Ramadan -- Strangers in a strange land flock to little mosques on the prairie
By John Quinlan, Journal staff writer | Posted: Friday, October 05, 2007
Allah u Akbar, Allah u Akbar
(God is Great, God is Great)
And so it continues, seven verses in all, the Muslim call to prayer, or Azan, which is broadcast five times a day in Arabic from the public address system of the Red Carpet Inn in North Sioux City.
It is not a propaganda broadcast designed to convert the infidels. It is a reminder to the Khans, the Pakistani/American family that has owned and operated the inn for about four years.
It lets Shujah and Nabila Khan, their sons Saad, 20, and Shan, 17, and their informally "adopted" son, Nathan, 18, know that it is time to pray at one of the five 10-minute prayer sessions that are evenly spaced throughout the day, from dawn to dusk.
In mosques, homes and places of business throughout the world, Muslims respond to the call, pulling out their prayer carpets and bowing in the direction of Mecca, a tradition nearly as old as the religion itself, which was founded by the prophet Muhammad about 1,500 years ago. Mecca in Saudi Arabia was Muhammad's home.
And "dawn to dusk" takes on special meaning during Ramadan, the holiest month of the year for Muslims. For the 30-day Ramadan period that started Sept. 13 this year -- the dates vary, depending on the lunar calendar -- Muslims abstain entirely from food and drink during daylight hours.
The fast also means abstention from any substances taken internally from dawn to dusk, including medicine, intravenous fluids and cigarettes. That last item is particularly troubling for Shujah Khan, the head of the household and a confirmed nicotine addict.
"I cannot live without a cigarette for more than an hour. I have a biggest problem," he said, smiling sheepishly.
During Ramadan, his first cigarette is lit sometime before dawn, the next maybe five minutes after dusk, the one after that maybe five minutes later. That's about as long as he can go when the Ramadan sun is not shining.
The rules for maintaining the fast are tough -- even bleeding or vomiting can break it. But the ill or elderly who need medication are not discouraged from taking it, and they have the option of "making up" lost fast days after Ramadan, Khan said.
Pregnant or lactating women, children under 12, the sick and the elderly are not obligated to fast.
It is all a matter of discipline, of pleasing the Almighty, of cleansing yourself, he said.
Fasting to feasting
Then, at dusk, the Khans gather in the large family room at the back of the motel for prayer and feasting.
They break the fast by eating a date, or several dates. Dates are great for the digestive system besides being a traditional fast-breaker, Khan said.
Nabila Khan has prepared a large semi-Pakistani-flavored dinner, replete with fresh fruit salads, hamburgers, fish, egg rolls and a tasty snack called pakorra, a Pakistani dish created from ingredients such as chicken, onion, eggplant and lentils that are dipped in a batter of gram flour -- made from ground chickpeas -- and deep-fried. The spicier ingredients have been tempered a bit for the benefit of their Christian reporter guest, she says, and for her 47-year-old husband, whose still-lean stomach can no longer tolerate the spicier dishes that he preferred as a younger man. It was plenty spicy enough, though. And tasty.
They also drink milk mixed with syrup, a predawn favorite of Sunjah's. It settles his stomach for the long day ahead.
About 30 minutes after dinner, they all share black tea.
The food itself is purchased from a halal-certified store in Omaha, the nearest location selling food certified for Muslims, who are forbidden from consuming pork, alcohol, blood and meat dedicated to false gods. Halal is the Muslim equivalent of Jewish kosher food.
After a day without food or even water, the Khans are incapable of eating too much.
Dr. Misir Nauman, a Sioux City physician and fellow Pakistani who knows the Khans from The Islamic Center of Siouxland in South Sioux City, likens the daily fasting to a gastric lap-band procedure for the morbidly obese. "But it's completely voluntary. No surgery is required here," he said. "The stomach shrinks, and by the end of 30-day period, your appetite and your stomach holding capacity is much, much less."
The Islamic Center, built about five years ago at 2701 Willow St., is one of two metro-area mosques where Muslims gather. The Mosque of Sioux City, established in 1999, recently moved to 1219 Jones St., where the old Nazarene Church is being converted into a working mosque.
Between them, the mosques serve 200 to 300 people. An exact count is difficult because, unlike most Christian churches and Jewish synagogues, Muslims don't register as official members. And there may be many more Muslims in the area who do not attend a mosque.
