Thanksgiving Coffee Company

I hadn’t been inside a mosque since Uganda, where I visited with Elias Hasalube, the cooperative’s chief agricultural extensionist, a board member, and a Muslim. I thought of that Friday afternoon as I walked down the street, downtown San Francisco, with JJ, to meet Souleiman Ghali, one of the leaders of the San Francisco Islamic Society, and a member of the San Francisco Interfaith Council. Souleiman and I have spent a lot of time together in the past few months, discussing the project, and building our program of interfaith mobilization in San Francisco. He was very much looking forward to meeting JJ, and I was looking forward to introducing them to each other.

Greeted by Souleiman, Iftekhar Hai, and other leaders from the Muslim community, we sat down for coffee, juice, and sweet pastries. While we chatted Iftekhar and Souleiman compared notes on hospitality: who should serve the guests, and when. You see, Souleiman is from the Shuf mountains of Lebanon, where you first greet your guests, sit down, talk, and then sometime later, serve them food and drink. To serve them first would be to suggest that you wanted their visit to be short, that they should leave as soon as possible. Iftekhar was shocked. In his native Pakistan, it would be an offense to not serve your guests immediately, how else would they know that they are welcome, and perhaps they are tired, and in need of energy for conversation?

JJ and I laughed, and JJ said that in Uganda it is different still. You serve your guests immediately, and then leave them. If, when you return, there is still food, you join them, but you should be sure to give them all that you can.

Soon we made our way upstairs, removed our shoes, and joined the congregation. JJ and I sat in the back, and watched as the men prayed. Behind us, and on our right, the women prayed with the children. The Imam gave a sermon mixing English with Arabic. He talked of the sanctity of worship, and especially of places of worship. He talked of the obligation of everyone to protect not only their own place of worship, but every place of worship. JJ nodded approvingly, and I thought of the many people of faith who like JJ, are deeply committed to their religion, who boast proudly of it, and who respect others who do the same. As his sermon came to a close, the Imam introduced JJ, and welcomed him as a brother of the Muslim community in San Francisco. On our way out into the street, we were greeted by dozens of community members, who thanked us for our visit, and for our work to build peace. In the coming months, Inshallah, this community will become one of the dozens of communities in San Francisco who mobilize and join the Interfaith Council’s campaign of support.

This entry was posted by BCM on Monday, March 5th, 2007 at 11:37 am and is filed under Interfaith Organizing, Mirembe Tour. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.