“He swore by the beard of the Prophet that it was as genuine as they have anywhere,” the reporter wrote. It seems that the event was taking place at a time when fake Muslim weddings were something of a fad. The fake weddings reflected America’s growing interest in Islam in the 1890s, Mr. Manseau said. So there was good reason to believe the 29th Street ceremony could have been, if not the city’s first Muslim wedding, at least genuine. But something happened after the wedding that seemed to weigh in on the fake side.

Source: New York Times January 26, 2017 11:54 UTC