Muslim

Muslim Syracuse residents reflect on returning to a country more divided after taking the hajj to Mecca
By Alexis Jones
September 27, 2017 - 9:49pm
After taking the hajj, one of the five pillars of Islam, Syracuse Muslims describe how they feel about the United States' current political climate and the American Dream.

Amina Foco was standing at a cashier’s desk in a Saudi Arabian mall when the gates of the store came falling down suddenly. The strangers to her left and right stopped what they were doing and everyone in the mall began to form lines.

The call for prayer had just gone off during Foco's trip to the mall in between the prayers and activites scheduled during her pilgrimage to Mecca, which Muslims call the hajj.

Syracuse University student reported harassment for being Muslim
By Ellen Meyers
February 13, 2017 - 11:15am
The student's roommate allegedly tore up a Koran and played KKK speeches, forcing her to leave campus.

A Syracuse University student reported being harassed by her roommate for being Muslim to the point where she had to leave campus. 

Born and bred in Syracuse, Mark Muhammad hopes to make impact as school board member
By Tyler Piccotti
April 2, 2015 - 10:29am
Muhammad is familiar with the conditions of public schools and has close ties to the greater Syracuse community.

When Mark Muhammad was a young child, his father would drive him and other children around local neighborhoods in a garbage truck belonging to the Syracuse Department of Public Works. They took rakes, shovels and brooms and went to work cleaning up the clutter that lay on city streets.

But after a month went by and the mess returned, Muhammad would get frustrated and ask why they were doing it. No one else was out cleaning, and he couldn’t stand the work in the first place.

Muslim speaker advocates broadening society perspective on Islamic religion
By Chanelle Grannum
April 24, 2011 - 2:38pm
Imam Khalid says old Islamic traditions need to change in order to redefine the way society sees Muslims.

Isam Khalid, NYPD Chaplin and Executive Director of the Islamic Center at NYU, first reflected on his experience as a Muslim growing up as he spoke at Maxwell Auditorium. Khalid encouraged the current generation of Muslims to create a new narrative for themselves today that are not based on those traditions of their parents and grandparents.

“The narrative that exists now around Islam equates us to something that existed thousands of years ago,” Khalid said. “It is not society that doesn’t welcome us, we don’t know how to reach out to society.”

Perceptions of Islam
By Victoria Marlin
June 2, 2010 - 10:17pm
Three women share their experiences with Islam at Syracuse University.

On Sept. 11, 2001, Magda Bayoumi tried to reach her husband for more than five hours. He worked near the World Trade Center, and his job often took him inside the Twin Towers. When Bayoumi finally connected to him, she said he was hysterical.

"They’re not there anymore,” he said, screaming. “They are not there. I’m looking at them, and they’re not there.”