First Listening Post

Despite the proximity of Masjid An-Noor, I had some difficulty in finding the mosque. From my house, all I have to do is drive west on 120th Street and turn before 147th Avenue. I expected the Mosque to be not necessarily extravagant, but to at least stand out. Most people can usually see a Catholic or Protestant Church from several blocks down, and from what I read from the Miami Herald articles, this Mosque held a certain amount of prominence in the area, what with its emphasis on community education of Islam.

I reached the corner of 120th Street and 147th Avenue and couldn't find the Mosque. I did a U-Turn and saw a sign on the side of the road pointing behind the Alienware Building. I turned in to the side road and followed it toward a gate that had been drawn shut. I got out of the car and tried to call the Imam, but I only got his voice mail. I took a few photos from the gate and left, as there was only one car on the premisis and there wasn't a sound coming from the Mosque.

From the distance of the gate, I was kind of surprised at the lack of pomp in the design of the Mosque. My limited experience with religious institutions dictated that most places of worship took great pride in its outer appearance, and to be honest I was unimpressed with the design. Then again, we live in Kendall, not in the Mideast or other predominantly Middle Eastern places where a great amount of money can be put into construction.

After my initial failure, I attempted several more calls to the Imam, none of which were returned. I feared initially that this post might be a failure, but I decided to go in person, call be damned. I returned two days later, on Tuesday, September 15th, before the noon prayer was to start. When I showed up, the gate was open and there were several cars in the parking lot. Already this was turning out better than my first attempt.

I decided to walk around the Mosque before I came inside, as I had never seen one before. The design was fairly simple and resembeled what I had seen in text books. I didn't quite know what to expect, but I suppose I shouldn't have expected a grand building that would be seen for miles.

After walking around the mosque once, I found the entrance and somebody standing by a window, looking out toward the field behind the building. I entered the building and was stopped by the man. He asked me to remove my shoes before going further into the building, so I took off my slip-ons and placed them on a rack near the entrance which I hadn't noticed. I walked back in and was taken to an open room with a domed center, with a second floor separated by glass windows.

I sat down with the man, whose name was Sulaiman, and we talk a bit about Islam, as I was not so familiar with it. We spent about a half hour going over the basics of the religion, with me interrupting me a few times to ask questions about details that I didn't understand. After the half hour we were talking, Sulaiman was starting to open up a bit more about the center and what he does, however by this time it was time to begin the prayers.

Around this time the Imam showed up and Sulaiman introduced us. The Imam told me he could speak to me after the evening prayer and to come back later. I asked if I could stay and observe the prayer and was told it was OK. I sat down in a seat in the back and watched as about a dozen men came in, all different ages. It varied from about mid-2o's to late 60's. I got quite a few confused looks as I sat and quietly took notes.

While the men waited for the Imam to finish some minor preparations, I overheard snippets of their conversation. The younger men didn't say much, but the older ones talked about their families and the changing times. I wanted to come up and talk to them, but I felt that I didn't have an in yet.

When the Imam came back in, everybody lined up and began praying. They prostrated themselves and spoke in Arabic, later finding out they were quoting parts of the Quran as they symbolically submitted to God. I wanted to take video of this, but decided to wait until I could speak with the Imam before doing so.

After the prayer finished, I was approached by one of the younger men dressed in traditional Islamic garb. The man, Mohammed Yusuf sat down next to me and we spoke for quite a while. Most of the conversation felt like it was a conversion tactic, but I did get some interesting things from talking with Yusuf, as he is usually called. One was his strong belief in destiny and the power of faith as a tool to make himself feel good. He made several references to his own life, about how he's sinned many times. He dodged any subtle questions I asked about him, maneuvering the conversation back to faith and belief.

After getting redirected for the third or fourth time, the Imam came back into the room, back from picking up one of his children from school. The Imam was surprised that I stuck around and came over and asked if I'd like to talk now. I agreed and we went over to another part of the room and sat down to talk.

This was definitely the best part of this first experience. Sitting down with Imam Mohammed Zakaria Badat was a treat, as he was exceptionally well-spoken and didn't speak to me like I was another potential convert. We talked about the open houses that he started holding at Masjid AnNoor to educate the public about what Islam was to normal Muslims, not the boogie men that the media portray.

This was a large focus in our conversation: the skewed perception of Islam in the media and how it essentially makes life difficult for Muslims in America. Badat took great affront to the 'experts' that appeared on TV, as most of them appear to him as authors with the agenda of selling books, not providing a fair opinion of Islam.

Another interesting note was how Badat pointed out how the terrorists in the Middle East were barely Islamic at all. He said while they claim to follow the teachings of Mohammed, they "have no value of human life." They don't care whether they're killing Americans or other Muslims.

Badat later said that Obama was taking the wrong stance by sending more troops into Afghanistan. When I asked him what he would do, Badat said that he would have continued to try opening communication with people, as war would only make it impossible for people to settle their differences.

Following this line of thought, I asked him about how he was dealing with the vandals that were caught several weeks ago. He said that he wasn't pursuing criminal charges, instead insisting on community service and teaching the kids about Islam. Because it would be labled as a hate crime, both kids would get severe mandatory sentences, and that would only lead to more horrible possibilities in the future.

"They're only 15, 16 years old. If they get arrested it will destroy their lives and only lead to more hate. I don't want to do that," said Sabat. "I used to work in a prison back in England, I know what would happen."

We talked a little more about the other acts of vandalizim that had stuck Masjid An-Noor since Badat moved to Miami from England, including the time where someone shot up the place during New Years Eve. It wasn't discovered the someone had fired shots until people noticed plaster on the floor of the prayer area and bullet casings on the second floor several days later. What was interesting was that the bullet holes were still there after five years, since it is a pain to do repairs to the dome.

By this time I had to leave to go to work. I was able to get Badat's card, so I can easily get in contact with him for the next time I head out to Masjid An Noor. I'm hoping that since I got to speak with Badat for so long that the people there will let me talk to them a bit more and not give me so many strange looks, or at least give me the strange looks and talk to me as well.