Spiritual and Secular Knowledge
Ben and Andrew came downstairs this morning after humanities to see all the girls stuffing bits of toast into their mouths and trying out different styles of head-scarves--these ranged from Virgin Mary to Pirate to Taliban meets Professor Quirrel (Liz). I didn't even try until we made it to the front patio; I left my coat at home and remained pretty comfortable on our little walk across Regents Park. Sister Seely was nice enough to wrap most of our scarves so that they covered our hair (if you're a woman, get your head covered or you won't get in).
Our tour guide's name was Omar. Nice guy, mid-twenties, landowner in Pakistan. He led us into the main prayer atrium, where we shed our shoes and quickly realized the air conditioning was on. It was a large blue carpeted room, with a gold dome on top, a monstrous crystal chandelier hung from the ceiling, and gorgeous passages of scripture around the rooms. I loved the huge windows--everything felt very open and sacred to these people.
We all sat around him and he answered our questions. I asked what the biggest challenge being a Muslim today was--he told me, after a moment of contemplation, "Knowledge is power. And ignorance is not bliss." A lot of people found this very cryptic, but I didn't at all; we're Mormons, for crying out loud. Everyone thinks things from us marrying multiple wives, having horns, not believing in Jesus, and even stealing maidens in the night through secret tunnels under the temple and then throwing them into the lake. All of these are absurd. But a Muslim like Omar, who's a British bio-chemist and student, has to be lumped into the same category as oppressive (and oppressed) regimes in the Muslim community, lumped in with ignorant cultures, and lumped in with terrorists. He encouraged us to look at Islam socially and politically, as well as spiritually and religiously. This combination of secular and spiritual knowledge is what makes up all religions, he explained.
Although our fundamentalists haven't killed anyone yet, that's not to say they won't in future. Omar gave us a lot of passages from the Koran illustrating the inherent equality of men and women (Muhammed's wife, for example), living harmoniously with other religions (no compulsion, a struggle in the Middle East and elsewhere), and that one unforgiveable sin is to harm another person. He said that it's hard to hear about pockets of the community who oppress their women because that is not doctrinal. Before now, every Muslim speaker we've had have tried to acknowledge that such acts are upheld by Muslim belief, but Omar shut that theory down. He even called it disgusting.
Brother Seely told us that he believes Muhammed was inspired to create Islam in order to prepare lots of people to accept the Gospel. For people whose religion it is to submit to the will of God, it would not be much of a switch at all. Our tour was punctuated by call to afternoon prayers; a hundred or more men (including Omar) packed into the first ten or so feet of the room to stand, kneel, and prostrate themselves on the floor, recognizing the almighty God and approach Him in the best way they knew how. It was very humbling, actually; bit awkward to lie prostrate, but I guess sometimes we forget who we are and who exactly we're praying to. It was a great reminder being in the Mosque.
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