[proletar] A prayer in each corner

[Sunny]

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/12/07/opinion/edsalih.php

ISLAM IN THE WORLD II
A prayer in each corner

By Mohammad Ali Salih Published: December 7, 2007

Over a recent weekend, I attended two religious services, one at a mosque and 
the other at a church, and said "amen" to two contradictory prayers. Doing that 
confused me and added to my stress and depression as these wars in Iraq and 
Afghanistan go on and on.

On Friday, during the weekly Juma'a gathering in a mosque in Springfield, 
Viginia, a suburb of Washington, I and about 300 people repeatedly said "amen" 
to an imam as he loudly prayed: "May Allah support the mujahedeen. May Allah 
defeat their enemies. May Allah support Islam and the Muslims. May Allah defeat 
Islam's enemies."

The following Sunday, in a nearby church, I and about 500 people said "amen" to 
the following prayer by a minister: "Lord, protect and strengthen our soldiers 
in Iraq, Afghanistan and wherever they are. Guide our leaders and leaders of 
other nations and give them wisdom to work for peace."

An Arab friend had gone with me to the mosque after I convinced him that this 
might lessen his stress and depression as he, too, was psychologically affected 
by George W. Bush's wars. Like many Middle Easterners, he vehemently refused to 
go to counseling (at least that Friday I talked him out of drinking a bottle of 
vodka).

When the imam started his "provocative" prayers, we were squatting on the floor 
in the last row, with our backs to the wall. My friend got scared and whispered 
in my ear, "Isn't this guy afraid of the FBI?" I, half-sacred and half-joking, 
said, "Let's get out of here." 

But we didn't leave, and we noticed that the imam was clever in the way he 
worded his prayer. He did not mention Iraq or Afghanistan by name. He probably 
didn't need to, as it was clear from the congregation's faces, accents and 
clothes that almost all of them were immigrants from third-world countries.

There wasn't a single white face. There wasn't a single woman either; women 
prayed in a separate room because a dominant conservative interpretation of the 
Koran claimed that their presence among men would distract men.

That was a far cry from the church, where men and women mingled. Actually there 
were more women than men. I sat in the back pew and in front of me sat a woman 
with long golden hair that became brighter when reflected by the morning sun 
rays that came through the high window of the church.

Those men and women, from the way they were dressed, seemed to belong to middle 
and upper-middle classes. They were almost all white.

The minister said a prayer "for military family members fighting in the Middle 
East." The service program named about 10 of them and selected one named 
Jonathan, and asked people to "please take time to send him cards or care 
packages."

The program said that "items must be able to withstand shipping and possible 
three weeks in transit," and mentioned "lotion, soap, deodorant, toothpaste, 
cookies, nut-mixes, pretzels, chewing gum, hot drink mixes, fruit roll-up. . ."

I turned to my high-school daughter, who was sitting next to me, and said, 
"This is your job." The following day, we went to a store and she bought some 
of these items, put them in a shoe box and gave me the box to take to the post 
office. She added a short letter to Jonathan, part of which said, "Thanks for 
serving our country!" and "God bless you!"

The next day, on my way to the post office, I thought of something else: I 
bought a package of coffee and put it in the box. I thought of Jonathan finding 
a quiet time in the midst of the turmoil in Iraq to sit down and enjoy a cup of 
fine coffee.

At the mosque, the imam had also asked for monetary donations and pointed 
toward a row of boxes at the entrance.

Each box was labeled for a certain cause, like "Flood in Bangladesh," "Drought 
in Somalia" or "Earthquakes in Pakistan." There were also boxes for 
close-to-home causes, such as "Fix Mosque's Roof" or "Pay Mosque's Utility 
Bills."

There was no box for "mujahedeen" (whoever and wherever they were), no requests 
to send them cards, soaps or cookies (or coffee). Doing this would have been a 
crime - supporting terrorists - punishable by prison.

Mohammad Ali Salih is an Arab journalist based in Washington.


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