Islam:
There were two artsy videos about the power of love and marriage played on the Jumbotrons for everyone to see; they looked as pretty and expensively made as Superbowl ads. One of the marriage videos actually quoted the Qur'an! It was a video in dozens of languages that, I soon realized, was quoting random sacred verses and poems about love, without showing their sources. I read the subtitles-
"And among God’s signs, God created mates for you from among yourselves so you may dwell in tranquility with them and find love and mercy between your hearts; these are Signs for those who reflect."
I was like HOLD UP! I had just posted that quote on my Facebook about LGBT love recently.
There were so many women wearing the veil, nuns in Black habits, nuns in blue habits, West African Christians with headwraps. Jordanian Christian refugee family got to address the pope, and greeted him with a "Bismillah." In fact, I felt surrounded by Muslims in spirit- people who want to transcend dunya, who fell in love with God and felt a calling to imitate the life of Jesus.
A few days earlier, for the weeklong festival, there was a Muslim speaker from New Jersey, Suzy Ismail, who gave a talk about the interfaith imperative to aid families. She is a marriage counselor who has authored books on Muslim families and navigating the American workplace as a Muslim. But alas, on Saturday, I was the only Muslim there, and I was the only person out of the hundreds I saw who was visibly praying.
Praying on my prayer mat in front of thousands of Catholics, and at two train stations made me feel self-conscious. Praying indoors at NJ Transit station near midnight for Isha near a security guard's desk in Trenton undoubtedly made me feel awkward at first, but I eventually felt serenity. When I began praying, the homeless man across from me was asleep; when I finished, with a smile on my face, I noticed he was staring at me with an interested expression.
Magrib prayer came at the exact moment the Pope went by on his popemobile, and I was thinking "what timing! Dang it. I waited here for hours and now I will miss my chance to catch a glimpse of the guy. Oh well." I prayed as everyone around me began screaming and running towards the fences, and it felt like a wind stirring the souls of the people around me. With my eyes closed and my mind focused, I could almost feel the uplift in hearts around me, the spirits vibrating at higher frequencies. It felt like God lit a lamp in Jesus, who lit a lamp in St. Francis, who lit a lamp in the Pope, who lit the lamps of the people surrounding me. That, plus Beatlemania.
Coming soon- more dispatches from the Pope's visit, what I saw regarding
- race
- gender
- lgbt
- class
- spirituality
- immigration/American ideology
and of course, Aretha Franklin
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