Afghans at Queens Mosque Split Over bin Laden

A NATION CHALLENGED: A NEW YORK MOSQUE; Afghans at Queens Mosque Split Over bin Laden
By DEXTER FILKINS
Published: September 19, 2001
The New York Times
At New York City's largest Afghan mosque, supporters of the Taliban have chosen to pray in the basement or outside in the parking lot. They have not returned to the mosque for daily prayers since last Friday, when their imam denounced the attacks on the World Trade Center. ''When I speak against the Taliban and Osama, they harass me; so many times they harass me,'' Imam Mohammed Sherzad, the leader of Hazrat-I-Abubakr Sadiq mosque, said at his office in Flushing, Queens. ''They say: 'Why do you speak against Osama bin Laden? He is a good Muslim.' ''

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