{"id":347308,"date":"2026-09-15T12:50:10","date_gmt":"2026-09-15T12:50:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/347308\/"},"modified":"2026-09-15T12:50:10","modified_gmt":"2026-09-15T12:50:10","slug":"new-mosque-community-center-opens-on-staten-islands-south-shore","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/347308\/","title":{"rendered":"New mosque, community center opens on Staten Island\u2019s South Shore"},"content":{"rendered":"

STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 A new mosque and community center opened Saturday in Huguenot, bringing accessible worship to the rapidly growing Muslim population on the South Shore and programs to the community at large.<\/p>\n

The Muslim American Society (MAS) held a grand opening event at the Huguenot Avenue location, its secondIsland location, on Saturday, drawing approximately 200 attendees to the facility that was converted from a former New York Public Library building on Huguenot Avenue, near the Huguenot station of the Staten Island Railway.<\/p>\n

The new center addresses a critical need for local Muslim residents who previously traveled to the nearest mosque in Dongan Hills for worship, religious education and community programs, said Abdullah Akl, political and public affairs director for the Muslim American Society.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn the Huguenot area, we realized that a lot of them were taking 20- to 25-minute drives all the way to Dongan Hills because that was their nearest mosque,\u201d said Akl. <\/p>\n

The Muslim American Society is a national organization with more than 50 chapters across the country. Its New York chapter now operates seven centers across New York City.<\/p>\n

The first Staten Island center, located on Burger Avenue, has served the community for 10 to 15 years and is scheduled for its own grand re-opening next month following recent construction, Akl said.<\/p>\n

Beyond serving as a place of worship, the new Huguenot facility will offer programs to all residents regardless of religious affiliation, Akl said. The center will feature karate and soccer programs, mid-week and weekend activities and a weekly food pantry.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe biggest thing is it\u2019s not just a mosque,\u201d Akl said. \u201cAll of our programs will be open to everyone, just like they are at our other location on Burger,\u201d Akl confirmed. \u201cAll of our programs … folks that are Muslim or folks that aren\u2019t are more than welcome to come.\u201d<\/p>\n

The organization is also developing literacy and reading programs in collaboration with the Huguenot branch of the NYPL, reflecting a cooperative relationship that began during the building\u2019s transition, he said.<\/p>\n

When the library experienced delays moving out of the building, MAS accommodated them by allowing them to remain operational until their new location opened just weeks ago, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was really important for us that the community had a library that was open and functioning before we actually opened here,\u201d Akl said.<\/p>\n

\"Mosque\"A new Muslim American Society mosque and community center opened on Huguenot Avenue Saturday, bringing with it worship opportunities for Muslims and programming for the entire community. (Dennis Rees for the Staten Island Advance)<\/p>\n

The new facility, which has an official capacity of 300 people, is expected to serve between 250 and 300 congregants initially. The building, acquired approximately one year ago, required about two months of renovations to convert it into a functioning mosque, including removing library shelving, cleaning, and installing carpet, Akl said. Future plans include updating bathrooms and infrastructure.<\/p>\n

The center will be open Monday through Sunday, with Friday at noon serving as the main weekly prayer time, similar to Sunday services Christians participate in, he said. Muslims pray five times daily, and the building will accommodate these prayers throughout the week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Muslim population has grown exponentially on Staten Island,\u201d Akl said. \u201cOur community centers are not able to accommodate the amount of people who are coming.\u201d<\/p>\n

The demand is evident in the organization\u2019s existing programs, he said. \u201cEven our food pantry \u2014 we run out of food every single week.\u201d<\/p>\n

Residents can find information about programs and activities at massic.org.<\/a> <\/p>\n

\"MosqueA new mosque and community center opened in Huguenot Saturday, bringing with it worship and community services to the South Shore. Here, a sign directs residents to the new location of the Huguenot branch of the New York Public Library, which formerly occupied the space. (Dennis Rees for the Staten Island Advance)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. \u2014 A new mosque and community center opened Saturday in Huguenot, bringing accessible worship to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":347309,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,8676,5514,9,24,63],"class_list":["post-347308","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-coronavirus","tag-covid-19","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347308","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=347308"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/347308\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/347309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=347308"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=347308"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=347308"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}