On Saturday evenings, area Muslims gather for a big feast at the Islamic Center, a blend of exotic and all-American foods -- was that pizza? -- provided by participants. They offer tasty fare from such far-away places as Iran, Jordan, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Morocco, Somalia and Senegal. The result is a potluck dinner that, except for much of the menu, appears no different from any Siouxland church potluck dinner. The women tend to flock together. As do the men. And the kids, well, they seem to be all over the place.
The Mosque of Sioux City has its comparable potluck dinner every Sunday.
Prayer and self-discipline
For Shujah Khan, however, the emphasis on food is misdirected.
Ramadan is not about fasting, it's about prayer and self-discipline, he said.
The idea, he added, is that you observe so many things and practice so many virtues, such as control and patience, between sunrise and sunset during Ramadan that you can put them into practice in your daily life and become a much more focused person during the other 11 months of the year. "And you could be a very straight, humble, nice, decent, focused, energetic person and healthy citizen of the society," he said. "That's what I got out of it."
There is another teaching from the Prophet, he says: "That one month is mine, and the rest of the 11 months are yours."
Both local mosques offer prayer sessions lasting from one to two hours during each of the 30 Ramadan nights. All Muslims are encouraged to attend, but attendance is not mandatory.
The mosque's imam (prayer leader) or some other designated believer -- in truth, any Muslim can do it -- reads, in Arabic, a chapter of the Quran, the sacred scripture revealed to Muhammad. The Quran is divided into 30 chapters, one chapter per Ramadan night. And on Fridays, the imam will give a sermon before the sacred reading.
The central concept in Islam is tawheed, or Oneness of God. For Muslims, there is but one God, who is lord and sovereign of creation. It is the same God of the Christians and the Jews, all "people of The Book," Shujah Khan noted.
The three world religions share beliefs in successive prophets and revealed scriptures. In fact, all three faiths trace their religious history back to the patriarch Abraham. But they part ways after sharing the words of the Old Testament of the Bible, he said. Christians turn to Christ and the New Testament. Muslims turn to Muhammad and the Quran.
Too many people, Muslims included, take the Quran out of context, their interpretations a perversion of the text, Khan said.
"The Book is not different than any other Good Book," he said. "But when we take something out of context, when we take something which is against something and not go behind the actual story... Like , for instance, if I say that the Quran says, 'Do not pray.' The Quran says 'Do not pray.' But if you rewind a little bit and if you go a little forward, the context of the whole thing is 'Do not pray when you are intoxicated.'"
Dr. Eyad Najdawi, chairman and imam of the Mosque of Sioux City, said media reports that link violence, terrorism and Muslims are basically "hijacking" the religion. "This is completely opposite to the truth. I'm talking about the real Islam," he said. "For example, one thing is clear in Islam -- you are not supposed to kill an innocent soul. Soul, period, meaning engaging in something like this is forbidden 100 percent."
Total commitment
The fasting puts Muslims in the proper mood for Ramadan.
"The first seven to 10 days, it's like that you are cleansing," Khan said. "And after like a week or 10 days, you start feeling that you have energy. You have some new blood added to your system. Your vision gets sharp. Your thinking, your focus factor, your overall performance, too -- and amazingly, your life partner starts telling you that you are a different person. That means when it comes to, like, intimate relationship."
And by different, he means better.
Son Saad, a student at Western Iowa Tech Community College, said the fasting is tough when you first start doing it, but "when you get older, it's like second nature, basically."
Back in his grade school days, he recalls being teased by his friends about not eating or drinking anything, but it was generally good-natured ribbing. And the schools gave him the option of going to the library where he could pray or read at lunch time.
He also worried about dehydration when he was a younger kid playing basketball. So he would drink four to five glasses of water before dawn each school day, an amount he does not require these days.
Students have pretty busy schedules, not enough time, really, to worry about food.
"With prayers and everything, time passes by pretty fast," he said.
The fasting didn't discourage Nathan, the 18-year-old Winnebago, Neb. ,man taken into the Khan household, from getting his life turned around and converting to Islam. "It sparked an interest in me. He basically saved my life," Nathan said of Shujah Khan. "They opened my eyes to a lot of things and changed the person I am."
Nathan recently earned his G.E.D. at WIT after dropping out of West High and running with a bad crowd and living on the streets, Khan said. He opened his home to the young man about six months ago and agreed to help him as he pursued his education. "And I treat him like my own son. If he needs to do something, if he wants something, now it's my kind of responsibility," he said.
