There were tents set up with food and other exhibits of each country that has representation in the local faith community. We bought tickets and promptly sampled food from Iraq, Pakistan, Brazil, Turkey and Lebanon. There were vendors selling clothing and women's head coverings as well.
While we were eating there were cooking demonstrations going on and we watched this woman making Turkish breads.
By far, the highlight of the day was the tour of the mosque. I really didn't know what to expect. I didn't know much about the Islamic faith and, based on my perceptions of the outside of the building, I thought the actual worship area might look something like the inside of a cathedral – ornate, formal and silent. It was anything but.
Our tour guide was fantastic. I can't remember his name but he came to the United States from Turkey. He gave us an overview of the Muslim faith and it's tenets. We also got some history so we could put Islam into perspective. He gave us some parallels and connections with Christianity, since that was most of our group's background. Then he opened it up for questions. He was very clear that there was nothing we could ask that he would find offensive. He pushed us for deeper and more thoughtful questions. Finally, we started to open up and connect.
I learned the difference between Sunni and Shia Muslims. We took off our shoes and stepped into the prayer space and asked questions. Muslims don't believe that anything other than God is holy, so we were free to move about the space and take pictures as we wanted. In truth, the prayer space more resembles a multipurpose room than a cathedral. There is carpet and stained glass but no "altar space" that Christians are used to focusing on.
Our guide also showed us the "preparation room" in which Muslims wash and prepare their dead for burial. I was most deeply moved when we were in this room because of the obvious love and respect for life.
Over and over again our guide asked us to ask questions. He asked us to reveal the misunderstandings we might have about his faith and encouraged us to get past the biased and uninformed media portrayals of him and all the other Muslims we might have heard or seen.
On many levels I respect that. As a lesbian in a straight world, I often struggle with the way gay people are portrayed in the media. When anyone judges me based on some parade they've seen on TV or some pedophile they heard about on the news, I shudder. It takes effort to look beyond stereotypes. I respect the work required to do so.
We ended the day by having a man write our names in Arabic. He – like the hundreds of others putting on the festival – was warm, funny and very approachable. We got back in the car talking about all we had learned.
The first thing we did after leaving the festival was make a stop at Barnes and Noble bookstore where we bought the book "The Complete Guide to World Religions." I have to think that our tour guide who patiently answered our uninformed questions would think his work was not in vain.
This is called a mirhab. It is used in the prayer room to orient the person who is engaged in prayer towards Mecca. Our guide told us that it is based on the prayer shrine that Abraham erected in the desert in the Old Testament.
A tapestry in the prayer room.
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