Hawzah News Agency (Connecticut , US) -In the basement of the Bridgeport Islamic Community Center, several senior citizens from the Watermark Retirement Community are having lunch with members of the center, talking while sharing hummus and falafel.

The senior citizens were invited to visit the center and had just seen their first Jumu’ah service, which are the weekly Friday prayers, spoken first in Arabic, and then in English. Imam Mohamed Abdelati explains the message of his sermon: mercy.

“Mercy for not just for all mankind, mercy for all of the living beings.”

 The Islamic Community Center purchased the United Congregational Church in May. Since then, the building has gone through many changes. There are racks to place your shoes before you enter the sanctuary. The pews are all gone, but there are some benches left in the back, which the senior citizens sat. The pulpit and altar are gone, leaving an empty space in the front of the room. But on the left, there is a minbar, where the Imam delivers the Friday sermon, and the mihrab, which is the niche in the wall pointing to Mecca. The carpet has been replaced with specialized prayer rug patterns, designed with niches pointing towards Mecca.

Barbara Bodine, a former member of the United Congregational Church, went with the group not only to visit her first Jumu’ah service but to see how much the building had changed since she left.

“It’s a totally, totally different configuration of everything.”

Imam Mohamed Abdelati is happy to have visitors to the center and challenge stereotypes people may have about Islam.

“An idea about Islam from the people are ‘terrorist,’ ‘the terrorism.’ But when you open your door and the people will see your reality, so, ‘I cannot see any kind of terrorist,’ you know? So the people coming, and praying and enjoying and go home… this is just the fact.”

Abdelati says that they have been very well-received by the community, and are taking more steps to attract more Muslims and non-Muslims to the center.

A sign affixed to the gate welcomes visitors to the center.

 “It’s not a place to worship God, it’s a center. It’s a community gathering, it’s a lot of different activities. It has classes, it has offices, it has social room. There’s activities for youth, for children, for adult. So, it’s a little bit different from the past, that’s why it takes time.

Abdelati wants to continue to invite groups like the senior citizens to the center. Many of them say they will visit again.

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