Offering a common ground for interfaith unity, the Islamic Center of Long Island in New York has inaugurated the first interfaith institute in the region, where followers of different faiths can foster a better understanding.

“I need to understand better the tenets of other faiths,” Dr. Faroque Khan, a medical doctor and co-founder of the mosque, was quoted as saying by Long Island Press.

“Similarly, the other faiths need to understand and learn about who we are, particularly in the present environment where the loudest voices are the craziest voices. We need to bring that voice of reason, sanity into the conversation,” he said.

The new center, opened on October 25, includes an impressive board of trustees made up of men and women from different backgrounds and faiths.

The board also encompasses representation from the Diocese of Rockville Centre and leaders in higher education.

The Islamic center history in Long Island dates back to two decades ago when Muslims started a worshipping house at a house basement.

Expanding over the past twenty years, the most recent expansion in the mosque, before the interfaith center, came in the 1990s.

The center showed itself to be a progressive religious center with the appointment of Isma Chaudhry as its president in January this year, making history by appointing the first female president of the mosque.

The new institute main goals include reaching out to educators and their students to better educate them on Islam, a religion that most people learn about through uninformed talking heads on television and cable news.

The group has plans to work with school districts in Westbury, Hicksville, Herricks and Jericho to promote interfaith initiatives through conferences, seminars, and essay contests.

“Such high-profile slaughters perpetrated by terror groups often prompt condemnation by the ICLI, but their voice isn’t always heard because mainstream media fail to report the institute’s denunciations,” Dr. Khan, former chair of medicine at Nassau University Medical Center in East Meadow, was quoted as saying.

Data released from the 2010 US Religion Census shows Islam was the fastest growing religion in America in the last 10 years, with 2.6 million living in the US today, up from 1 million in 2000.

Un-official figures put the number at between seven to eight million.

A recent Gallup poll had found that the majority of US Muslims are patriot and loyal to their country and are optimistic about their future.

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