Messages of support

To the members of the ICLI,

Congratulations on your wonderful dinner!

Your commitment to the community and the families that you serve is truly inspiring. Your message of hope, tolerance, understanding and faith represent and promote essential components of our society and, for that, I am most grateful.

Thanks again for all the good work you do year round. Please keep it up!

Your friend,

Michael Balboni

ICLI Annual Report 1433AH / 2012AD ICLI Annual Report 1433AH / 2012AD ICLI Annual Report 1433AH / 2012AD ICLI Annual Report 1433AH / 2012AD THE LONG ISLAND COUNCIL OF CHURCHES

The Rev. Thomas W. Goodhue Executive Director

Bismillah Arahman Nir Raheem, Assalam Alaikum,

Congratulations to ICLI on this great event--and thanks for all the good work that you do in the community.

The Islamic Center of Long Island is has done an extraordinary job of helping Muslims and nonMuslims to see the light from each other’s lamps, welcoming visitors of other faiths into your worship and sending out your members to help the rest of us to better understand Islam and our Muslim neighbors. My hope and prayer is that we will move from learning about one another to learning from one another.

I have long thought, for example, that Allahu akbar means “God is great.” This, I assumed, was more or less the same as when Christians say, “God is good—all the time.” Recently I learned from James Carroll’s book Jerusalem, Jerusalem that a more accurate translation might be “God is greater,” greater than any conception we have of our Creator. Now, when I hear Allahu akbar, I am reminded that whatever I think I know about God may not be entirely right. And that, I suspect, is the sort of humility that the Almighty longs for us to have.

May God continue to bless ICLI!

Salaam,

The Rev. Thomas W. Goodhue

1644 Denton Green, Hempstead, New York 11550 (516) 565-0290 407 Osborne Avenue, Riverhead, New York 11901 (631) 727-2210 tomgoodhue@optonline.net (516) 565-0291 (Fax)

CLI Annual Report 1428AH / 2007AD

Dear Friends,

Peace be with you. Once again it is that time of year and once again I am honored to be asked to contribute to the annual journal for the Islamic Center of Long Island. It has indeed been a year of great accomplishments as well as great challenges for those of us who represent the progressive and prophetic voices of faith and as I have had the pleasure to work side by side with ICLI members and leaders in educational, outreach and advocacy efforts, I continue to be grateful for your courage, your witness and all that you do for this community that we share.

I recently read a series of essays entitled “A Common W ord: Muslims and Christians on Loving God and Neighbor,” which contained works by Muslim and Christian scholars and theologians writing eloquently about the common themes of our respective faiths, love of and submission to a merciful and compassionate God, and obedience to God’s commandment that we love one another in the ways we live our lives every day. I could not help but think as I read the inspiring and thoughtful essays about how much the members of ICLI have illustrated those themes in all that you do and how powerfully and effectively your work has inspired so many of us, of every faith, in our efforts to live according to God’s will, however we understand it, in harmony and respect with our neighbors.

Of course there is a great deal of work yet to be done, and many challenges to overcome. As we of the Interfaith Alliance of Long Island rejoice with you and celebrate the years’ good work, we look forward as well to the future, confident that together we can continue to defeat the fear, suspicion and prejudices that threaten the religious and civil liberties of people of the Islamic faith, and which diminish the promise of America for us all. Together, we will continue to make sure that this nation we love remains a beacon of hope for all people and that Long Island in particular, remains an example of what can be when people of faith and good will work together for the good of all.

I look forward to being with you for this momentous occasion. May God’s blessings be upon you and grant you success and growth in the year to come.

Grace and Peace to You,

The Rev. Mark J. Lukens, O.C.C. Chair, The Interfaith Alliance, LI Chapter

Los Angeles 3010 Wilshire Boulevard, # 217 Los Angeles, California 90010 (213) 383-3443 Fax (213) 383-9674 e-mail: info@mpac.org Washington, D.C. 110 Maryland Ave., N.E. Suite # 210 Washington, D.C., 20002 (202) 547-7701 Fax (202)547-7704 Website: www.mpac.org

Prof. Faroque Khan, MB, MACP Islamic Center of Long Island 835 Brush Hollow Rd Westbury, NY 11590

Dear Dr. Khan,

I am writing this letter in support of the Islamic Center of Long Island (ICLI) as an American institution that has promoted the much-needed voice of moderation in our religious pluralism. Amidst the unfortunate negative news surrounding religion in general and Islam in particular, the ICLI has stood out as a positive, radiating light for interfaith understanding, civic engagement, and humanitarian activism.

I have traveled throughout the United States and have visited several Islamic centers. The ICLI is place for the faithful to pray and congregate for religious services, and it is also a community center for the broader community of Long Island. The ICLI is an open institution, available for dialogue and cooperation with any group. I have known leaders from ICLI that have been forces for peacemaking during contentious times.

The ICLI has been a beacon of hope during dark times of crisis. Its expansion is a benefit to all of us as Americans, whether we are Jews or Christians or Muslims, whether we adhere to a faith or not. The ICLI values the value of humanity and is a center that welcomes all human beings, applying the principle in the following verse of the Quran: O humanity, you have been created from a single pair, a male and a female, and created into different nations and different tribes, so that you may get to know one another…(49:13).

The ICLI is a place for increasing knowledge in religion and the humanities. The ICLI is a place for increasing the bonds of citizenship and human relations. I wholeheartedly support its continuing work and expansion.

Sincerely,

Salam Al-Marayati President