The MAS Youth Center is located on Bath Ave.
On the corner of Bath Avenue and Bay 22nd Street, across the street from a Peruvian restaurant and a cultural myriad of other businesses, sits the Muslim American Society (MAS) Youth Center. The MAS Youth Center, and other institutions like it, represent the Muslim community’s growth in the Bensonhurst section of Brooklyn. Mosques are quite central to the life of many Muslims in the community as they attempt to attend prayers throughout the day or week. It is also the place parents send their children for religious education and a social life in a Muslim circle.
In an attempt to help the youth fight outside pressures that may stray them away from their faith, many organizations have formed and centers have been established to serve the Muslim community in Bensonhurst and provide a space for youth to grow up both Muslim and American. Daily prayers and weekly events help the members of the community stay in touch with their religion. The MAS youth center teaches Arabic and the Quran to the children. Additionally, the center offers self-defense classes, holds regular Friday night bowling parties, and organizes several other events that engage Muslim youth. The center also holds yearly Eid prayers at Bensonhurst Park which are attended by Muslims from several cultural backgrounds. It attempts to provide a place that makes Islam available to the youth, when otherwise Islam might seem too rigid. In an interview, Rami Kawas, one of the youth leaders, said that “You won’t go to a Friday sermon at 90% of mosques where they might talk about `Call of Duty,’ or XBox, or PlayStation, but you have to appeal to those kinds of people.” “Those kinds of people” are today’s youth and the center does its best to show that Islam is for them. This is much needed for many of the youth who feel that religion is not for them in this country and that other activities are more fun than an afternoon at the mosque.
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- A look into the prayer area of the MAS Youth Center
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- The prayer area of the MAS Youth Center
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- MAS Youth Center’s Welcome Ramadan Street Fair flyers displayed in multiple businesses
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- Event fliers on the MAS Youth Center bulletin Board in the lobby
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- Bulletin board gallery of youth programs
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- Children’s bulletin board outside classrooms
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- The door of a classroom peppered with reminders
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- Arabic newspapers for the community in the lobby of the MAS Youth Center
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- Charity boxes for donations in the lobby of the MAS Youth Center
Kawas says that a major concern of Muslim adults and youth alike is the question of “how do we establish a Muslim community in America, who are we as Muslims, what are the principles of our religion, and how do we implement them in America.” This is a question other religious communities have faced, and it is one that the Muslim community of Bensonhurst has resolved to some degree. After 9/11, holding onto the religion became harder than ever, and communities like these help the youth rediscover Islam. Kawas says that for the youth, religion may be even more important than it is for their parents because they’ve chosen it.
