Muslims in Maine

Mursal Habibzai, 4. models a scarf at Amei Halaal Market on St. John Street in Portland BY Janet Blevins PHOTOS BY Jesse Stenbak, Brita Zitin & Jason Hjort First of all, Islam is not ‘new’ to Maine,” says Jamar Nor, 47, a local Somali-American Muslim who teaches children’s classes at the Brackett Street Mosque. “A common misunderstanding is that Islam ‘arrived’ in Maine with the most recent wave of immigrants,” says Dawud Ummah. “Actually, we’ve been here for quite some time.” Ummah serves as an imam – leader, teacher, advisor – for the small community of Portland Muslims descended from African slaves. He’s also a maintenance worker for the City of Portland. Ummah, 47, says his group sometimes meets in private homes in an attempt to preserve their unique history, but they also pray with the greater Muslim community at the mosque on Brackett Street. As early as 1915, Turkish and Albanian immigrants are said to have created one of the first mosques in the United States, in the Pepperell Counting House in Biddeford, according to Images of America, by Charles Butler, Jr. Most of the worshipers were men who came to work in the factories, facing east at designated times to pray across the sea. Today, no mosque exists in Biddeford, but a section of West Street Cemetery with the stones facing Mecca stands as testimony to the presence of these early Muslim groundbreakers. Later in the 20th century, another groundbreaking Muslim won a world title in a town that now has a thriving mosque and a large, active Muslim community. “Here in Maine, people tend to forget Muhammad Ali won his title in Lewiston [see “102 Seconds of Lewiston,” interview with Ali, Portland Magazine, February/March 2002],” Ummah says. “Questions open the door.” How do Muslims pray? At the Brackett Street Mosque, men and women pray in separate rooms divided by a curtain in the doorway. Both groups can hear the Imam reading from the Quran, and they all face Mecca [across downtown Portland]. All Muslims are supposed to wash their hands, feet, and face – an ablution to purify them before prayer. How do children learn the Quran? Children attend Madarassa, or Islamic school, at the Brackett Street Mosque where, no matter what their native language is, they learn to read and write Arabic so they can read the Quran. They also learn Muslim history, geography, prayer, and behavior. Are there food restrictions? Muslims are forbidden from eating pork or drinking alcohol. Seafood seems to be a personal choice. According to Aziz el Madi of UMaine Orono and Farmingtion, they do not eat animals which display excessively aggressive behavior – for example, lions or sharks – because they do not want to acquire these behaviors from the meat. Pigs are viewed as ‘dirty’ animals who live in an unclean environment and eat unclean food, so Muslims do not want to ingest their meat. Halal is meat that’s been lawfully slaughtered and butchered. Any Muslim can do it, as long as he or she uses a sharp knife and does not cause stress to the animal. They acknowledge the “sacrifice for the sake of God,” according to el Madi. Since a Muslim “commits himself to the commands of God,” and drinking alcohol may result in uncontrolled behavior, there is a prohibition on drinking. Aziz el Madi says, “A person can lose consciousness, become violent, aggressive, not behave well.” What is the purpose of Ramadan? El Madi says Ramadan allows Muslims to “be free from their own desires, to exercise self-control. If we take things for granted, how can we appreciate what we’ve got? We learn how the poor feel, and then we can help them. From sunrise to sunset, we eat no food, abstain from sex, do not argue. This helps to solve defects in our manner; we improve ourselves, become a better person.” Do Muslims have a celebration like Christmas? Eid is the big family holiday celebrated after the month of Ramadan – pray at the mosque and have breakfast in the morning, then spend time with family, friends, and food, including an exchange of gifts. El Madi says, “Ramadan is like a dear friend who helps you control yourself, helps you be a better person. Then, when your ‘friend’ leaves, you feel sad, so you are surrounded by your friends and family at Eid to help you feel happy again.” “The first thing I wish Portlanders would understand is, not all Muslims are immigrants,” he says. “When I go to worship as a Muslim in Portland, I become a world citizen. I meet people