An Assigned Encounter
There was a time when my traditionally Christian and
European ancestors fought against the people of the Islamic faith in “holy”
wars. If my Islamic friends and I were
alive during those times, we would most likely have been clashing swords,
killing in the name of God, or more precisely, idols of the times. I feel quite
blessed to be living in a time of relative peace and of cultural multiplicity,
where I can befriend my Muslim brothers and sisters in institutions that place
emphasis on critiquing social constructions, such as race, class, and gender,
as well as creating an atmosphere for social, political and cultural dialogue. When
I am “hanging out” with my Muslim friends, particularly, Saudi Arabian friends,
I secretly feel as though I am in some way doing my bit for world peace, but it
is rather that in reality I am involving myself in a cultural exchange of ideas
and perspectives that promote world peace. My friend Heem Bahameed, whom I had
the pleasure of meeting in my French tutorial last semester, is a superb chap;
friendly, easy going, and generous. The thought of this fellow and his like-minded
friends calls to mind an old stereotypical scene of Bedouin tribesmen beckoning
for the foreigner to come into their tent for some tea. And for me this
imaginative scene was actualized. On occasion I was invited into Heem, and his
room-mates’, humble abode for discussion, sweet tea (and the video game, Call
of Duty). His “place” is rather devoid of decoration, but perhaps this is due
to an aspect of Islamic religiosity, or it could just be due to Heem being a “dude”.
Heem and I became friends quickly, and I had always told him that I would one
day venture with him to the mosque for prayer, or for some sort of service. I
am a Catholic Christian myself, but I am one who grew up with liberal, socially
and environmentally concerned, hippie generation parents who discovered their
faiths through liberation theology and personal experience. I have always been
fascinated with religion and philosophy, and as I am maturing spiritually, I
find myself wanting to not only study religion, but to experience religion in
ways other than the Christian experience. The Comparative Religions class sort
of forced me into actually making a visit to the mosque. Here I will discuss my
experience at the mosque and the beauty of the main practices of Islam.
Islam is a Middle Eastern religion that branches from the
Abrahamic prophetic tradition of the Old Testament. It was founded in the 6th
century CE by the Prophet Mohammad. It has graced this world with its pillars
of the faith; devotion to God or Allah, prayer, charity, fast, and the
pilgrimage to the holy city, Mecca. It has a relatively short history, as
compared to the other two Abrahamic religions, Judaism and Christianity. Islam
takes refuge in the Quran, their holy book, literally meaning recitation; this
is recitation of what God said through the angel Gabriel to Mohammed. Islam
places a particular reverence on unity among Muslims. Muslim quite literally
means one who devotes themselves to God (this makes me a Muslim I thought and
laughed). I found this to be quite enlightening. To think, the only contact I
had with Islam up until my time at high school and then post-secondary was of watching
the planes crash into the World Trade Center on the fateful day, September 11th
2001. I was but a child at the time, yet it left a profound impact on the way I
viewed Islamic society as a whole; I viewed it as something that was barbaric
and impoverished. Yet as I matured into my teens I began reading fiction books
about Afghanistan, such as Deborah Ellis’ “The
Breadwinner” and later on Khaled Hosseini’s “The Kite Runner” and “A Thousand
Splendid Suns”, after reading these powerful books I discovered that there
was more to it than what I saw on September 11th; there was a deep
and powerful culture, that flourished in the arts, cuisine, poetry, philosophy
and sciences, not only in Afghanistan, but throughout the whole Islamic world.
The problem was not merely a religious problem, it was a human problem. Issues
of war, poverty, politics, and religion pervaded the nations under Islam,
especially in the 20th century with the ending of the first and
second great wars, and of course the rise of the USSR in modern day Russia that
led to conflict in Islamic countries such as Afghanistan. These issues are likely
to have led to the extremism we encounter today. However, from what I have been
told by our resident Saudis, extremism and terrorism are frowned upon in Islam.
My visit to the mosque alone was reinforcement for these speculations on the
positive values of Islam.
As
I was waiting for Heem to pick me up by the road near the Front entrance of the
University, an African man was standing next to me; he seemed to be blowing in
the wind. I smiled at him, and he nodded back at me. After what seemed about fifteen minutes, Heem finally
arrived. I realized that as I approached the car, the African man next to me
was also approaching the car. We soon found out that we were both getting rides
to the mosque. The African man was Muslim from Nigeria named Sadiq. Sadiq
thought it was hilarious that we were both getting the same ride, after having
stood a short distance from each for a good quarter of an hour. We both laughed
and took our seat in the car. Upon arriving at the mosque I must admit that I
was nervous, but at the same time thrilled. The people there were very
welcoming, greeting me with “As-salamu alaykum” (as though I was one of them),
and I responded with the appropriate “Walaikum salam, my brother” (as though I
was an African American man confronting the late Islamic brother Malcolm X). As
I am Catholic, it is quite common to cleanse oneself symbolically by skimming
one’s fingers along the top of holy water, and then brushing it on one’s head
in the motion of the Cross – this gesture of cleansing, like (but not the same
as) the brushing of holy water in a Church, is done before entering the prayer
room at a mosque. This is called Ablution, where one makes a ritual of cleaning
the hands, face, forearms and feet three times before entering the praying room.
Once this ritual was completed Heem led me to the main prayer room. Being a
Catholic, I am very used to artwork and symbolism, and was quite surprised to
find that the prayer room was quite devoid of any artwork or imagery of any
sort. I followed Heem into the prayer room, and found myself listening to
Koranic verses translated into English. I found myself praying alongside them,
albeit in my own way in silent reflection. The split of women and men in separate
places was something I found surprising and rather alien. Not sure what I think
about this yet. Come to think of it, the most profound thing that I experienced
at the mosque was the otherworldly, ancient sounding, monotone recitation of
the Koran during the part of the prayer where people line up in rows to
prostrate themselves before Allah. I clearly pictured something that I’m sure I
had never seen before in my conscience life, or at least not in anything particularly
solid in reality. I felt for a moment close to transcendence. It was a very strange
experience indeed.
At
the end of the session I had the chance to talk to many a person about the
Islamic faith. It was definitely an enlightening experience. The beauty of the
practices I encountered revolved around community, devotion, and becoming a
part of an infinite and eternal mystery. Much of this I share in common with my
own Catholic faith, but the main differences between these two unique
traditions, as I soon found out, revolve around dogma, doctrine and tradition.
Can we reconcile these differences? In the Koran in Surah al-Hurajat 49:13, the
Lord says “oh mankind, indeed We have created you from male and female and made
you into peoples and tribes that you may know one another”. There are many people in this world, of many
walks of life, and with many perspectives, outlooks and experiences. It seems
that in order to encourage social well-being in this ever-changing global
village we must simply get to know each other, like I did at the mosque with
Heem and Sadiq.
