The Introductions Began
The crowd which included few blacks and one member of he City Council, Mayor Gary Silbiger realized it was someplace special and different upon entering. Directed to follow the custom of removing their shoes in observance of the holiness of the setting, even before placing their shoes in cubbies that lined walls, the searching, awestruck eyes of visitors traveled up and across every visible inch of the marbled, palace-like mosque. They buzzed more than they talked, so different were the surroundings from their churches. Assiduously, the crowd tread a slender, carpeted path toward the large, airy-appearing sanctuary. They never strayed, never set foot on the marble floor. This was especially true of those persons with holes in their sox who did not expect their soxual proclivities and imperfections to be revealed.
New Scenery
Once inside, they arranged themselves in a semi-circle on the carpeted floor. In the complete absence of furniture, even a crowd several times the size of yesterdays, would not have been forced to scramble on the floor for the space needed to sit cross-legged and comfortably. Hundreds of eyes, and probably hearts, fell in love with the other-worldly blue and white marble décor of the walls, of an imposing chandelier, of the recessed dome, of the enclosed upper chamber that is reserved for women, and of the pulpit built into the eastern wall. On a chilly winter afternoon, revolving heat lamps were placed before the crowd, completing the scene for Mr. Madha to launch into his necessarily truncated introduction to Islam. So attentive were the visitors during the half hour overview that only Mr. Madhas voice invaded the silence.
Stressing Similarities
While the violence of the outside world went unarticulated, healing, unmistakably, was the opening note. Mr. Madha used a possessive pronoun to describe his adopted country. Alluding to Dr. King, Mr. Madha said that the great mans message is as fresh today as it was when he said it. He talked about mending fences and to move on in building this great land of ours. The majority of the mosques, if not all the mosques, in this great land of ours deliver the same message, day in and day out. That is, we are one as Americans, regardless of our differences in faith. Rev. Leland Stewart calls it unity and diversity. I dont know if you have heard of him. But he does a lot of good work. Then Mr. Madha swung into a broadly stroked sketch of his religion 1.3 billion Muslims worldwide, in 57 to 60 countries and 7 million in America. In some detail, he talked about the obligation of praying 5 times a day. Numerous times, Mr. Madha drew parallels with customs and institutions revered by Americans. At some length, he described the commonality of our three faiths, namely Christianity, Judaism and Islam, especially as they pertain to monotheism. Pointedly distancing himself and his religious tradition from any warlike or violent overtones, he defined Islam through a prism of the term peace and only peaceful associations. At its base, Islam, Mr. Madha said, comes from salaam, the root word for peace.
Postscript
Mr. Madhas objective was to demonstrate, through immediately recognizable verbal furniture, that Muslims and Americans of faith other than Islam share a wide expanse of commonalities. The difference between a Muslim and a Christian, he said, is that we accept the prophethood of Christ but not the Trinity of Christ. Not insignificantly, Mr. Madha identified a pertinent overhead inscription as saying, Whomsoever kills a person without cause or reason, (it is) as if he had killed humanity as a whole. Conversely, if he saves a person, he has saved humanity. This is the underlying message of the Koran, contrary to what you hear and what you see. What you see, the acts performed by others in the name of our faith, do not represent our faith. We denounce them.
