It was a cold and dark November night. The freezing autumn wind sent a chill down my spine as I trudged along the streets of New York, dressed in my all-white shalwar kameez and flip-flops. I wasn’t wearing a jacket, seeing as the place I was headed didn’t have an area for storing one. My toes were forcefully curled, partially in an effort to keep my flip-flops stable and also to give my toes a sense of warmth on such a cold night. I passed by several adverts written in Arabic, advertising a variety of services – ranging from offers of financial assistance in flying to Saudi Arabia to requests for volunteers at a neighborhood cleanup. I finally reached the entrance of the place I was looking for; the Astoria Islamic center – a mosque which I hadn’t been to since my childhood.

I tried the doorknob at the front entrance, feeling like I was twisting a block of ice as my bare hand touched the freezing cold metal. The doorknob didn’t budge. I tried again in the other direction – but to no avail. At this point, I reached for my phone to double-check Google Maps to make sure the Masjid was still open at this time when a man with a greying beard and a white shalwar told me to use the backdoor entrance around the corner.

I proceeded to follow him around the corner, stopping at the back entrance. To my surprise, the entrance was labeled as the women’s entrance. Part of me felt like I was being mistaken for a woman and being led to the wrong area; however, I decided to put my trust in the man and went through the entrance

As I walked down the hallway, I entered a large room that was entirely covered by a red carpet designed with a golden pattern. There were shelves along the walls filled with various sandals and flip-flops. Apart from me, there were about twenty other men in the room – all looking to be around their thirties or forties. Two of the men were standing on a stage overlooking the wide area of the red carpet. Assuming they were the Imams of the Masjid who were going to lead tonight’s prayer, I asked them if it was okay for me to record a video or take photographs of the prayer – they requested that I refrain from doing so.

I looked around for a spot to sit, choosing an area near the back so nobody would notice if I did something strange and embarrassed myself. It was a strange experience, feeling so alienated in a place central to a religion my peers had perceived me to be extremely knowledgeable about.

Not so long ago during a robotics competition, I had managed to lead all of my Muslim peers in a prayer to break our fast as it was the holy month of Ramadan. While my peers were impressed by my ability to recite the dua perfectly my friend, Dawud, who I thought to be a perfect Muslim added that he had never learned the Arabic language and relied on English translations of the Quran to understand the religion. I was stunned, and after a few days received a message from him on Discord – a 14-minute YouTube video of a popular Mufti talking about how the dua I had recited was a “weakened” version of the dua. I’d never known duas could be weakened before and I soon fell down the rabbit hole of YouTube videos explaining Islam – hearing lectures from various characters ranging from UK broadcast channels summarizing the journey of the Prophet Muhammad to hour-long lectures by Mufti Menk breaking down existentialist questions using Islam.

As the masjid slowly started to fill up with more individuals, adding children far younger than me to the mix, I noticed a pattern. Everyone was either dressed in a neutral-colored Shalwar, much like I was, or dressed in some form of formal attire. Not once did I see anyone enter wearing a basic tee shirt or hoodie.

My small amount of cover was blown once the row I was standing in at the back of the Masjid started to fill up. The speakers situated at the front of the Masjid boomed to life. I heard a loud “Allaaaaaaaahu Akbar” in a thick, accented voice. Following this was a unanimous, loud, and quicker “Allahu Akbar” (God is great) from the crowd. It happened twice more, and then the phrase was switched to “la ilaha illallah” (There is no God but God)

Once the room was full and crowded, with some men even flooding into the hallway from which I had entered, the prayer began. Everyone in the room remained silent as the Imam recited the verses of prayer in perfect Arabic. In Islam, there are certain movements that a person needs to make during prayers, and in the Masjid everyone was performing these movements in Unison – being guided by the Imam’s verses.

Only at one point during the prayer were we to say anything; one loud “Ameen” arose from the crowd in unison at the end of the prayer. Once the prayer ended, I noticed about half of the people in the room decided to leave while the other half stayed and listened to the Imam recite various verses from the Quran, including the Ayat-ul-kursi, Dua-E-Qanoot, and various Suras in perfect Arabic.

