Saturday, August 22, 1998

U.S. Muslims want to demystify their religion

By TOM KISKEN / Scripps Howard News Service

NEWBURY PARK, Calif. - Wide powder blue and off-white stripes of carpet, in what was once a Newbury Park preschool, point eastward, to Saudi Arabia, to the holy city of Mecca.

Muslim men kneel in their stocking feet, using the stripes as a prayer compass. They press their foreheads to the carpet and murmur "Subhana Rabia alala."

"Glory be to God the highest."

Five years ago, about 60 Muslims met weekly in an east county industrial park for Friday midday prayers. Now, 150 people come to the relocated mosque, off Borchard Road in Newbury Park.

It's part of a mushrooming of mosques, which includes a group of 20 people who gather weekly in a machinist's shop in Simi Valley and the hundreds who will pray at the new $8.1 million King Fahd Mosque in Culver City - one of about 55 mosques in the Los Angeles area. The sanctuary, financed by Saudi royalty, was dedicated by the king's son two weeks ago.

At these houses of worship, men and women come to cleanse themselves and to submit to God - Allah. Many of them were born in Jordan, Egypt, Pakistan and other Islamic nations. In the minds of some Americans, they're linked to Arabic terrorism and regressive attitudes toward women. But Muslim leaders say a growing number of former Christians and Jews are converting.

"I think Islam has that balance between materialism and spirituality that fits the American nature," said Maher Hathout, a Pasadena-area cardiologist and spokesman for the Islamic Center of Southern California. "In Islam, there is encouragement to ensure your material well-being. But without spiritual enrichment, material wealth will lead to misery."

Shortly before 1 p.m. Friday, families arrive in Newbury Park, at the dirt parking lot in front of the Islamic Center of the Conejo Valley. Some of the men wear robes and hats called kufis, but most are in work clothes or jeans. One 5-year-old boy scrambles through the gathering with a T-shirt announcing "I've Got an Attitude."

The women are different. They wear hijab shawls that cover their hair and robes that expose only their hands.

The clothing is like a shield preventing men from seeing women as objects, said Wafaa Soliman, a computer consultant from Agoura Hills who leads classes on the fundamentals of Islam.

She wears a robe at the mosque. When shopping or taking her two kids to school, Soliman favors contemporary clothes but still keeps her hair covered and wears a loose-fitting, long dress or pants with a blouse that hangs to her knees.

Her daughter, Sarah, played on the girls' basketball team at Oak Park High School, covering herself with long pants and a T-shirt when she was on the court.

The lack of skin encourages "trying to improve their insides instead of worrying about how they look on the outside," Soliman said. "This is actually what God ordained for women to do when they reached puberty."

As with many religions, Muslims accept much on faith. Ask why women pray behind the men, sometimes in a separate room, and the answer is that is Allah's instructions and the way this always has been.

Jamila Miloud, a registered nurse from Camarillo, explains it this way: Islamic prayer involves bowing and kneeling. If Miloud or any other woman prayed in front of a man, with her posterior in his face, it would be a sign of disrespect.

But Americans see women covered and in a separate room and conclude they are relegated to lesser roles.

Soliman said Islamic beliefs about responsibilities for husbands and wives are similar to those of Southern Baptists, who made national news in June by proclaiming women have equal but different roles in a marriage.

While Muslim women are free to work, their main role is nurturing the family and running the household.

In some ways, Muslim women have more rights than Americans, Soliman said. If a woman's emotional and financial needs aren't being met in a marriage, she doesn't go to court. She tells her husband they're getting a divorce. He has to submit to the demand. "If she's not comfortable in the marriage, she shouldn't be in it," Soliman said.

Before entering the prayer sanctuary in Newbury Park, Muslims cleanse themselves - either at home or in a tiled bathroom at the mosque. They wash their hair, hands, arms, faces and feet. They even swirl water in their mouths.

As they clean each body part, they ask forgiveness for a sin.

Once in the air-conditioned sanctuary, they tread on the carpet in socks or bare feet, shoes stowed in a large wall cabinet.

"It's just practical," explained Ahmad Bdairat of Ventura, noting that people press their faces to the carpet. "You've been walking on the street.You don't know where you've been."

Bdairat, who was born in Jordan, lives in Ventura and works as an engineer. He says prayer is the way Muslims submit themselves to Allah. It's the backbone of the faith.

They pray five times a day, starting as early as 5 a.m. and ending just before 10 p.m.

Each prayer begins with people standing upright, hands raised to their ears. They bow at the waist, then kneel on the carpet, prostrating themselves to Allah, and repeat verses from the Qur'an - Koran - which they accept as God's words.

Daily prayers are part of the commitment to faith that impresses Veronica Lamb, a grocery store clerk from Camarillo. She's Roman Catholic but is taking weekly classes on Islam.

In her eyes, Muslims seem at peace with themselves. They build their lives around their faith. During the holy month of Ramadan, they abstain from food, water, cigarettes, even aspirin from dawn to sunset.

"And here, people think it's so hard to just to get up and go to church on Sunday," she said.

Islam is monotheistic, meaning Muslims believe in one God, whom they call Allah, but it is the same entity worshipped by Christians and Jews.

They believe Jesus was born of a virgin and will one day return to the world. They view him the same way as Moses and Ibrahim - Abraham - as a prophet, not the son of God.

"God has no son, no partner, no beginning, no end. He is eternal," said Asif Gosla, a computer programmer from Camarillo.

Muhammad, who scholars say started the Islamic movement in 622 A.D., was the final prophet. It's his teachings, as received from God, that Muslims follow in the Qur'an.

Gosla, who was born in India, near Bombay, says Muslims grow accustomed to stares. People's perceptions of Islam have been shaded by Desert Storm, terrorism, nuclear testing in Asia and battles with Israel.

And then there are the rituals. Men have to explain why they face the holy temple of Kaaba in Mecca when praying. (Muslims believe Kaaba was constructed by the prophet Ibrahim and his son, Ismail, and is the first house of prayer built to God.)

"You're different from everyone else," Gosla said. "People don't know what you're doing and you have to explain it to them."

Soliman said people sometimes don't ask questions. Because Muslims often are reserved, misperceptions thrive.

"It's like if you have somebody move into the neighborhood," she said. Does that person just out of the blue go and introduce themselves to the neighborhood? Or do the people who have been there go out to welcome?

Muslims believe in five pillars of faith:

Declaration of faith: Muslims believe in one God with Muhammad as his servant and messenger.

Prayer: Muslims pray five times a day, believing the practice inspires people to higher morality and purity.

Fasting: During the month of Ramadan, which comes this year in December, Muslims fast from dawn to sunset. They also abstain from sexual activity during those hours.

Alms: Muslims are asked to give 2.5 percent of their net savings to the poor.

Pilgrimage: People are encouraged to travel to the Kaaba prayer sanctuary in Mecca.

(Tom Kisken is a staff reporter for the Ventura County (Calif.) Star.)