A Town Reluctantly Let a Mosque Expand. Then Came the Backlash. NYT | Top Stories By: Santul Nerkar and Janice Chung 7 September 2025 at 22:53 A Long Island town board failed to approve a settlement its lawyers had struck with Masjid Al-Baqi after a yearslong dispute tainted by bigotry. The mosque’s federal suit will be heard next month. The Masjid Al-Baqi mosque in the hamlet of Bethpage.