Imam Shamsi Ali on a workday, clean shaven and wearing a suit. (Photo by Hani Yousuf)

Imam Shamsi Ali sits with his group of three students in the main prayer hall of the mosque at 96th Street and Third Avenue, officially the Islamic Cultural Center of New York. Recent converts to Islam, the students attend the imam’s Saturday lectures on subjects ranging from prayer rituals to looking beyond the Quranic text to its essential meaning. The class is informal: students get to ask questions during and after it, and Ali smiles a lot. He makes references to Paris Hilton and Britney Spears.

“What happened?” he calls across the hall when a student hurriedly walks out just after coming in. He has accidentally brought shoes into the prayer hall, not allowed in a mosque. Allah always forgives mistakes, Ali says with a smile.

Imam Shamsi Ali wears a suit and has no beard. He doesn’t conform to the stereotype of a Muslim cleric and doesn’t feel he needs to dress the part. Robes and a long beard are not necessary criteria for being a good Muslim, he says. He has a slight build and calm voice, speaking clearly and articulately despite the accent and grammar of one who is not a native English speaker.

Named one of the city’s “influentials” by New York Magazine in May 2006, he is best known for his efforts towards interfaith harmony. “He’s soft spoken but projects this moral force,” says Walter Ruby, Muslim-—Jewish program officer at the Foundation for Ethnic Understanding, who has worked with Ali on interfaith relations.

For two years, since his predecessor retired, Ali has led this mosque, overseeing everything from cleaning to settling religious issues. He has modernized the mosque’s communications by encouraging email use and has placed stricter rules around distributing zakat, a charity all Muslims are required to contribute to. He was also instrumental in planning an Islamic school, Manhattan’s first, scheduled to begin next fall.

Ali is an unconventional Muslim cleric. Unlike many other imams, he doesn’t consider music unIslamic. He doesn’t believe women need to cover their faces and thinks they should have roles equal to men, in religion and otherwise.

The imam dressed to lead prayer. (Photo by Hani Yousuf)

Ali believes that American Muslims should have an identity of their own rather than trying to adopt their parents’.

“I personally am in the view that we must create our own identity as a community,” says Ali. “ So, I want to see in the future American Muslims that identify themselves as Muslims and Americans; in other words they are not forced into certain identity as Pakistanis or Bangladeshis or Africans or Arabs.” He adds that he wants the Muslim community in New York to be very “advanced” socially, culturally, educationally and politically.

Born in Indonesia, Ali went to an Islamic boarding school there. It was unlike madrassahs elsewhere in the Muslim world, he emphasized; his school required biology and history along with Islam, he says. After graduating, he attended the International Islamic University in Islamabad, Pakistan, then located at Shah Faisal Mosque, considered the country’s most beautiful. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Islamic education, then went to Saudi Arabia to teach. In 1996, he came to the US with the permanent mission to Indonesia for the UN and led a small mosque for Indonesian Muslims in Astoria, Queens.

“September 11 then gave me even more opportunities to reach out,” says Ali, speaking in his spartan office in the mosque. “I represented the Muslim community at the Yankee Stadium’s Prayer for America weeks after September 11.” One of two Muslims who received President George W. Bush at Ground Zero, Ali told the president the terrorists did not represent the Muslim faith, but their own “ego.”

And after that he was everywhere, Ali says, lecturing at universities, speaking to the FBI and police officials, appearing in synagogues and churches. He believes such efforts landed him the job of assistant imam at the Islamic Cultural Center of New York, where he has organized many seminars and talks with rabbis and priests.

Last year, Rabbi Michael Weisser invited Ali to be the guest speaker at the Free Synagogue of Flushing on Holocaust Memorial Day, which takes place each year after Passover. Since then, Weisser says, he has spoken at the mosque after Friday prayers and the two have participated in prayer together at both the mosque and the synagogue. “He’s a shining light on the world,” says Weisser. “He sees the truth and then speaks the truth.”

Weisser calls Ali an inspiration not only to Muslims, but to Jews and Christians as well. “I introduce him to people as my rabbi,” says Weisser laughing and adds that Ali introduces him as his imam.

Ruby, from the Foundation of Ethnic Understanding, says Ali is a “very impressive guy.” While many Muslims have denounced terrorism, says Ruby, Ali is especially outspoken — despite the criticism he’s encountered from within the Muslim community.

“We organized a two-day seminar on what the holy book says about the others,” says Ali. “The Quran is very critical of the Jews and Christians and how should Muslims understand those verses that talk about the Jews and Christians? And in the meantime, we must maintain our relationship with the Jewish community and the Christian community.”

Bishop Ebony Kirkland of the Church of the Living God Worldwide in Queens Village, Queens, has been involved with Ali, since he spoke at an interfaith dialogue at the church. During a debate about which religion was right, she was struck by the imam’s statement that, “ There is really no absolute, the only absolute is God.”