By abstaining from food, drink and other physical needs,, including sex, during the daylight hours, Muslims refocus attention on God and practice self-sacrifice. They are called upon to re-evaluate their lives in light of Islamic guidance. They are to make peace with those who have wronged them, strengthen their ties with family and friends and do away with all bad habits, essentially cleaning up their lives.
During Ramadan, every part of the body must be restrained, Shujah Khan said. The tongue must be kept from backbiting and gossip, the eyes from looking at unlawful things, the ears from listening to idle talk or obscenities, the hands from touching anything that does not belong to them, and the feet from going to sinful places.
The purpose is to teach Muslims patience and humility, as well as to remind them that they are fortunate and should help the needy and less fortunate. It is a total commitment, Khan said.
The holidays
The end of Ramadan marks the first of Islam's two major feast days, Eid ul-Fitr.
After sundown of the last day of Ramadan, Eid ul-Fitr, also called the Little Feast, begins in the early morning of the first day of Shawwal, the month following Ramadan, It is either Oct. 12 or 13 this year. (INCOMPLETE SENTENCE; WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY?. A PERIOD WAS PUT IN INCORRECTLY AFTER LITTLE FEAST.) Lunar calendar experts are still debating the actual date. Muslims perform a ritual prayer called the Eid prayer. Sweets, food, and nonalcoholic drinks are distributed. Celebrations extend up to three days.
Eid ul-Adha, also called the Big Holiday, falls two months and 10 days after Eid ul-Fitr and is celebrated in honor of the prophet Abraham when he intended to sacrifice his son Isaac as proof of his loyalty to God. Eid ul-Adha is translated into English as "The Feast of Sacrifice," when Muslims all over the world present an animal sacrifice in gratitude for God saving the Prophet Ismail's life. The slaughtered animal meat is divided into thirds, one for the person who is presenting the beast, one to be distributed to his poor relatives and the last third for the needy, regardless of their religion, race, or nationality. As with Eid ul-Fitr, there is an early morning prayer for the Eid, and celebrations continue for four days.
(God is Great, God is Great)
And so it continues, seven verses in all, the Muslim call to prayer, or Azan, which is broadcast five times a day in Arabic from the public address system of the Red Carpet Inn in North Sioux City.
It is not a propaganda broadcast designed to convert the infidels. It is a reminder to the Khans, the Pakistani/American family that has owned and operated the inn for about four years.
It lets Shujah and Nabila Khan, their sons Saad, 20, and Shan, 17, and their informally "adopted" son, Nathan, 18, know that it is time to pray at one of the five 10-minute prayer sessions that are evenly spaced throughout the day, from dawn to dusk.
In mosques, homes and places of business throughout the world, Muslims respond to the call, pulling out their prayer carpets and bowing in the direction of Mecca, a tradition nearly as old as the religion itself, which was founded by the prophet Muhammad about 1,500 years ago. Mecca in Saudi Arabia was Muhammad's home.
And "dawn to dusk" takes on special meaning during Ramadan, the holiest month of the year for Muslims. For the 30-day Ramadan period that started Sept. 13 this year -- the dates vary, depending on the lunar calendar -- Muslims abstain entirely from food and drink during daylight hours.
The fast also means abstention from any substances taken internally from dawn to dusk, including medicine, intravenous fluids and cigarettes. That last item is particularly troubling for Shujah Khan, the head of the household and a confirmed nicotine addict.
"I cannot live without a cigarette for more than an hour. I have a biggest problem," he said, smiling sheepishly.
During Ramadan, his first cigarette is lit sometime before dawn, the next maybe five minutes after dusk, the one after that maybe five minutes later. That's about as long as he can go when the Ramadan sun is not shining.
The rules for maintaining the fast are tough -- even bleeding or vomiting can break it. But the ill or elderly who need medication are not discouraged from taking it, and they have the option of "making up" lost fast days after Ramadan, Khan said.
Pregnant or lactating women, children under 12, the sick and the elderly are not obligated to fast.
It is all a matter of discipline, of pleasing the Almighty, of cleansing yourself, he said.
Fasting to feasting
Then, at dusk, the Khans gather in the large family room at the back of the motel for prayer and feasting.
