Faith Alive: Yahya Islam, Imam, Masjid An'Nur

Ramadan started this week. What do you mark as the first day? Some Muslims start Monday but we started Tuesday. We go with the first (lunar) sighting.

For someone who's not Muslim, is the month-long fasting difficult? Not really, because we are doing it for God and not ourselves. The Prophet told us that everything is for ourselves but fasting is for God.

People who are in bad health, or young children, don't fast, right? Right. The days they miss, they can feed an indigent person to make up for it.

When do children start observing Ramadan? When they hit puberty, they go a whole day but before that they start with half-days.

And at sundown you break the fast? Yes, with a cup of water and three dates. We make evening prayer then have the meal. The meal should not fill us completely because the stomach begins to shrink and it can take only so much.

What are some foods recommended to break the fast? Normal things are dates and chicken. There is no special food, but we don't eat rich food like steak during Ramadan.

Where is your home originally? I'm from Fort Myers, Fla. I came here about 33 or 34 years ago. I heard about how nice Columbus was from some friends.

Who's in your family? My wife is Martha Islam. We have two children: Muhammad, who's 27, and Aqueelah, who's 22. She lives in Ohio and Muhammad lives here.

Is it difficult being Muslim in a community that doesn't have a lot of Muslims? No. It's nice because we are just as big as in any city. The worship is the same... . We have had a few run-ins. Someone broke the glass in the windows (at the mosque) a couple weeks ago. They threw a brick or a rock. It seems it was a hate crime. We do a lot of community outreach so we don't have many problems overall.

How many people come here for prayer? Sixty or so.

How long have you been the imam? About 12 years. I was at the other mosque and helped start this one.

Were you raised in this faith? My parents are of Muslim descent. My father and mother encourage religion and see the benefits in me. They applaud it. They always say, "When you know better, you should be better."

What's your other job? I have YAI Plumbing. When I came to Columbus, I went to trade school.

What are you paying attention to? What concerns you? I'm looking at the political effort. People don't seem to be taking it seriously, both on the national level and some locally.

What are some of the outreach projects you mentioned earlier? We are active at the prison -- Jack T. Rutledge. And we have a food giveaway box and an annual clothing giveaway.

Masjid An'Nur is located at 753 Church Ave.