On February 26, 1993, an attack took place in New York that seems to anticipate September 11, 2001. An auto bomb exploded under the World Trade Center, leaving six dead, a thousand wounded, and causing massive damage. In the media the attack was invariably coupled with the phrase 'Islamic terrorism'. In this way the event became inseparably linked with Islam, according to photographer Edward Grazda and architecture professor Jerrilynn Dods. As a response, they decided to document the Islamic community in New York in words and pictures, a project in which mosques were central. They encountered a vital community that contrasted sharply with the destruction in the images of the World Trade Center.

Edward Grazda (b. 1947, United States) has a special interest in Islam. Since 1980 he has worked on long-term photography projects in Pakistan and Afghanistan. NY Masjid: The Mosques of the New York City appeared in book form in 2002.