Area Christians and Jews have been breaking Ramadan fast alongside Muslims for the past four years as part of an event in the Islamic Center in Amherst known as the “Tent of Abraham” — a reference to the biblical Abraham as the patriarch of all three faith traditions.

The national uproar over a planned Islamic center a few blocks from ground zero in Manhattan hasn’t changed plans for this year’s interfaith iftar.

But the event today in the Heim Road mosque might hold extra relevance, in light of the Manhattan controversy and an apparent upswing in public resentment toward Muslims in some parts of the country, organizers said.

“I have had several e-mails saying this is the right time to do this, considering what is going on nationally,” said Dr. Khalid Qazi, president of the Muslim Public Affairs Council, Western New York chapter, a main sponsor of the event.

Muslims began celebrating Ramadan earlier this month and are obligated to abstain from food and water from sunrise to sunset during the holiday season. The fast is broken each evening with iftar.

In 2006, area Muslims began inviting Christians and Jews to participate in the spirit of Abraham, who was known to keep his tent open for weary travelers seeking food and drink.

And last year, a “Walk of Abraham” was added, allowing people of different faiths an informal venue — a five-mile walk through Amherst — for meeting each other prior to entering the mosque.

“It’s just mostly small talk and getting to know one another,” said Gerald Kelly, a member of Westminster Presbyterian Church, who participated in last year’s walk and help organize the event this year. “It’s more of a relationship-building business and realizing that we’re all kind of alike.”

Members of North Presbyterian Church on North Forest Road and Temple Beth Am on Sheridan Drive also are expected to participate.

“I think folks here have a desire to un-

derstand Islam better,” said the Rev. William Hennessy, pastor of North Presbyterian Church.

In addition to the emotional furor over the planned Manhattan Islamic center, planned new mosques or expansions of mosques in Riverside, Calif., Nashville, Tenn., and Brooklyn have been the subject of recent vociferous protest. A Florida church plans to burn a copy of the Quran, Islam’s holy text, on Sept. 11.

And a poll released earlier this week by the Pew Research Center showed that Americans’ opinion about Islam has become less favorable when compared with similar polling in 2005. Thirty percent of respondents said they viewed Islam favorably, compared with 41 percent in 2005.

Hennessy said he was puzzled by the “level of hostility” directed at the planners of the Islamic center in Manhattan.

“It seems to me the presence of an Islamic center in that vicinity could be healing for what occurred in 2001,” he said.

Kelly, too, supports the right of Muslims to build a new center.

“They’ve already been praying in there for over a year,” he pointed out. “I thought it would be a good example of the promotion of peaceful Islam.”

Qazi, who serves on the national board of directors of MPAC, said many Muslims have become conflicted on the Manhattan Islamic center issue.

“On the one hand, they truly believe they have the right to build on the site, a Constitutional and legal right,” he said. “But on the other hand, Muslims don’t want to alienate their fellow citizens.”

jtokasz@buffnews.comnull