Synagogue Hopes To Build Mosque's Trust

[rug]

Congregants Reach Out to Immigrants When Twin Plan Falters



One City, Two Worlds: West African immigrants in Imam Souleimane Konate’s Masjid Aqsa were nervous about outsiders coming to their mosque. The uneasy moment has led the mosque and the West End Synagogue to seek new ways to build their ‘twinning’ partnership.

By Sumit Galhotra
Published November 30, 2011, issue of December 09, 2011.

When members of New York City’s West End Synagogue were recently disinvited at the 11th hour from a long-anticipated Friday gathering with Muslims at Harlem’s Masjid Aqsa, some involved in organizing the meeting feared that hard-line mosque members were behind the cancelation.

But at the synagogue the next morning, the mosque’s imam, Souleimane Konate, showed up to take part in Sabbath services, fulfilling his part in the weekend twinning arrangement the two congregations had planned together. Furthermore, Konate informed the West End congregants that his followers’ decision to disinvite them stemmed not from anger or hostility, but from fear.

“Immigration , what they are doing, is separating families,” Konate said. “We have many cases where a father has been deported leaving behind his wife and kids. We are not criminals. We are hard working people.”

Konate, a native of the Ivory Coast, explained that the majority of his 1,200-member congregation consists of immigrants from West Africa — many of whom are undocumented. The congregants include cab drivers and cart vendors who work tirelessly to send money back home to support their families and communities, he said. But many have had experiences with scam artists claiming to help with immigration paperwork. All of them have seen other members of the community deported, he said, resulting in distrust and fear of any outsider.

http://www.forward.com/articles/147046/

[LeftishBrit]

1. k&r

A very interesting story.