Source & Credit: Merced Sun Star | Orig. pub. date: Dec. 12, 2007
By Victor A. Patton | vpatton@mercedsun-star.com
A framed poster depicting a crowd of Muslims praying around the Kaaba, a giant black cube located in the Islamic holy city of Mecca, graces Alhaj Abdur Raqeeb Wali's living room wall.
In 1973, the 75-year-old Wali was among more than 2.5 million Muslims who made the pilgrimage to Mecca to pray at the sacred Kaaba -- the object toward which all Muslims turn during prayer.
Wali, who teaches English to non-native speakers at Merced College and serves as a Muslim chaplain at Central California Women's Facility in Chowchilla, is one of many Muslims living in Merced County.
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While each local Muslim tells an individual story, besides their faith they all share one common feeling -- they are proud Mercedians.
Alhaj Abdur Raqeeb Wali still gets a hearty laugh out of a post-9/11 experience on an airline flight -- one that a humorless person might consider anti-Muslim bias.
He was on a flight from Washington, D.C., to California and happened to be sitting next to an older woman who was curious about the red topi hat he was wearing on his head and his thick, silver beard. While the style of Wali's hat and beard are not exclusive to Muslims, the woman felt compelled to dig a little deeper into the identity of this rather odd-looking black fellow.
"She said, 'Do you mind if I ask you what is your religion?'" Wali recalled. "I said, 'I'm a Muslim, and she said 'Ahhhh!,'" said Wali, bursting into laughter, as he retold the story. "She almost jumped out of her chair, that poor lady."
For the next three or four hours, however, Wali and the woman talked about his life and Islam, and he was able to dismiss many of the myths the woman had held about Muslims. "When we reached our destination, she was pretty happy," Wali said.
It's with such frankness that Wali approaches anyone who asks him about the religion that many Americans still misunderstand -- and associate with radical extremists like Osama bin Laden and al-Qaida. He hopes to change that image by educating people: "When people find out that I am Muslim they are surprised, because they are looking for a Muslim to be a terrorist, talking about killing, infidels and all of this stuff. People have a bad image of Islam."
He also likens Islamic extremists such as al-Qaida to groups like the Ku Klux Klan that manipulate passages from the Bible to spread hate. "No religion will teach what any of these people are teaching," Wali explained. "Everything they are doing is totally against the teachings of the prophet Muhammad."
Wali, who was born a Christian and hails originally from Chester, Pa., came into contact with the prophet's teachings for the first time while he was a student in his early 20s at Brandeis University in Massachusetts -- the first Jewish university founded in the United States.
The year was 1956, and Wali was a fan of the local jazz scene in Boston. He had invited a trombone player to his home for a few drinks. The meeting would change his life. "He came to my house, and I offered him some wine. He said 'I don't drink,'" Wali recalled.
"I said, 'Well, let's go get some girls.' He said 'I don't fool with girls.'" Perplexed by the trombone player's behavior, Wali then offered him some marijuana -- which he also refused. Finally, the trombone player told Wali that his religion prohibited him from doing any of those things.
"He said, 'I am a Muslim,' and I said, 'a Muslim?'" Wali recalled.
The trombonist then gave Wali a book about Islam and invited him to hang out with a group of Muslim jazz musicians who called themselves "The Brothers." The group encouraged Wali to study Islam more deeply and to buy a prayer book from local Muslims. "I was very pleased, the way they treated me," Wali said.
Wali said the discipline of the Muslims he encountered also caused him to question his own upbringing as a Christian. "When I was in my mother's faith, there was a lot of hypocrisy. People going to church singing and then coming out of church (they would start) drinking, cursing and fighting. I couldn't stand that," Wali said. "But when I came to (the Muslims), I saw people who were living what they were preaching. They were not only talking about religion -- they were living religion, praying five times a day. And I thought that was interesting."
By 1958 Wali had made the full transition to a Muslim. He even had his birth name legally changed in 1960. He won't even mention his old non-Muslim name, referring to that time as his "days of ignorance. It's R.I.P. on him," Wali said. Above the front door of his home is a sign posted in Arabic: "In the name of God who is most gracious and ever merciful" -- a maxim which, to a large degree, encompasses his feelings about Islam. "I worship the one who created me," said Wali, "You can call him God, Jehovah, Allah -- whatever you want." Wali also pointed out that the type of Islam to which he belongs, called Ahmadiyya, has a saying: "Love for All, Hatred for None."
Since his conversion, Wali said his life as a Muslim has been extremely fruitful. He has studied Islam throughout the world, visiting Nigeria and Saudi Arabia, where he lived for two years. He also once had a brief conversation with El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz, the man who was formerly known as Malcolm X, when the late black American leader was speaking at Harvard in the mid-1960s. "I was surprised because he was such a humble man," Wali said of the encounter.
He eventually moved to Pittsburg in 1979 with his wife of 31 years, Rifat. Soon they moved to Merced after he landed a federal job as a counselor. They have six children and four grandchildren.
Like most local Muslims, Wali and his family practice their faith in the privacy of their own home, even though Merced is home to a mosque -- a small white building with green trim off Franklin and Ashby Roads. Called the Islamic Center of Merced, the mosque has several daily services and upwards of 200 members. In back, shelves hold a few prayer rugs, there's a small fenced swimming pool and a basketball rim with no net. Orange trees and neatly trimmed conifers rise behind a wooden fence.
Although Wali is Muslim, he also notes that he and his wife have friends who are Sikhs and Hindus, as well as a few Christian friends.
Despite his encounter on the airplane, Wali said Merced is a friendly place for a Muslim to live. "We really enjoy Merced very much," Wali said. "It's a family town, good place to raise your kids. You can go downtown, sit on a bench and eat your lunch," Wali said.
Still, Wali said there have been a few instances where he's seen people express prejudiced attitudes toward Sikhs -- who are commonly mistaken for Muslims. He recalled an incident that occurred while he was standing in a local Sikh-owned store. "I happened to be in there one day and I heard someone say, 'They must be making money for Osama bin Laden.' Just to hear somebody say that is a problem," Wali said. "We, in this country, are very ignorant of other people's faith. So when 9-11 happened, so many people looked at Sikhs and thought they were Muslims because they wear a turban and long beards."
Because of his Islamic name, Wali said he also is frequently pulled aside in airports by security -- an issue that he views as merely an inconvenience. "They go and check the (no-fly) list and find that I am not on there," Wali said. "They never say that, but they do."
Read complete story here: Merced Muslims find a welcome despite war
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