During Ramadan, a lot of Muslim refugees look forward to Iftar, the meal they eat to break their fast. Right now, a lot of Muslim immigrants are coming to New York City, and people are looking for ways to help them find places to live.
In the Bronx, an imam has changed a brick house into a home that houses his mosque and a place for migrants to stay the night. As the population grows and people look for places to live, Islamic organizations can’t handle the number of people who are moving in.
There are many churches and centers in the area that have opened their doors to these migrants. They are giving newcomers a place to stay so they don’t have to sleep on the streets, which is where most of them would be without these places. Muslim leaders have been begging for money, food, clothes, and donations.
Sanogo, who is an assistant imam at Harlem’s Masjid Aqsa-Salam, said, “We’re doing what we can do, but we can’t do everything.” In short, that’s it.” “These brothers, they don’t eat enough,” he said. When they get here, they’re hungry. Could you picture it? Very hungry. In the United States.”
Imam Omar Niass runs a mosque in the Bronx that houses refugees. Niass has said that it’s the least he can do. He has to pay thousands of dollars in water and power bills, though, and it’s getting too much for him to handle.
“In our culture, you can’t turn away people who come to the mosque,” says Niass. People keep coming to us because they have nowhere else to go. They stay if they come. We feed them and help them in any way we can.
A lot more people are coming to New York to seek refuge, so the number of migrants has gone through the roof. There are almost 300 mosques, and since they are the first place Muslim immigrants go, they have seen the influx directly.