from Somalia, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Libya, Iraq, Iran, you name it. But in spite of our differences, we are all ‘from here,’ too – we live here, love here, and worship here.” Nor, who loves Maine the way Ummah does, believes the fastest way to demystify Islam here is through direct and friendly discourse: “Questions open the door.” Habib Sayed Habib Sayed is a 23-year-old Muslim from Afghanistan who lives in Portland and works at Idexx. He cracks the ‘door’ open a bit further when he says, “Ask why we fast. Ask about the deeper reasons behind all of the things we do. Ask about why we pray.” Ask where: the Brackett Street mosque, Warren Avenue mosque, Lewiston mosque, the Muslim student organization at UMaine Orono. Ask how many Muslims there are in Portland alone: “At least several thousand,” says Rachel Talbot Ross of the city manager’s office. As for prayer, some Maine Muslims find it difficult to follow one of the major tenets of Islamic law: “I still find it difficult to pray five times daily,” Sayed says. Muslims are supposed to wash their hands, face, and feet before praying, and sometimes that’s hard to do at work. “I try to as much as I can, especially during Ramadan. Then for a month we fast from dawn until dusk. It is a time of purifying yourself.” So, how does Sayed view the Christmas retail promotions that assault all of us at this time of year? He says it’s a big holiday, like Eid, celebrated by Muslims after the month of Ramadan ends. “We pray at the mosque in the morning, visit with relatives and friends. There’s lots of food.” Sayed’s family moved to Portland from Afghanistan in 1992 “when I was just 13. It was a total culture shock. I was surprised to see women wearing skirts and shorts and bikinis at the beach because in Afghanistan women are mostly covered, but you get adjusted to it.” He spent eighth grade at King Middle School and then graduated from Portland High School where he played soccer all four years. He also played varsity in college, and now plays in a men’s league – his outdoor team is The Foreigners. Being a teenager in Portland prepared him for the experience of being the only Muslim student at the 1,200-student Catholic College of Anna Maria in Worcester, Massachusetts, where he majored in business administration, concentrating on management information systems. “It was not that difficult; I was already adjusted to American society. I even gave a presentation on Islam in my World Religions class.” “Miss Awralla, Miss Awralla!” Teenagers try to get the attention of Awralla Hashi-Aldus, 33, as she walks the halls of Portland High School. Hashi-Aldus, a language facilitator at Portland High School, is divorced with two children ages 7 and 12, was born in Somalia, and now lives in Portland. “Portland High has always made accommodations for us. During Ramadan, they reserve a quiet place for Muslims to go so we don’t have to go to the cafeteria.” Since Muslims fast during Ramadan, praying someplace other than the cafeteria seems logical. “The school districts in southern Maine are really good about being sensitive to Muslims.” “They [the students] pull me in different directions all the time,” she laughs. Hashi-Aldus translates Somali and Arabic during classes for as many as 100 foreign-born students. “I have ‘acculturated.’ I have my Somali culture but have taken on American styles.” Hashi-Aldus loves turquoise and wears five different pieces of jewelry with the gem. Wearing Portland High’s blue and white in her dress-and-scarf combination for a school pep rally, Hashi-Aldus says, “The best is to find a balance. One should keep one’s own culture but take the good things from your new environment. You’ve got to choose the good aspects of the two different cultures. It’s hard for teenagers. Either they completely abandon their heritage and customs or completely shy away from the new.” Portland High School Language facilitator Awralla Hashi-Aldus wears a blue and white scarf during Bulldog pep rallies Hashi-Aldus is from the town of Hargeisa in northern Somalia, in the area known as Somaliland. She came to the United States on a student visa to Connecticut 1988. She left before the war started in Somalia, living in India for two years and Egypt for eight years before immigrating to this country. Hashi-Aldus is concerned about how the next generation will keep the language and culture alive. “Our native languages are in danger. When