Brad Horrigan

Photo Essays: MUSLIM IN AMERICA

I spent over two years photographing various Muslim communities in greater New Haven, CT.  

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  • Mubarakah Ibrahim (back to us) leads Priya Natarajan, Kim Harris and Rachel Shapiro through a series of lunges during BALANCE Fitness Boot Camp session at Bowen Field. Ibrahim claims to be the leading female Muslim personal trainer in Connecticut.
  • Officer Shafiq Abdussabur works third shift for the New Haven Police Department. Abdussabur has been a policeman for 14 years.
  • Ihsan Abdussabur chases Layla McMillan across the Masjid Al-Islam parking lot during a fundraiser for Omar Ibn Said Leadership Academy.
  • Ismail Abdussabur plays his xbox360 at his New Haven home.
  • Salwa Abdussabur concentrates on a math problem during class at Vincent E. Mauro School. After 7 years of homeschooling, she attended 5th grade in public school.
  • The Abdussaburs pray in their living room on the final night of Ramadan.
  • Mubarakah Imbrahim puts a bandaid on her son Ihsan's finger.
  • Mubarakah Ibrahim, right, volunteers at the New Haven chapter of the NAACP on election day. As she calls to encourage people to get out and vote, her son Ihsan and daughter Salwa play and do homework.
  • Salwa Abdussabur, center, poses for a photograph with friends.
  • Shafiq Abdussabur, right, and his son Ihsan, left, stand in the building that will house Omar Ibn Said Leadership Academy. Shafiq and his wife Mubarakah have spearheaded the project for the leadership academy.
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  • Salma K. Farid Academy pre-Kindergarten teacher Husna Shah prepares a lesson plan on her laptop during a free period.
  • A 3rd grade classroom at Salma K. Farid Academy.
  • First grade teacher Matiniah Yahya helps introduce her students to one another on the first day of class.
  • Parents, faculty and students stand in the gymnasium during orientation on the first day school.
  • As students line up to leave the cafeteria, kindergartener Arshiya Mohamed, seated, appears displeased.
  • Head administrative assistant Jasmine Qureshi decorates a classroom for a surprise party in honor of Madiha Boulaksout's maternity leave. Boulaksout, not pictured, is a secretary at Salma K. Farid Academy.
  • Student art entitled {quote}Allah's Creations.{quote}
  • Khizr Zaheer, a third grader at Salma K. Farid Academy during its first school year, reads a Qur'an during Islamic Studies class.
  • Salma K. Farid Academy third graders Umar Farid and Salah Dhaouadi enthusiastically raise their hands during class.
  • Second graders Naveed Qureshi, Yusuf Qahdi and Jahangir Rafiq do an exercise during Islamic Studies class.
  • A student art project hangs on a corridor wall at Salma K. Farid Academy.
  • Salma K. Farid Academy head adminstrator Mongi Dhaouadi stands alonside students during the midday prayer.
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  • Sema Boluk, 17, facing, embraces Selma Sahin, 15, at a Seker Bayrami (Turkish for {quote}celebration at the breaking of the fast{quote}) celebration at the Turkish Cultural Center in West Haven.
  • Mechanic Yakup Uzun, owner of Uzun Auto in West Haven, breaks for prayer during his work day in a room adjacent to the garage.
  • Salah Ahmed prays in the prayer room at Bingham Hall.
  • Fawziyyah Umrani and Atiyah Ibrahim break their fast at a family Eid ul-Fitr dinner.
  • Men stand together in prayer at the New Haven Islamic Center.
  • Ali Elb dries off after {quote}making wudu{quote} in the lower level of Masjid al-Islam. It is mandatory for Muslims to {quote}make wudu{quote} or wash up, before praying.
  • Dure Magadi washes up in a makeshift wudu area before entering Coxe Cage for Eid ul-Fitr prayer. It is mandatory for Muslims to {quote}make wudu{quote} or wash up, before praying.
  • Muslims enter Yale University's Coxe Cage for Eid ul-Fitr prayer which marks the end of the holy month of Ramadan.
  • Hundreds of local Muslims pray at Coxe Cage during Eid ul-Fitr prayer.
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  • Bilal Luqman, 7, top-center, navigates a sea of shoes at Coxe Cage during Eid il-Fitr prayer.
  • Bilqis Hashim, 12, looks down on others celebrating Eid ul-Fitr from her vantage point atop an inflatable slide behind Masjid Al-Islam.
  • Interim imam Mehmet Celebi leads prayer at the Mevlana Mosque on Ocean Avenue in West Haven. The mosque opened at the site of the old St. John's By the Sea Episcopal Church.
