Third Meeting with Adil

On Wednesday March 23^rd, I met with Adil once again at Barnes and Noble. Before meeting with Adil, I found myself to be more nervous than the last time. I was surprised because I thought the more and more we met the less and less my nerves would bother me.  The root of the anxiety, though, quickly became apparent. I didn’t know what to talk about. At our first meeting, we talked about his family and his hobbies. The second time we discussed his schoolwork, his past jobs, and his future aspirations. This meeting I didn’t know what we would talk about. I wanted to have a plan. I couldn’t think of anything, though. So, like any good college student, I winged it.  What I found was that it was our best, most interesting meeting yet.

            The conversation first started with Adil talking about his TOEFL test once again, but soon Adil started talking about Libya. He is very upset with what is going on in Libya. The conversation took a turn, and we started talking about religion, specifically how dominant religion is in Saudi Arabia and how this focus on religion makes the culture in the United States very different than culture in Saudi Arabia.

            When the conversation first started, Adil discussed how a few people he knows suffered from culture shocks when they first came to the United States. The biggest problems were seen in substance abuse. In Saudi Arabia, alcohol is not sold, and no one is allowed to drink. He told horror stories of people coming to the United States who started to drink, got kicked out of school, and sent back home. Other people he knew could not handle how people drank, went to clubs and bars, and did not pray five times a day. All of these people had such a culture shock that they quickly quite their studies and went back to Saudi Arabia, escaping the temptations found in another country. Adil, though, said has not had culture shock because of his frequent travels and his observance of Islam.

            The conversation quickly went to how important religion is in Saudi Arabia and how important Islam is to Adil. Even though he is comfortable with is religion, he told me that he told himself not to talk about religion because the tension it causes, much like politics.  He explained different rules and customs. Adil explained how to greet another person, how to interact with women, how no alcohol is sold, and how everyone is supposed to five times a day. Even in America, Adil does not drink, he tries to greet everyone the way he was taught at home, and how he still prays five times a day and goes to the Mosque on Friday (Friday is like Sunday for Christians). What I thought was most interesting was his frustration with the portrayal of the Islamic religion. Throughout our conversation, he talked about how the media shows Islam in a very bad light. He believes that the Islamic religion shown in the media is very extreme. Adil went as far as to say that the Muslims shown are merely Muslim by name. They do observe and follow Islamic law and tradition. He, then, told me a few things that I thought was vey unique and interesting about an Islamic country.

            First, if Adil were to bring me to Saudi Arabia, no one can harm me because I am Adil’s friend. Islamic law says that everyone must respect me and treat me as their friend because I am Adil’s friend. Secondly, he told me about an important part of Islam is that there are no sacred people, like a priest or bishop is in Catholicism. Everyone is on the same level when it comes to religion. Anyone can lead prayer, and everyone is important to the community. Islam even goes as far as requiring wealthy Muslims to donate 2.5 percent of their earnings to the poor. Thirdly, an Islamic rule is that if anyone attains knowledge it is sinful to not share it with others.

            I really enjoyed his conversation about Islam because I have never interacted with a Muslim and discussed religion before. As I was learning about the Islamic faith, I thought there are a lot of interesting ideas, rules and traditions. I completely agree with Adil when he said that the media portrays Muslims in an unfavorable light. In many ways, Muslims follow the same ideals as Christians in America. After all, we share the same God and have many of the same prophets and biblical characters. The more we talked he even started asking about my own Catholic faith and how different parts of the church works. After our meeting, I felt like a learned a great deal and gained insight into another religion and culture.