Concern, Though Hope And Prayers, For LI Islamic Center Congregation Where Vandal Scrawled Hateful Graffiti

SHIRLEY, NY — On Aug. 14, Imam Medhad Islam attended a happy event.

It was a wedding in Toronto.

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On his way back, while he was just about to catch a flight home to New York, he received a call from his safety officer, who stands guard at the site of his congregation's new Islamic Center on William Floyd Parkway in Shirley, during working hours.

At the site, piles of dirt can be seen from workers digging the foundation. Once complete, the site will give way to a mosque, community center, and parking lot.

It is cordoned off with chain-link fencing featuring several American flags and several banners with the words, "New Mosque, coming soon! Where faith and community come together."

The call from his safety officer that day was not a happy event.

It was to inform him that one of the banners announcing the center's construction on Tudor Road had been vandalized with graffiti."F--- Islam" was found scrawled across one of the banners, in an apparent affront to the Muslim congregation that the center would one day serve once complete.

The spiritual leader immediately called another board member who visited the site, and called Suffolk police to report the vandalism.

As news of the vandalism spread, Islam was flooded by calls.

"Even the governor called me yesterday and sent her condolences and words of support," he recalled.

Gov. Kathy Hochul, in post to X, called the vandalism "a vile, disturbing display of hate."

She went on to say that she is grateful to the police department for leading the investigation.

"Islamophobia has no place in New York — and it never will," she said.

The vandalism at the mosque was reported by a 911 caller on Aug. 16 at around 3:45 p.m., police said.

The department's Hate Crimes Unit is actively investigating the incident, and increased patrols will continue at the site on William Floyd Parkway, and at houses of worship throughout the county, a police spokesperson said Monday.

"People in Suffolk County should be able to practice their faith freely and safely, and the department is focused on apprehending the person or people responsible," the police department said in a statement.

County Executive Ed Romaine said the department is pursuing all leads."Hate has no place" in Suffolk, said Romaine, who joined the community in a rally pushing back against the vandalism.

The congregation has operated out of the Mastic-Shirley area since 2002, across the street from the construction site in a converted house.

There has never been vandalism at the mosque, but it's not the first time the Imam's congregation has been disturbed by the public.

Motorists on William Floyd Parkway will honk and yell out of the automobiles.

It is not uncommon, according to Islam, who grew up attending the mosque and has led the congregation since 2013.

"It happens once in a while, at least during Fridays or Ramadans, when there's some activity or some volume of people there," said Islam, who also reserves as the police department's chaplain.

Ramadan is the Muslim religion's high holy month marking the revelation of the Quran to the Prophet Muhammad and involves fasting from dawn until dusk, charity, and gathering to pray as a community.

"So what we do is that we gather every evening and we break our bread together because you fast the entire day," Islam explained.

The taunts happen when people drive by on the busy roadway.

"So, I guess, when they're speeding by, they say something, which we can't really tell what they say exactly. But it never escalated to, like, this level," he said.

It appears that the yelled taunts originate with random people and has never risen to the level of repeated harassment.

"We didn't really pay much attention to it," Islam said, but yes, at least a couple times a year, people do that. But it's not like an individual that's specifically constantly doing it. It doesn't seem like it anyways."

Islam says that he cannot be sure that the people are yelling to get a particular reaction.

"They're just doing it for themselves because, for the most part, people are inside the building; probably one or two people as they're coming in the building, they probably hear it," Islam said. "It's not really like for a specific purpose, I guess. Yeah, they just do it. Maybe they do it to other places too. I'm not like saying that it's isolated to us."

"Maybe I'm not sure, but we didn't really take it that seriously," he added.

The congregation has never filed a police report regarding the yelling.

Instead, their response has been prayer.

"I mean, we always pray for people who do wrong things for guidance, whether they're Muslim people or non-Muslim people," Islam said. "We pray for people to be guided in the right direction, not to hurt people, not to vandalize, not to do anything harmful to others."

"And we try to promote peace when we pray, but we, as Muslims, we're obligated to pray five times a day," he said. "So that's what the prayer I was referring to is our obligatory prayers."

"We pray across the entire day," he added.

But is there anything that can be taken from the recent incident?

Islam says there is.

Some have argued on social media that what was written was freedom of speech, a right upheld by the U.S. Constitution, which Islam supports.

"I'm totally for that," he said. "I enjoy the constitutional rights as much as I enjoy the freedom of religion. I enjoy the right of freedom of speech. However, vandalizing your freedom of speech on someone else's property — if I go to your house and write something or paint something on your house — that's not freedom of speech."

"That's a crime," he added.

The incident has caused Islam and his congregation to be concerned about the welfare of the children who attend.

"We have children," he said. "I myself, I am born here. My kids are born here, as well. They attend the mosque as well as attend the schools and the libraries of these communities: Mastic, Shirley, Mastic Beach, and Manorville. The congregation that we serve lives around these neighborhoods, and they come to the mosque, and they have various after-school programs and events."

The Islamic Center's leadership has now enhanced its security presence whenever they have prolonged services or events, "especially the ones that include children," Islam said, adding that they are increasing their physical security presence, "because we're afraid that someone might come to do harm to our congregants, especially women and children."

The vandalism has taught the congregation to persevere as they realize their dream of the new Islamic center.

"If anything, what this event highlighted is more of why we should continue the way we're continuing, because the level of support far exceeds the cost, which seems to be a lot on social media," Islam said. "However, the social media comments are far fewer than what the reality of the environment is."

The social media comments may be a couple of thousand, but the congregation has support from all over government, from the state to the local level.

"Where were the people that are commenting at the Board of Zoning Appeals hearing?" he said. "Where were they at the Town Board hearing? It was a public meeting. It was announced. No one showed up besides one or two direct neighbors that were concerned about parking."

Islam said the town officials would have loved to have heard their perspective. "Why do you think this mosque shouldn't be here? And you had the full right to come and oppose it," he said.

"You should have casted your vote, or made your statement, or whatever the process is. You had the right. Facebook is not the place."

"There's a system in place, and we all voted for this system to work this way," he said. "And if you're going to express your feelings on Facebook, hoping for a change, that's never going to happen."

The county's Crime Stoppers organization is offering a fast cash reward for information leading to an arrest in the case of the vandalism at the Islamic Center of Mastic and Shirley. Anyone with information is asked to call its confidential tip line at 1-800-220-TIPS.