They break the fast by eating a date, or several dates. Dates are great for the digestive system besides being a traditional fast-breaker, Khan said.
Nabila Khan has prepared a large semi-Pakistani-flavored dinner, replete with fresh fruit salads, hamburgers, fish, egg rolls and a tasty snack called pakorra, a Pakistani dish created from ingredients such as chicken, onion, eggplant and lentils that are dipped in a batter of gram flour -- made from ground chickpeas -- and deep-fried. The spicier ingredients have been tempered a bit for the benefit of their Christian reporter guest, she says, and for her 47-year-old husband, whose still-lean stomach can no longer tolerate the spicier dishes that he preferred as a younger man. It was plenty spicy enough, though. And tasty.
They also drink milk mixed with syrup, a predawn favorite of Sunjah's. It settles his stomach for the long day ahead.
About 30 minutes after dinner, they all share black tea.
The food itself is purchased from a halal-certified store in Omaha, the nearest location selling food certified for Muslims, who are forbidden from consuming pork, alcohol, blood and meat dedicated to false gods. Halal is the Muslim equivalent of Jewish kosher food.
After a day without food or even water, the Khans are incapable of eating too much.
Dr. Misir Nauman, a Sioux City physician and fellow Pakistani who knows the Khans from The Islamic Center of Siouxland in South Sioux City, likens the daily fasting to a gastric lap-band procedure for the morbidly obese. "But it's completely voluntary. No surgery is required here," he said. "The stomach shrinks, and by the end of 30-day period, your appetite and your stomach holding capacity is much, much less."
The Islamic Center, built about five years ago at 2701 Willow St., is one of two metro-area mosques where Muslims gather. The Mosque of Sioux City, established in 1999, recently moved to 1219 Jones St., where the old Nazarene Church is being converted into a working mosque.
Between them, the mosques serve 200 to 300 people. An exact count is difficult because, unlike most Christian churches and Jewish synagogues, Muslims don't register as official members. And there may be many more Muslims in the area who do not attend a mosque.
On Saturday evenings, area Muslims gather for a big feast at the Islamic Center, a blend of exotic and all-American foods -- was that pizza? -- provided by participants. They offer tasty fare from such far-away places as Iran, Jordan, Pakistan, India, Afghanistan, Morocco, Somalia and Senegal. The result is a potluck dinner that, except for much of the menu, appears no different from any Siouxland church potluck dinner. The women tend to flock together. As do the men. And the kids, well, they seem to be all over the place.
The Mosque of Sioux City has its comparable potluck dinner every Sunday.
Prayer and self-discipline
For Shujah Khan, however, the emphasis on food is misdirected.
Ramadan is not about fasting, it's about prayer and self-discipline, he said.
The idea, he added, is that you observe so many things and practice so many virtues, such as control and patience, between sunrise and sunset during Ramadan that you can put them into practice in your daily life and become a much more focused person during the other 11 months of the year. "And you could be a very straight, humble, nice, decent, focused, energetic person and healthy citizen of the society," he said. "That's what I got out of it."
There is another teaching from the Prophet, he says: "That one month is mine, and the rest of the 11 months are yours."
Both local mosques offer prayer sessions lasting from one to two hours during each of the 30 Ramadan nights. All Muslims are encouraged to attend, but attendance is not mandatory.
The mosque's imam (prayer leader) or some other designated believer -- in truth, any Muslim can do it -- reads, in Arabic, a chapter of the Quran, the sacred scripture revealed to Muhammad. The Quran is divided into 30 chapters, one chapter per Ramadan night. And on Fridays, the imam will give a sermon before the sacred reading.
The central concept in Islam is tawheed, or Oneness of God. For Muslims, there is but one God, who is lord and sovereign of creation. It is the same God of the Christians and the Jews, all "people of The Book," Shujah Khan noted.
The three world religions share beliefs in successive prophets and revealed scriptures. In fact, all three faiths trace their religious history back to the patriarch Abraham. But they part ways after sharing the words of the Old Testament of the Bible, he said. Christians turn to Christ and the New Testament. Muslims turn to Muhammad and the Quran.
Too many people, Muslims included, take the Quran out of context, their interpretations a perversion of the text, Khan said.
"The Book is not different than any other Good Book," he said. "But when we take something out of context, when we take something which is against something and not go behind the actual story... Like , for instance, if I say that the Quran says, 'Do not pray.' The Quran says 'Do not pray.' But if you rewind a little bit and if you go a little forward, the context of the whole thing is 'Do not pray when you are intoxicated.'"