“He has a peace that passes all understanding,” she says, referring to his calm manner. “He teaches in such a spirited way,” Kirkland adds. “There is such an ease of learning from him.”

Ali has also recently received the Prince Naif award, given by a Saudi official for intereligious harmony.

To help Muslim immigrants in the U.S. better assimilate, Ali organizes Thanksgiving celebrations every year and has been very involved with the Muslim Day Parade, which he sees as an opportunity for integration. “Get from the city and give back to the city,” says Ali. The parade, which usually takes place in early fall, proceeds down Madison Avenue, from 42nd Street to 24th, followed by bazaars and cultural shows.

Though orthodox Muslims consider music unlawful, Ali has brought children from the Indonesian community school in Astoria, Queens to perform Islamic songs at the post-parade celebrations.

“Some imams talked,” says Ali. “But they didn’t talk directly to me. Probably they know that when they talk to me, I will make them understand.”

His own colleague at the 96th Street mosque, Assistant Imam Abdul Rehman, thinks music is unacceptable.

Ali leading prayer at the 96th Street mosque. (Photo by Hani Yousuf)

“For me music is a neutral thing,” Ali responds. “Depends on what kind of music you’re talking about. And for which purpose you are using it. And so, if music is used for Islamic song where you are reminded of God and Islam, then what is wrong to use the music?”

He adds, smiling, that he has watched disapproving imams’ faces during the singing and they seem to be enjoying it.

As for the practice of women covering their faces, Ali agrees with the controversial Egyptian scholars who deem it more cultural than religiously required. “I see it as sometimes kind of embarrassing when I see a woman walking on the street covering her face,” says Ali. “People tend to say, ‘This is the way Muslims treat their women, covered from head to toe. They cannot move.’ This is not what Islam is about.” Though the niqab veil is regarded as a sign of modesty, Ali sees it differently. A veiled woman walking in Time’s Square will get stared at, rather than avert attention, he says.

Further, women with covered faces can’t participate in the mosque and its affairs as much as he thinks they should. While he doesn’t think women should lead prayer, which hasn’t been done traditionally, he believes women can lead other mosque activities.

He does believe that women’s covering their heads is essential to modesty but also sees it as a choice which shouldn’t be imposed.

This has brought critics within the community, including a widespread rumor that he once tried to convince a woman to have an abortion, considered a sin by orthodox Muslims.

Ali says he doesn’t remember such an incident, but that Islam is flexible on that issue, given the circumstances. In the case of teenage pregnancies or when there is a threat to a pregnant woman’s life, the religious leader needs to be wise and flexible while advising someone, he says.

The Islamic Thinkers Society, an Islamic advocacy group, has posted Ali’s picture circled in red, with a caption that reads “FBI Mouthpiece.” The site denounces him as a hypocrite and criticizes him for bringing music into the Indonesian mosque he leads in Queens and for allowing the “free-mixing” of the sexes. Ali thinks the FBI accusation stems from Islam-awareness lectures he held for FBI employees.

The Islamic Thinkers Society, emailed for comment, did not respond.

“These individuals oppose me basically because I oppose their ideas, their hateful ideas, their narrow mindedness in understanding our religion and I really disagree with them and I oppose them strongly and I will never agree with them in their approach,” responds Ali.

Luana Robinson in the 1980s

Luana Robinson, former district leader and community activist, died on Oct. 12 at her home on 154th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue. She was 87. The cause of death was heart failure, said her son, Jay Robinson.

Robinson, who was a model early in her career, was the first woman of color to make it to the cover of a national magazine, said her son, Jay Robinson. She is best known for her efforts for the Harlem community. She served as co-district leader, an unpaid elected official that performs a series of duties for his or her political party, in the 71st Assembly District in the 1970s, along with David Dinkins. Later, she became 7A administrator for a building on 154th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue, the building she bought in 1984. In the 1990s, she mobilized a group of women to create a garden on the site of a former gas station at 150th Street between St. Nicholas and Convent Avenues.

“Luana was a real advocate for our community,” said Jean Spruill, Robinson’s friend and across-the-street neighbor. “She wanted to bring a taste of downtown uptown.”

Robinson was born on Dec. 13, 1921, to Cape Verdean immigrants in Providence, R.I., the middle child, between an older sister and younger brother. Her mother died when she was a child and she was raised by her father and stepmother. Robinson could not finish high school but was self-educated. Robinson would say that she educated herself by reading the Encyclopedia Britannica, the dictionary and The New York Times, Spruill said.

Robinson moved to New York when she was 17 and took up modeling. Here, she met her husband, Jimmie Robinson, a bass player for such jazz musicians as Duke Ellington. While her husband traveled, Robinson took up antique collecting and started an antique shop on 149th Street and Broadway. When her son was born, she would take him to the store with her. After a while, she gave up the shop and started an interior design business called Luana Interiors, before she became involved in politics.

Jay Robinson said his parents separated in the early 1980s and officially divorced in the ’90s.

