Islamic Association of Long Island

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The Islamic Association of Long Island is a mosque at 10 Park Hill Drive in Selden, New York, eastern Long Island, 65 miles east of New York City. It was founded in 1974 and is the oldest chartered mosque on Long Island.BackgroundThe mosque is in a white wooden building that was converted from a Fundamental Bible Believing Church, and draws about 400 people to Friday prayers. It offers prayers five times daily, Saturday Islamic School, Sunday School, Muslim Boys and Girls Youth Group, and summer school.ControversyJanitor arrested for sexual attackIn April 2009, the mosque's live-in janitor since 2001, Niamatullah Ibrahim, allegedly sexually attacked a 13-year-old boy inside the mosque, said Suffolk County Police. The boy was at the mosque for instructional classes, and "the assailant was a fairly large man who basically took this young boy by the hand and forced him into a private room, where he subjected him to sexual contact," said Detective Sgt. Michael Fitzharris. Ibrahim was charged with first-degree sexual abuse and third-degree aggravated sexual abuse following a one-month investigation. He pleaded not guilty in Suffolk County First District Court in Central Islip, and was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail.Nayyer Imam, a pharmacist who is president of the Islamic Association of Long Island, which operates the mosque, said: "I'm in shock. I don't know what to really say. It is very disturbing news." He said Ibrahim traveled once a year to Pakistan to visit his wife and young children. Imam said the mosque would hire counselors to interview children and parents to check for other possible victims.