  • Kabir Al-Haqq puts a bag of rice in his car in the Masjid al-Islam parking lot.
  • Asmaa Abdelati, 15, reads the Quran at New Haven Islamic Center.
  • In the lobby at the Islamic Center of Hamden.
  • Yale-New Haven Hospital personal care assistant Rajeeyah Haneef prays in a lounge on her break.
  • Quranic memorization is part of the student curriculum at New Haven Islamic Center's Quran studies on Sundays.
  • Men pray at the Islamic Center of Wallingford.
  • Muslim men from West Haven's Turkish community leave the midday prayer service at the Mevlana Mosque on Ocean Avenue in West Haven. The mosque opened at the site of the old St. John's By the Sea Episcopal Church.
  • Heavy Jummah turnout, the Friday midday prayer, forced some to pray in the New Haven Islamic Center's parking lot.
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  • Fay Latif, right, and her daughter Adrianna Gayle, 12, listen to instructions from their canoeing guide Martin Torresquintero as they enter the Mill River. Torresquintero is the outdoor adventure coordinator for the city of New Haven.
  • Rashidah Ahmad, of Cambridge, MA,spends some time with her grandson Amiyr Forrester, 3, of Watertown, MA outside Wilbur Cross High School during an intermission in the {quote}Fit Muslimah{quote} Summit. Muslim women from all over the region traveled to New Haven to learn about fitness.
  • Stand-up comic Azhar Usman delivers laughs to Yale students in LC during a comedic performance called {quote}One Muslim, One Jew.{quote} The comedy event was part of Islamic Awareness Week on campus in April.
  • Groom Abdullah Marcus Phelmetto, center, ties his son Amir's shoelaces while bride Aiesha Wilkes-Phelmetto, second from right, puts her shoe on at the conclusion of their wedding ceremony at Masjid Al-Islam. Though she is Christian, Wilkes-Phelmetto and other non-Muslim women cover their heads while in the mosque.
  • A group of area Muslims makes and serves dinner for homeless people at Columbus House on the second Thursday of each month.
  • Aldermen Charles Blango and Sergio Rodriquez, front, confer during a hearing in the Aldermanic Chambers. Alderman Yusuf Shah, a practicing Muslim, center, has spearheaded a proposal to erect a memorial to honor those young people killed in acts of violence in the city of New Haven.
  • Cairo McMillan plays at the Wexler-Grant Elementary School playground.
  • Nisreen Hasib takes part in a candlelight vigil on Yale's Cross Campus in early 2009. The vigil was an opportunity to reflect on the civilians who had died in the conflict in Gaza. The event was co-sponsored by the Yale University Chaplain's Office, the Muslim Students Association, the Joseph Slifka Center for Jewish Life and the Multi-Faith Council.
  • Marwa El-Sayed and her son Adam Masoud, 4, enjoy a private moment during a {quote}community iftar{quote} at Battell Chapel. An iftar is when Muslims break their daily fast after dusk during the month of Ramadan. For this particular iftar, Yale Muslims were encouraged to invite friends regardless of the religious denomination. El-Sayed and her son live in Cairo, Egypt, but are visiting a friend who is a professor at Yale.
  • Elinor Aishah Holland leads an Arabic calligraphy workshop at Yale as part of Islamic Awareness week on campus.
  • John Jones volunteers at Berger Apartments polling place on Derby Avenue in New Haven on election day.
  • Members of a West River neighborhood block watch Humayun Malik, Russell Jones and Ibrahim Qawiyy clean up leaves and trash on Greenwood Street on Saturday morning.
  • Khaliah Abdussabur picks up a few groceries early one Saturday morning.
  • Muslima Girl Scouts Zahra Abdush-Shakur, 7, Leah Jackson, 11, and Nasira Abdush-Shakur, 5, wait on the couch between activities.
  • Qasim Farid, 10, sleds at Pine Rock Park in Hamden.
  • A group of Muslims and non-Muslims gather on the steps of the New Haven Federal Courthouse for a demonstration opposing Israeli bombings in Gaza.
  • Khalid Stitou smiles as he is able to slide a goal past Hamid Sarradi during a pick-up soccer game at West Haven's Peterson Field.
  • Yunus Mu'min shares a moment with his day-old son Sulayman Ibn Yunus Abdullah Mu'min at St. Raphael's Hospital, at left, as Nichole {quote}Amirrah{quote} Wells and Sadaqa Kelley, 2, do the same, at right.
  • Yunus Mu'min shares a moment with his day-old son Sulayman Ibn Yunus Abdullah Mu'min at St. Raphael's Hospital.
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