A public celebration of Eid al-Adha, a holiday marking the end of the lunar year and time of pilgrimage in Islam, drew at least 70 Muslims for the first time to Agawam Park from near and far — the East End, central Suffolk, New York City, Miami, Dubai, and even a family who had just stepped off a plane from Nepal a day prior.
On that bright, sunny Saturday morning, the imam, Ahmed Essam Ibrahim, who had traveled from St. James, led prayers and offered a spirited speech about the holiday. It honors the Islamic prophet Ibrahim’s willingness to sacrifice his son at the command of Allah — a sacrifice that did not come to pass, as Allah then provided Ibrahim with a lamb to slaughter instead. Eid is the time when, if possible, Muslims make pilgrimage to Mecca — one of the Five Pillars of Islam.
The celebration on July 9 was organized by the Islamic Center of the Hamptons, a relatively new community of Muslims who come together for prayers and ceremonies. Once a small collective that started gathering in people’s houses, the group now meets at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the South Fork in Bridgehampton on Friday evenings and holidays.
The group came together a few years ago when Dr. Asma Rashid of Southampton, whose practice is Hamptons Boutique Medicine, realized that Muslims here had often been traveling far away — St. James, Selden, Ronkonkoma, Huntington — to practice their religion. She and her husband, Dr. James Groff, a trauma surgeon, were new parents who wanted to raise their children in the Islamic faith.
“Why do we have to drive an hour to do our prayers? Why can’t we have something here?” Dr. Rashid said in an interview. “Awakening as a new parent, we started scrambling around to create something. We located a few other families who were nearby — newcomers from the city and people who have been here for years. . . . There is a community, there just needed to be someone to facilitate it.”
Now, Islamic centers from all over take turns sending their leaders to Bridgehampton. Businesses such as Gurney’s give their Muslim employees time off for the prayers. Future plans include regular Quranic studies. The group is grateful to the Unitarian congregation for opening its doors to them, starting with an interfaith Iftar in April this year at the conclusion of Ramadan, a holiday for which Muslims fast for a month.
Dr. Rashid said that there is a clear path forward for the Islamic Center of the Hamptons, starting with the simple question she asked out loud: “How can we make this happen?”
“I was not raised to believe in a limit,” she said. “I was raised to know there are possibilities — you just have to speak up and ask. All you have to do is educate people on your similarities and differences. We don’t see race, color, or religion, we see just peace, harmony, and getting along.”
The imam himself, for whom the July 9 celebration was his first time in Southampton, was pleasantly surprised to see so many people attend. He had been expecting maybe 15 to 20. “They really showed up, and really, really did it with passion showing that we are proud to be Muslim in America,” he said. “Happiness happened — it really affected me. I didn’t expect it, but I found it.”
Then there was the food — a traditional brunch featuring savory, spicy, and sweet dishes. Dr. Rashid’s father, Abdul Rashid, who is a private chef in Miami, and Salim Khan, a high-end chef who lives in Dubai, cooked it themselves. Later, after the celebration at the park ended, many traveled to a farm in Manorville that raises livestock specifically to adhere to the dietary needs of certain religions. There, a lamb was sacrificed according to the tradition of Eid al-Adha. Its meat was then shared among family members as well as donated to charitable causes to benefit the poor.
Dr. Rashid pointed out that there are quite a few similarities between Islam and the other Abrahamic faiths, Christianity and Judaism. “All these stories are all the same — parts of the Old Testament, the New Testament, the Last Testament.”
Dr. Cean Mahmud of Yaphank, a physician with Northwell Health, said public celebrations like the one for Eid become a way to get involved with the community and interact with people in other religions.
“There is a growing community of Muslims on eastern Long Island,” he said. “This is a stepping stone, and as the imam was saying, the first Eid celebration in the Hamptons is the first of many, and we’re happy to be a part of it.”
