Bensonhurst

Growing up in Bay Ridge, Norhan Basuni always enjoyed an abundance of freedom.

Her parents emigrated from Egypt before she was born. Though they raised her to observe Islam and her ancestral culture, they gave her the independence to explore their adopted home and make her own decisions.

She chose to play varsity softball in high school. She chose to study criminal justice and anthropology at the John Jay College of Criminal Justice. And she chose to resist the temptations of American society and devote herself to Islam.

Strong Devotion

In fact, the 20-year-old came to practice the faith even more devoutly than her parents. On a scale from one to 10, 10 being very devout and one being secular, she said her parents were a 10.

“I feel like, I myself might be a little big stronger than they are, religion wise,” said Basuni, who volunteers as a case worker at the Arab American Association of New York. “So if I had to rate myself, I would say I’m a 15 or something.”

Basuni stands out as a first-generation Arab American in Brooklyn who swims against the secular current. She said that many young people in her community share the same dedication to putting faith at the center of their lives.

Sheik Tamer Selim, imam of the Muslim American Society Youth Center in Bensonhurst, estimates that 20 to 30 percent of young Muslims in the Brooklyn Arab community practice their religion devoutly.

Seeking ‘True Islam’

“The other 70 percent, they are still Muslims, and they respect their culture and their religion,” Selim said. “But they are very into the American way more than the Islamic way.”

Basuni began her independent exploration of Islam after September 11, 2001.

“That’s when I paid the most attention because I didn’t understand it,” she said. “I never wanted to be put in that position where someone said something about my religion and I can’t defend it because I don’t know anything, like I’m just Muslim by name and not by knowledge.”

Other young Muslims in Brooklyn share Basuni’s desire to educate the larger public about what they see as “true Islam.”

Aber Kawas, 17, and her sister Magdolyn, 19, who live in Bensonhurst, said teaching others about Islam is an important part of their religious practice.

Changing Perceptions

“When we’re walking down the street, people stare at you, they curse at you. They look at you in the wrong way, and you want to change that,” said Aber, who goes by Abby. “So we’re, all of us together, trying to change Muslim perception in America.”

Their mother, Manal Kawas, didn’t expect her American-born daughters to follow her example and wear the full hijab – the traditional head covering – or pray five times a day.

“They keep it and they do it very [much] more than me,” said Kawas, a Palestinian who immigrated to the U.S. from Jordan. “They keep their hijab, they wear abaya, they participate in the prayer. They wake me up in the fajr prayer at 4 o’clock [in the morning], say ‘Ma you have to.’ But I sleep and say, ‘No no no.’”

Khalid Fallous, an 18-year-old senior at Fort Hamilton High School in Bay Ridge, prays five times daily and frequently attends services at local mosques. Fallous, who plans to study business at John Jay College in the fall, was born in Palestine but spent his early childhood in Saudi Arabia before his family moved to the U.S. seven years ago.

Like the Kawas sisters, Fallous said that his immigrant parents do not practice their religion as devoutly as he now does. But their early lessons have stayed with him, he said.

“Without my parents, I wouldn’t be the person I am today,” Fallous said. “Since I was young, my mom sent me to a school that taught me Arabic, taught me the Qu’ran, taught me basics about religion, and she really influenced me a lot. Her and my dad.”

Basketball and Prayers

When a friend, Fadi Ebrhem, converted from his Syrian parents’ Christian faith to Islam, Fallous gained a deeper appreciation for his own religion. Now Fallous and Ebrhem, who goes by Fred, often pray together.

Whether they’re heading to the mosque or to play a pick-up game of basketball in the park, the two friends look like many other Brooklyn teenagers in their baggy jeans and T-shirts.

Unlike many of their peers, however, the two young men follow Islam’s prohibitions on drinking alcohol and dating.

“Your parents can teach you all they want, but at the end of the day it matters what you choose,” Fallous said. “It matters if you want to implement what they taught you. So they taught me it, and I’m implementing it.”

Three decades ago, Tony Manero (played by John Travolta) swaggered up to the window at Lenny’s Pizza, ordered two slices, and strutted away under the elevated train tracks to the strains of “Stayin’ Alive.”

Bensonhurst’s 86th Street hasn’t been the same since.

Now Dunkin’ Donuts, McDonald’s and Baskin Robbins stand where old hangouts like Hy Tulip and Famous Cafeteria used to be, on the strip under the D/M subway tracks immortalized in “Saturday Night Fever.”

But Lenny’s is still there.

“We’re like the last of the Mohicans,” said Josephine Giordano.

‘Everything Changes’

Giordano’s father Frank has owned Lenny’s for more than 20 years. At 27, Josephine wasn’t born when Travolta strode up to the window where she now serves pizza. But she’s seen plenty of customers come and go.

“I’ve had customers leave and come back. They’re like, ‘What happened?’” she said, sitting in a booth on a late afternoon break. “It’s like, ‘What’d you expect?’” she throws up her hands. “Everything changes.”

Giordano’s customers may be referring to the Starbucks next door, or to changing immigration patterns in what was once Brooklyn’s quintessential Italian neighborhood. Bensonhurst’s Italian-American population is still its largest ethnic group, hovering around 25%. But today other groups are visible as well. The block of 86th Street that Lenny’s window watches over is home not just to Dunkin’ Donuts and McDonald’s, but also to a Russian furrier, a Chinese restaurant and a Korean market.

“I see a lot of faces, different cultures,” Giordano said. “You know, Russians, Chinese, Albanians, different people. Years ago it was just one.”

Less Fireworks

Raymond Rodriguez, a 47-year-old resident of Puerto Rican ancestry, noted the neighborhood was a lot tougher 20 years ago.

“It wasn’t easy,” he said between bites of a large cheese pie he is sharing with a gaggle of granddaughters and goddaughters on their way home from a doctor’s appointment. “All the Sicilians thought I was Italian, and the Sicilians thought I was Italian.” With such confusion he said he had to be careful to avoid fights.

But Rodriguez always liked the neighborhood. He pauses and remembers fireworks in the streets for Independence Day, lamenting that such a celebration would be illegal now.

“I guess they [Italians] controlled the neighborhood more then,” he shrugged.

In spite of all the changes, 86th Street is still a popular destination for errands, and lots of shoppers rest their bags at Lenny’s.

Ted Seltzer, a 65-year old retired NYPD employee, enjoys a Diet Coke and a cheese slice after picking up some new earrings for his girlfriend. Behind him, the Riggio family is fueling up for a day of shopping, including a new T-shirt for two-year old Gianna, whose turquoise top is covered in tomato sauce.

‘Always Warm‘

Throughout the day, schoolgirls stop in on their way home from St. Mary’s, a Russian storekeeper watches soccer on TV from a booth and a tattooed twenty-something drives over from Coney Island to get the same slice she used to get in high school.

The crowd might change, stores may turn over, but the slice remains the same.

“It’s always warm,” said Giordano. Her break now over, she gets up from the booth to prepare for the dinnertime rush.

Superman bursts through the front of a Bensonhurst home, fist raised and ready for action.

James Dean is a few feet below the Man of Steel, leaning against a wall with his hands in his pockets. The rebel has a cause – to protect the flowerbed.

Nearby, a portly monk prays, his eyes closed and his lips curled into a slight grin. The sign around his neck reads, “Pray for The Campanellas – especially Steve, who needs the most help.”

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