A message from Imam Khalid Latif: 

As’salaamu alaykum, 

As we enter into the last nights of Ramadan, I’m reaching out to you to announce a new project that will be a huge milestone for our community: our own permanent space.   

If you've been around the IC the last couple of months, you've likely heard me mention that this was something in the works. Now more than ever it is crucial that we have spaces for our community that we own, operate, and run ourselves. The IC has played a vital role for so many alhamdulillah but New York City needs its own stand-alone Muslim institution in Manhattan and I believe we are poised to give it that inshallah.  

Post-COVID there are many large commercial spaces that are vacant throughout NYC.  We've looked at many of these around Washington Square Park, Union Square, and other areas nearby that range from 10,000 sq ft to 25,000 sq ft.  Alhamdulillah, some seem to meet our growing community's needs well and we anticipate moving forward on a location in the near future inshallah.  Our hope is to raise at least $5M in this first phase of fundraising inshallah.  I write to you on this blessed night to request your help in making this project a reality.  Please give what you can and share the link with others to encourage them to give as well.  Like many of our other initiatives, this space will function under its own non-profit. The Zakat Fund of NYC, officially registered as New York Zakat, Inc., will serve as a fiscal sponsor in the interim inshallah and will send tax receipts for all contributions made in this first phase of fundraising. 

Below you'll find more info on 

• How we will use the space
• Additional ways you can contribute (ie check, wire, corporate matching, etc.),
• different types of contributions, i.e., donations, Qardh al-hasan (interest-free loans to the project)

HOW WE WILL USE THE SPACE
We envision a center that will meet the growing needs of our community, its ever-increasing diversity, and demographic shifts. 

The number of Muslim students at NYU has gone up substantially in the last few years in addition to the number of college students from around NYC that use our center in lieu of their own facilities and programs on their campuses.  This number exists in the thousands and our facilities and spaces at NYU will continue to provide much-needed support on campus to them in addition to what the space will provide. 

Our non-student community has grown substantially as well in size and its own diversity. Out of ~30,000 visitors to the IC in the last couple of years:

1. 31.6% or about 9400 were 18 to 25
2. 27% or about 8000 were 26 to 30
3. 24.2% or about 7200 were 31 to 40
4. 17.2% or about 5400 were 41 and older.  
    

Keeping this in mind, we envision a space with the following usages: 

1. A large prayer space to accommodate our growing community needs for Jummah, Ramadan, Muharram, and other religious services
2. An extended co-working space with a cafe for those needing a place to do remote work
3. Programming and event space to enhance and offer more daily, weekly and monthly offerings as well as opportunities for community orgs to rent space for their own events
4. A gender-separated wellness center to provide opportunities for individual exercising and classes, counseling and group therapies, cupping, massages, and similar services.
5. Classroom space to provide weekend school activities to children and daily/weekly learning opportunities for all segments of the community
6. Office space for administrative staff as well as other community based organizations to help build more services for the community and greater cohesion and unity amongst different Muslim groups.

These spaces will allow for us to develop our programming and operations in many different areas including: 

• Added programming to focus on youth development, in particular teens and tweens, as well as the elderly
• Our convert care programming
• Programming focused on our adult community members, 30 and older, 40 and older, etc.
• Services to help meet the growing matrimonial needs of our community
• Networking opportunities within our professional community by industry as well as mentorship programming for our student community
• Enhanced spiritual and religious learning programming with dedicated teachers and structured curriculum
• Community service offerings and social service development
• Collaboration with other community-based organizations, civic engagement groups, and other like-minded NGOs
   

WAYS TO CONTRIBUTE
Like many of our other initiatives, this space will function under its own non-profit. The Zakat Fund of NYC will serve as a fiscal sponsor in the interim inshallah and will send tax receipts for all contributions made in this first phase of fundraising.  Outside of the launchgood, you can contribute through:  

1. Wire Transfer: if you are interested in this option, please contact Imam Khalid Latif at KL442@NYU.EDU and wire transfer information will be provided.    
    
2. Benevity: If your workplace uses Benevity for corporate giving, you can find both the Zakat Fund of NYC or New York Zakat, Inc. listed - each will take you to the same organization. You can pick the "Help Build Our Islamic Center" project and your employer may even match your donation, doubling or tripling its impact inshallah.
    
3. Check: checks can be made payable to our fiscal sponsor at  ‘New York Zakat, Inc.” and mailed to:  
   
   The Islamic Center at NYU  
   238 Thompson Street, rm 491
   NY, NY 10012    
    
4. Stock: If you are interested in a stock transfer, please contact Imam Khalid Latif at KL442@NYU.EDU  
    
5. Qard Al Hasan:  Qard hassan is a loan extended on a goodwill basis in which the borrower need only pay back the amount they borrowed, with no interest. If you are interested in making a contribution in this regard, please contact Imam Khalid Latif at KL442@NYU.EDU
    

I've been blessed to serve our Islamic Center community in my capacity as chaplain and executive director since 2005.  Prior to that I did my undergrad at NYU from 2000 to 2004.  What started with dozens of us is now in the tens of thousands alhamdulillah.  Not a week goes by without multiple people taking their shahada at the IC.  We've helped raise millions of dollars to assist people in need around the world.  Our community growth has included the development of a domestic violence agency and shelter for survivors of abuse, a robust weekend school for children, a charitable fund that channels zakat to serving families in need in our community, and so much more.  Our students are graduating with a strong connection to their Islam and going into the workforce proud to be Muslim. We've been a consistent voice on numerous media platforms, received awards of all kinds and throughout it all have provided consistent community and space for so many.  If you've been to iftars or any of our Ramadan programming you have likely seen the rooms filled to capacity.  Jummah has been overflowing to multiple rooms for years.  In a city and society that is quite hard to be Muslim, so many of us have been blessed to find a connection to Allah and to each other at the IC.  Imagine what we could do if we had a space of our own.   

Please do give what you can and keep this project, our community, and each other in your prayers, especially in these blessed days and nights of Ramadan.  May Allah grant us success and ease in this and all of our endeavors, be pleased with this effort and put khayr into it, and help us to build with courage, foresight, love, hope, and all things that are good.  Ameen. 

I'm grateful for each of you and am looking forward to building this with you all for us and for all those who will come after us. May Allah accept.  Ameen ❤️

- Khalid