Spruill said that Robinson loved music, especially Tchaikovsky and Rachmaninoff, and was “into the classics big time.” Jay Robinson said one of his childhood memories was of his mother listening to the popular singer O.C. Smith.

She liked going to Broadway shows and coffee houses in midtown, Spruill said. As a young person, Spruill said, Robinson would like to go to supper clubs. She enjoyed dressing well. “Even her blue jeans were creased,” Spruill said. “She had the ways like a rich white woman.” She liked to play cards and write letters of complaint, Jay Robinson said.

Luana Robinson was a disciplinarian, her friend said. She was “hard on black people,” said Spruill, explaining that she would always want them to “do better than what they were doing.” She was insistent that people voted and would say they shouldn’t complain if they don’t vote. She pushed her son to do better, said Spruill, adding, “She wanted everybody to do well.”

Friends speaking at Robinson’s funeral talked about her determination, her desire to help others and her organizational skills.

“She used to police the street,” Spruill said. The first time they met in 1985, Robinson had been fighting a drug-dealer and Spruill had followed with a gun to support her. “Luana went up against a lot of people,” she said.

Spruill described Robinson as “comical.” “She was at a town meeting with Mayor Koch and she got really angry and turned her dress up and told him to kiss her butt,” Spruill said.

“My mother never really held her tongue,” said Jay Robinson, adding that as a child he found that embarrassing. “As a young kid, I didn’t like the attention drawn to me.”

When Robinson was around nobody threw garbage or honked unnecessarily, said Daryl Williams who lives in her neighborhood. He called her “a tough mom and a tough friend,” in his eulogy.

“She had a temper,” said Jay Robinson, but she was “also very loving.” She “stressed happy manners,” he said, and as long as he cleaned his room, she wasn’t strict at all.

Robinson wanted a statue dedicated to women to be placed in the garden she created at Convent Avenue. Jay Robinson is in the process of setting up a fund to see his mother’s wish realized.

In addition to her son, Robinson is survived by two grandchildren, Nicole, 15, and Steven, 13, and her dog, Baby.

The Islamic Cultural Center of New York, at 96th Street and Third Avenue plans to open the first full-time Islamic school in Manhattan next fall. The school, financed by the government of Kuwait, will occupy two floors of an adjacent apartment building. It will begin with grades pre-K through 2 and eventually expand to include high school, said Imam Shamsi Ali, acting imam at the mosque.

“It’s like a dream for us,” said Raesa Algazali, who teaches at the mosque’s weekend school and has been hoping for an Islamic school for her children for the past six years. “If they learn about Islam here, I don’t have to go back home,” said Algazali, explaining that she returns to Yemen every three or four years so her children are exposed to Islam and to Arabic.

The center is trying to complete construction so it can apply for a certificate of occupancy, required to apply for a license.

“Though we call it Islamic school, we are going to teach everything else,” Ali said, “plus, of course, Islamic tradition.”

While a private institution, the school will conform to New York City requirements and follow a public school curriculum along with an Islamic one, Ali said. It will hire licensed teachers fluent in English. The medium of instruction will be English and Muslim students will be required to take courses in Islamic practices, Arabic and ethics. Non-Muslim students will have the choice to study the parallel curriculum, but will not be required to.

The school will be open to discussion regarding controversial subjects like evolution, Ali said, and the students will be free to choose their own stances on the subject.

While “cultural reasons” may prevent the school from continuing coeducation after grade 6, the imam said that will depend on facilities at the time. The imam, however, is a proponent of educating girls.

The school will recruit children of diplomats, United Nations representatives and other residents of Manhattan, Ali said. Students from outer boroughs may also attend.

Many worshippers, however, think the school would be too far for children outside Manhattan.

Samir Hoti, who is working on the construction of the school building, said he would be interested in his daughters attending, if it were not so far from their home. While he lives close by on 106th Street, the girls live with their mother in the Yonkers. His son, however, will be registered when the school opens next year.

Harlem resident Algazali said she would love to have her four children attend, but she thinks it will be too expensive. So, she will enroll only one child.

Fees and finances have not been discussed, Ali said, but a system of financial aid is being devised.

The school will be housed on the first two floors of a luxury condo building next to the mosque. Entrances are separate and acoustics will be dealt with so as to avoid noise and disturbance to tenants.

Tenants walking in and out of the building were unperturbed by the idea of the school and some were supportive.

“It’s a great thing,” said Brooke Connell, who entered with two little girls.

“A school is always good,” said Heijoon Chung, another tenant . “Religious school is always OK,” she said, adding that her son goes to a Catholic school. She said she often wonders whether the Islamic school will admit students of other faiths.

Jeremy Price feels there is no real interaction with the activities of the mosque except for crowds during Ramadan and on holidays which he does not feel are intrusive or disturbing.

Algazali, however, is excited. “I have another baby,” she said, patting her stomach. She would love for that baby to attend the Islamic school, “Inshah Allah,” she said — in Arabic, God willing.