As I left the Masjid, snapping photos of the entrances I reflected on the interview I had conducted with my friend, Dawud, a few days earlier.

“In what ways has been a Muslim impacted you as a person?” I asked him.

“In what ways has been a Muslim impacted you as a person?” I asked him.

 “Being Muslim has brought balance and peace to my life. I feel like we must use our time on this earth to prove ourselves as good Muslims to live an eternity of happiness (Dawud Rahmati).” He responded.

 Seeing the men in the Masjid all move and speak in Unison helped me understand Dawud’s answer. There was a sense of peace in everything being so uniform and in unison while the balance came from the fact that though most of those in the masjid were likely coming back from their normal work lives (judging by their formal attire) they still managed to make time for practicing Islam in their daily schedule.

 I also asked Dawud: “Do you feel Islam can be used to explain everything? And in what ways has being a Muslim impacted you as a person?”

 He responded with, “I think it’s foolish to try and use Islam to explain everything since it’s just easier to use science and math sometimes. You can’t make Allah explain why 1+1 = 2 right (Dawud Rahmati)?”

Dawud’s response showed me that in the modern sense, being a Muslim does not have to completely dominate one’s logical compass. A Muslim can still use science and math to explain things it is likely far simpler to do, but Islam encourages us to find those mediums through which we provide explanations. Sure, Islam can’t directly substitute science and mathematics, but it encourages the expansion of our current knowledge of math and science.

I believe the article, “Strengthening critical thinking skills among Muslim students” by Abdul Karim Abdullah successfully expands upon this idea by taking verses from the Quran and explaining their meaning. Abdullah writes.

 “Islam is a “religion of reason” There is nothing in the Qur’an that is “contrary to reason” Islam “is not based on mystic dogmatism but is always open to the critical inquiry of reason” The Qur’an encourages us to use “our powers of reasoning […] to the best of our ability and knowledge” It frequently uses expressions such as: “those who exercise their intellect” (ya’qilun) “those who think” (yatafakkarun) “that whoknow” (ya ‘lamun) “those who ponder” (yatadabbarun) “those who understand (yafqahun) The Qur’an censures people who do not think… (Abdullah, 650)”

 The most critical point from this quote is the establishment that, “Islam is not based on mystic dogmatism but is always open to the critical inquiry of reason. (Abdullah, 650)” This means that Islam is not a religion that attempts to blindly explain elements and situations by an assertion of the existence of higher powers controlling everything; rather, Islam encourages the use of critical thinking and reasoning methods, such as science and mathematics, to approach conclusions.

As I was walking home from the Masjid, I began to see Islam as something more than just a religion that I wanted to find out more about – it was a far more complex community. I found that the Masjid was a model for how society should act in the real world: peacefully, and in unison. My experience with struggling to find the true entrance to the Masjid and being helped by another person showed me that the members of a Muslim community are kind and caring of one another. My interview with Dawud showed me that Muslims are curious, but not arrogant people who do not insist on the idea that Islam can prove everything; rather, acknowledge that there are other mediums for the explanation that Islam encourages Muslims to go out and find. And my reading of Abdul Karim Abdullah’s article showed me that the Quran encourages Muslims to not blindly assert their ideals; rather, Muslims should support their ideas with critical methods of logical reasoning. From my studies, I believe that Islam could be the perfect model for society in the outside world. The values of logic, peace, order, unity, and kindness are all ideals that a sought after in most nations’ governments. It’s unrealistic for the entire world to convert to Islam; however, I believe that the world can take some of the values and customs of Islam and implement them for the betterment of our future.

WORKS CITED

Rahmati, Dawud. Personal interview. 19 Nov. 2022

Observation of Muslim men within a Masjid. Astoria Islamic Center, Astoria, New York, NY, 18 Nov 2022

Abdullah, Abdul Karim “Leslie Terebessy”. “Strengthening critical thinking skills among Muslim students.” Islam and Civilisational Renewal, vol. 1, no. 4, July 2010, pp. 649+. Gale Academic OneFile, link.gale.com/apps/doc/A270895981/AONE?u=cuny_ccny&sid=bookmark-AONE&xid=964fdb39. Accessed 23 Nov. 2022.