the children get here their lives are suspended, there is no language growth. That’s why I wish we had native language classes. These teenagers will thrive in their new environment if they are more sophisticated in their native language.” Did Sayed experience any of these cultural adjustment problems? He says he was successful at resisting the temptations of teenage and college drinking because of his religion, but he never has a problem with his friends drinking around him, even though in college everyone drank around him. “It’s not my life. I cannot tell them what to do.” Sayed also does not eat pork or seafood. No lobster? “Muslims don’t eat pork. I personally don’t eat seafood. Beliefs about food change a little from group to group.” While he was in Maine, Muhammed Ali conspicuously refused to eat lobster because of his religious beliefs. Several markets, including Amei Halaal on St. John Street and Kenya Restaurant/Discount Grocery Store at 30 Washington Avenue in Portland provide halal, or lawful meat, and other foods as well as beautiful scarves from all over the world. Others sell the scarves from their homes. Jamar Nor, 47 delivers newspapers for the Press Herald That “all Muslims oppress women” is a common misunderstanding. The hijab, or traditional headdress, Muslim women wear makes those who wear it visible and has become controversial among some Muslim communities. “My sisters don’t cover their hair,” Sayed says, because “they are still young.” He thinks they will start to wear the hijab when they are old enough, even in this country. “For many Westerners some Muslim countries are judged by whether women wear the hijab, but [it’s not that easy]. One of the most brutal dictators in Iran, Shah Reza Pahlevi, made it illegal for women to wear [hijab],” says Wells Staley-Mays, 55, a former Unitarian-Universalist who converted to Islam three years ago. A volunteer at Peace Action Maine, Staley-Mays works at the nonprofit agency Ingraham. In early Islam there was equality within the mosque. Now many mosques separate women and men by rooms or on differrent sides of the same room. Hashi-Aldus says, “Wearing hijab is a personal choice of mine. Islam requires all people to be modest. You must respect yourself and others. Some people are more extreme. I have not experienced discrimination [from wearing hijab] personally, but some of my friends have.” She has heard of people shouting at Muslims, “Go back to your country,” and last year a family she knows was shopping at Hannaford when someone knocked down their grocery cart. “A big misconception [about Islam] is that women are not free. A lot of people think that,” says Hashi-Aldus. “A great deal of the Quran talks about women’s equality, rights for women to own and sell property. Many people think that Muslim women are oppressed, not educated. The Quran encourages people not to be ignorant. The Quran encourages all people to be educated.” Hashi-Aldus feels that a Muslim must learn Arabic so that he or she can interpret the Quran in its original language. Staley-Mays shares this pro-woman interpretation of the Quran. “The prophet Mohammed through revelations talked about protecting women’s property rights 1,300 years before Britain and the United States.” “Since 9-11 Islam is seen as negative when in fact the word ‘Islam’ means peace. Islam is associated with terrorism and the media is responsible for that. That’s what worries me. There are fanatics in every faith.” Hashi-Aldus addresses how politicized Islam has become for certain groups in the world. “After 9-11 people changed in this country. Mainstream Americans are not as sure; everybody’s cautious, and people’s attitudes toward me have changed. It’s a weird, terrible feeling.” Hashi-Aldus is no more concerned about her children’s safety than any other parent. “I do not judge and I do not want to be judged. The Quran says Lakum diinakum waliya diini, which means I have my beliefs and you yours,” Hashi-Aldus says of the misunderstandings that do occur about Muslims. “I would rather have people ask me questions than assume.” Ummah for his part feels the insults he suffers have more to do with his being African-American than being Muslim. “I’m walking down the street one day and someone yells from a car, ‘Go back to Africa.’ I’m from Cleveland, not Africa. I say, ‘Please don’t make me go back to Cleveland.’” --------------------------------------------------------------------------------