Dr. Eyad Najdawi, chairman and imam of the Mosque of Sioux City, said media reports that link violence, terrorism and Muslims are basically "hijacking" the religion. "This is completely opposite to the truth. I'm talking about the real Islam," he said. "For example, one thing is clear in Islam -- you are not supposed to kill an innocent soul. Soul, period, meaning engaging in something like this is forbidden 100 percent."
Total commitment
The fasting puts Muslims in the proper mood for Ramadan.
"The first seven to 10 days, it's like that you are cleansing," Khan said. "And after like a week or 10 days, you start feeling that you have energy. You have some new blood added to your system. Your vision gets sharp. Your thinking, your focus factor, your overall performance, too -- and amazingly, your life partner starts telling you that you are a different person. That means when it comes to, like, intimate relationship."
And by different, he means better.
Son Saad, a student at Western Iowa Tech Community College, said the fasting is tough when you first start doing it, but "when you get older, it's like second nature, basically."
Back in his grade school days, he recalls being teased by his friends about not eating or drinking anything, but it was generally good-natured ribbing. And the schools gave him the option of going to the library where he could pray or read at lunch time.
He also worried about dehydration when he was a younger kid playing basketball. So he would drink four to five glasses of water before dawn each school day, an amount he does not require these days.
Students have pretty busy schedules, not enough time, really, to worry about food.
"With prayers and everything, time passes by pretty fast," he said.
The fasting didn't discourage Nathan, the 18-year-old Winnebago, Neb. ,man taken into the Khan household, from getting his life turned around and converting to Islam. "It sparked an interest in me. He basically saved my life," Nathan said of Shujah Khan. "They opened my eyes to a lot of things and changed the person I am."
Nathan recently earned his G.E.D. at WIT after dropping out of West High and running with a bad crowd and living on the streets, Khan said. He opened his home to the young man about six months ago and agreed to help him as he pursued his education. "And I treat him like my own son. If he needs to do something, if he wants something, now it's my kind of responsibility," he said.
By abstaining from food, drink and other physical needs,, including sex, during the daylight hours, Muslims refocus attention on God and practice self-sacrifice. They are called upon to re-evaluate their lives in light of Islamic guidance. They are to make peace with those who have wronged them, strengthen their ties with family and friends and do away with all bad habits, essentially cleaning up their lives.
During Ramadan, every part of the body must be restrained, Shujah Khan said. The tongue must be kept from backbiting and gossip, the eyes from looking at unlawful things, the ears from listening to idle talk or obscenities, the hands from touching anything that does not belong to them, and the feet from going to sinful places.
The purpose is to teach Muslims patience and humility, as well as to remind them that they are fortunate and should help the needy and less fortunate. It is a total commitment, Khan said.
The holidays
The end of Ramadan marks the first of Islam's two major feast days, Eid ul-Fitr.
After sundown of the last day of Ramadan, Eid ul-Fitr, also called the Little Feast, begins in the early morning of the first day of Shawwal, the month following Ramadan, It is either Oct. 12 or 13 this year. (INCOMPLETE SENTENCE; WHAT ARE YOU TRYING TO SAY?. A PERIOD WAS PUT IN INCORRECTLY AFTER LITTLE FEAST.) Lunar calendar experts are still debating the actual date. Muslims perform a ritual prayer called the Eid prayer. Sweets, food, and nonalcoholic drinks are distributed. Celebrations extend up to three days.
Eid ul-Adha, also called the Big Holiday, falls two months and 10 days after Eid ul-Fitr and is celebrated in honor of the prophet Abraham when he intended to sacrifice his son Isaac as proof of his loyalty to God. Eid ul-Adha is translated into English as "The Feast of Sacrifice," when Muslims all over the world present an animal sacrifice in gratitude for God saving the Prophet Ismail's life. The slaughtered animal meat is divided into thirds, one for the person who is presenting the beast, one to be distributed to his poor relatives and the last third for the needy, regardless of their religion, race, or nationality. As with Eid ul-Fitr, there is an early morning prayer for the Eid, and celebrations continue for four days.
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Ali wrote on Oct 7, 2007 11:57 PM:
X-SSC wrote on Oct 5, 2007 11:41 AM: