My First Trip To New York – Pt. 2 of 5 – Diversion to New Jersey
Arrival, First NY Experience
After landing, I got picked up by Abdullah Ahmed, great guy who I met at ISNA, and Maulana AbdulNasir himself. Abdullah’s ride was a Toyota Prius that carried Yasir Qadhi’s Light of Guidance and empty sprinkler system boxes. Sounds exotic, but really it was pretty standard stuff.
This thing can do wheelies.
Immediately upon pickup they took me right into the heart of a New York experience. The areas surrounding the city were like a scene out of Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles the movie.
Super old buildings, packed houses with lawns smaller than a lawn mower, ads painting on the sides of apartment complexes. People from all sorts of backgrounds. White people were hard to find.
And Muslims. Man. They were everywhere.
Bearded men in kurtas, cabbies (of course), aunties wearing shalwar kameez, girls in hijab. It was like Devon Street on north side of Chicago or Surrey Drive in Glen Ellyn, IL, only on a much larger scale. Because in Chicago, you stick out walking around looking Muslim in most areas. But in many areas around New York, you’re a commoner. All I could think about was how 9/11 must have been in the city with so many Muslims around.
After making us listen some peculiar Yasir Qadhi sessions he recorded on his iPhone at ISNA, Abdullah was craving Chinese so we hit up Fatima’s Halal Kitchen in Astoria, NY.
When letters in the awning and neon sign are dim, you know it’s good food.
I know what you’re thinking, Halal Chinese is usually Desi operated and doesn’t cut it. But this was owned by Chinese Muslims. So it was game over, especially with the General Tso’s chicken ordered extra sweet, extra crispy.
Diversion to New Jersey
Once lunch finished, we had to bounce to what many people claim is the worst place in the universe: New Jersey. Read more »
