Part III

I go to the Wednesday night lecture with Fareed Abdullah. I find it boring again. Afterwards, I email the host of an event at which Fareed will speak, to see whether Fareed with allow an interview with me. Fareed himself does not have a phone number or email contact. I am told my message will be forwarded to him.

In the meantime, it is Islamic Awareness week at USC. The Muslim booth is next to the Mormons and the Pagans. The Muslim booth is all young men, Bilal, Karim, Abdul, and a few other guys whose names I forget. The Pagan booth is all young women – witches, technically. Their booth is popular because of the tarot card readings.

“What do you hope to achieve with Islamic Awareness week?” I ask Karim and Bilal.

They give the general answer – correcting misunderstandings about Muslims in America.

“What are misunderstandings about Muslims?”

“That we are terrorists, that we treat women poorly.”

“Why do you think these stereotypes exist?”

“Because of the way the news media portrays Muslims.”

I meet again with Ray for coffee. I ask him what he thinks common Muslim stereotypes are:

“That we are terrorists.”

“Why do you think those stereotypes exist?”

“Because Muslims do turn to terrorism. But you have to ask – why these people turn to terrorism and what is terrorism…because they are poor and have no hope, no money, they are hungry, and assholes like Bin Laden come around and say – ‘this world does not matter. What matters is paradise, after this world. All this world is pain and suffering because of the Jews and America. If you go blow yourself up, you will be in paradise and your younger brothers will be liberated.’”

“How do we stop this cycle?”

“Doing things like this. Having conversations like this.”

I look around the Barnes and Noble bookstore. It seems like an unlikely place to solve the world’s problems. But maybe Ray is onto something.

I get an email from Bilal. Fareed Abdullah will allow me to interview him. Bilal comes with me.

“Was it appropriate for me to pray with Muslims during the midday prayer at the Heirs of the Prophet?”

He smiles. “If you do,” he says, “you should pray to the side.”

I light up, “That’s what I did.”

He goes on, “But it is not generally a good idea – for you to pray with Muslims. More for you, because you don’t know what to do. You are not really praying.”

Bilal asks Fareed, “Before you were Muslim, did you ever pray?”

Abdullah says, “No. Only after I embraced Islam did I pray.”

I ask Fareed Abdullah about converting to Islam. He grew up a Catholic in the Bahamas. At church, he insisted, the people were more interested in finding a girlfriend than finding spiritual truth. He found Islam on his own. His family thought he was crazy - there were no other Muslims in his town. Since that time, he has devoted his life to studying Islam and learning Arabic, despite having no money.

I thank Fareed Abdullah for speaking to me and exit the masjid. Outside is the bearded white man who bullied me at the Heirs of the Prophet day. I ask him what he is doing now that he is no longer in the film business. He tells me he is a merchant. We go to his van, which he uses to cart his books and audiotapes of lectures that he sells at events. The titles are unfamiliar to me, but deal with Islam and how Islam and Wahhabist Islam is misrepresented in the West.

I ask him whether he ever went to Grateful Dead or Phish shows, because he reminds me of the burrito and tee-shirt merchants. He is not amused.

When I prayed at the Heirs of the Prophet event, I was faking it. I sat quiet, blanking out my mind and followed the motions of the other men in the room. I don’t know how to pray.

Some people finished praying and leave the room. I follow suit and while walking out, an arm blocks me. I walked behind him and out of the room.

The young man came up to me while I put my shoes on, “I’m sorry I blocked you.”

“No, no, I insist, it was my fault.”

“We pray to the East, towards Mecca, and no one is supposed to be in the way between us and Mecca.”

“I apologize, it’s my fault,” I say.