorism or extremism,” he continued, arguing that those who carry out “barbaric” actions like suicide bombings and other violence in the name of Islam, are motivated by misinformation found on the Internet in the form of “Imam Google” or “Shiekh YouTube.”

Not only is it “our civic and religious duty to support law enforcement,” Alvi argued, but as parents, “it’s your job to take care of your children” and to “keep children from evil activities.”

Not long after law enforcement officials named Rahami as the main suspect in last weekend’s bombing incidents, MCCUC released a statement on its website denouncing “the acts of this misguided individual whose action does not represent law abiding peaceful Muslims of our area congregations.”

On Tuesday, MCCUC President Nawaz Sheikh joined fellow New Jersey Muslim leaders at a press conference in Elizabeth to reiterate this message. Sheikh read from the statement once more on Friday following the imam’s sermon, emphasizing that the mosque would continue to be open as usual for all five daily prayers as well as Sunday school for the children.

“Please, we need your support in this rough and tough time,” Sheikh said, asking the congregation to “pray for this center, pray for our young brothers and sisters who are misguided, to get them on the right path.”

“This is a test for us in our community,” he added.

Outside, as congregants made their way to a nearby cemetery to complete the funeral service, MCCUC trustee Naqeeb Rana talked about how the recent bombing was “a shock to all of the community” and said that young people’s ability to access potentially dangerous information about Islam on the Internet is “a general concern for all the parents.”

“We have to especially educate our younger kids on what the Islamic teachings are,” he said, as a little girl in a purple flowery dress — the youngest of his three children — tugged impatiently at his leg. “We emphasize in our family and to our kids, you should come to imam because he is [knowledgeable] … because some things could be misleading.”

“I’m sure all these terrorists are likely picking up information from wrong places and misusing them,” he said.

Asked how he’s personally broached the most recent incident with his eldest son, who is in high school, Rana replied: “He hasn’t brought it up to me yet. We were so busy with all the media, we haven’t had a time to really sit down and talk.”