Scoutmaster Salih Abdur-Rahman talks to scouts at a recent meeting. Tyrill Hart (left), Cub Scout leader for the troop, looks on. (Photo by Andrew Keshner)

A Harlem Boy Scout troop that has been meeting at an Islamic mosque since 1978 is planning to reach outside its walls to bring in new recruits.

Convening weekly at the Mosque of Islamic Brotherhood, the ranks of Boy Scout Troop 357 are filled with children who have some tie to the religious center, either as members or as relatives of people associated with the mosque. The troop’s scoutmasters and committee leaders all grew up in the mosque. But the group’s makeup could soon change as leaders plan their first concerted outreach to bring in members of all faiths. “We believe we can benefit everybody and not just Muslims,” said Scoutmaster Salih Abdur-Rahman, a member of the unit when he was growing up.

Troop 357, meeting at the mosque on 113th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, has about 20 members, with some people coming from the Bronx, Brooklyn and New Jersey. The troop is trying to roughly double its ranks with efforts that will start in the next several weeks. This will include going door to door with flyers, speaking at local public schools and encouraging current members to bring friends, said Abdur-Rahman. The outreach highlights a local demographic shift as fewer large families live in the neighborhood, compared to years ago, say troop leaders. So apart from trying to strengthen ties with local non-Muslims, the outreach is also an effort to hold onto a local program that emphasizes lessons of discipline, responsibility and respect.

Boy Scout participation is up citywide. About 590 units serve 52,000 children in the five boroughs. Recruitment of new members has been up by 30 percent compared to last year, said Ron Timmons, director of field services for Greater New York Council, Boy Scouts of America. Explaining the increase, he believed that the recession was prompting more families to look for cost-effective activities that taught important ideals — values like the Boy Scout’s 12 characteristics of being trustworthy, loyal, helpful, friendly, courteous, kind, obedient, cheerful, thrifty, brave, clean and reverent. Timmons also credited a strong recruiting effort at public and private schools, along with a 16-month advertising campaign.

Troop 357 leaders hope they can find that same enthusiasm in Harlem as they begin the outreach but Abdur-Rahman said there could be some challenges in persuading children to choose Boy Scouts over, say, basketball camp. The recruiting effort will focus on younger children instead of teenagers, who are less likely to stick with the program, but that would also mean more parent involvement, which can be difficult to get sometimes. And, Abdur-Rahman acknowledged, there could still be lingering discomfort over the troop’s ties to the mosque or hesitancy over cultural differences, like having to take off shoes before entering the mosque’s prayer room. Still, he believed there were enough local open-minded people and he was optimistic about the chances of bringing in more people.

This is a big step out for a troop that’s been long-identified as a Muslim troop. Troop 357 was founded in 1978 and once produced an Eagle Scout and a successful rowing team, according to the mosque’s website. It remained active until the early 1990s before falling dormant for several years, said Abdur-Rahman. After a brief stretch of activity in the mid-90s, the troop again lapsed to inactivity before being revived by former members four or five years ago. Tyrill Hart, Cub Scout leader, said this reflected lessons learned early on from mosque leaders. “That was instilled in us from childhood: Give back what we’ve learned, plus take it to another level,” he said.

Troop 357 members do push-ups at the start of their weekly meeting. (Photo by Andrew Keshner)

Abdur-Rahman, a 30-year-old emergency medical technician and former marine, said current scouts would one day feel the same way as the current leaders. “When they get older, something’s going to bring them back,” he said.

That pull was apparent at a recent meeting on a quiet Sunday morning. Scouts and troop leaders met at the mosque’s front steps, making some small talk and tossing a baseball before going upstairs. The scouts started with push-ups, sit-ups, leg-lifts and march instructions before getting to the planning. Plans for camping and paintball excursions were brewing while best rope-tying methods were discussed.

The meeting ended with cake and ice cream for a member moving out of the neighborhood. Hasan Rasheed, 16, joined three or four years ago. He says the camping skills he learned, such as packing a lot of clean socks, prevented him from catching pneumonia during a summer trip to Colombia with another organization over the summer. But Rasheed valued the troop, apart from the lesson on the importance of dry clothing. “It’s just a community. Overall, a real close community. I find it pulls everybody together,” he said. Likewise, Jabbar Anderson, a 14-year-old scout who’s been with the troop for around five years, said, “It’s not that big, so we’re like tight-knit and close together.”

Abdur-Rahman’s younger brother, Umar, 16, travels from Teaneck, N.J., to attend meetings. Now a scout like his big brother, Umar plans to also get involved as a troop leader one day. “He always used to say Boy Scouts was fun and real family,” Umar said between forkfuls of cake. “I wanted to have that.”