MEETING THE IMAM: A SOCIAL STUDIES RESEARCH PROJECT

This following essay was first given as a speech at the "Day of Unity and Interfaith Prayer" on September 11, 2002, at the Baitur Rahman Mosque in Silver Spring, Maryland, USA, where Imam Shamshad A. Nasir was posted as a missionary of the Ahmadiyya Movement in Islam at their U.S. national headquarters.

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By Imam Shamshad A. Nasir | Chino, CA, USA

A couple of months back, I stepped out of my office at the mosque because of something I observed. There were some people, four or five, making a video film of the mosque and taking some photographs.

When they saw me, they rushed to their car. They started the car to drive away, but I stopped them. I asked them to roll down the window glass. They were hesitant. But I said, "No. I will not allow you to go unless I talk with you."

I saw that they were high school girls, oddly-dressed and covered from head to foot (in their own view they were respectfully covering their bodies). I asked them, "What is the problem?"

They said, "We are high school students and we have a social studies project to complete for our school. We came to make a video of the mosque."

I said, "All right, come with me."

They were still scared. I said, "No. I will not allow you to go home today until you come with me and talk with me."

So I brought them to the office. They were a little more relaxed. I asked them, "What help can I give you so you can complete your project for school?" They said, "We could add some dialog to the video if you have time to talk with us." So we sat and talked for almost thirty minutes, and then I asked the question, "Why were you running away like that?" They said, "We are not Muslim. We heard about Muslims on TV, on the radio, and we read in the newspapers that Muslims treat non-Muslim women this way and that way."

I said, "Are you still scared?"

They said, "No. When we first came into the mosque, we were scared, but not now."

Before the students left, I told them, "The doors of this mosque are open to all of you, regardless of race, color, or religion. And not just because of 9-11. Stop by any time. Sometimes I may be away, but if you call ahead, I will make arrangements to meet with any of you. I want to remove any misunderstanding: the doors of the mosque are open to you."

Iman Shamshad Nasir said he encourages teachers and students engaged in similar social studies projects to contact their local mosques and arrange appointments.

Meeting the Imam: A Social Studies Research Project