Shia Association of the Bay Area (San Jose)

One of the many reasons I’m glad I went to college (as if I had a choice to not go) was it allowed me to take classes on Islam which would look at the religion from a secular perspective. Up to that point my only exposure to a non-religious look at Islam had been my 9th grade history textbook, which dedicated a full 2 paragraphs to the faith and defined jihad as holy war (it actually means struggle and most of the time involves no slaughtering of infidels).

I’m going to utilize what I learned in college to define the difference between Sunnis and Shias. To do it any other way would be doing so from a religious lens, and I want to avoid a firestorm of controversy if I can. If folks get upset, they can take it up with the Near Eastern Studies department at UC Berkeley.

In a sentence, the reason why the Shias formed their own sect of Islam was political. Following the Prophet’s death, there was a vacuum of power and when Ali, the Prophet’s son-in-law, was not named khalifah there was a lot of resentment amongst his followers and eventually that led to the creation of a group which practiced the religion in a slightly different way from the majority.

Now that that’s done, let me go ahead and describe my night at the SABA Center.

I found out upon arriving at the center that tonight is one of the most important nights in Ramadan for the Shia community. Tonight is the night which is strongly believed to be Laylat-ul-Qadr, or the night the first verses of the Quran were revealed to the Prophet (Sunnis strongly believe it’s the 27th, though both camps agree it’s definitely one of the odd nights in the last ten days of Ramadan). Additionally, it’s the night Ali, the first Imam and the Prophet’s son-in-law, was assassinated.

It being such an important night, the mosque was crowded and the mosque’s leadership used that as an opportunity to do fundraising. Typical, right? Not entirely. First of all, the leadership candidly and apologetically told the crowd that they pick such crowded nights because if not then, when? Makes perfect sense from a nonprofit standpoint; ask for money when the number of individual donors is the highest. Second, the mosque leadership recognized the concept of “donor fatigue,” as they referenced it multiple times. It’s refreshing to hear a mosque see the fundraising drive from the funders’ point of view; it’s not easy, especially in a bad economy, for congregants to keep opening their checkbooks.

However, this congregation has opened their checkbooks and then some. In 2010 they raised 1.5 million dollars, an astounding number given that the nonprofit field has been struggling for money since 2008 (“Flat is the new up” became our motto, as donations merely leveling off is a miracle in itself). In addition to all the cash donations they’ve received, folks are taking out home equity loans and handing them directly to the mosque. I’ve never seen such dedication from a congregation before, and keep in mind, I grew up in a Silicon Valley mosque in the dot com era. Now it’s almost the end of 2011 and they’ve “only” raised a little more than $440k, but the smart approach the leadership is taking is breaking up their larger fundraising goal of 1.2 million into manageable chunks they tackle every few months. Clearly, the approach is working, and they’ve almost completed construction on their mosque and no, they’re not burning cash on a minaret (really never going to let that go).

The more time I spent with the community, the more I warmed up to it. I don’t know why I was a little apprehensive about coming here, ignore the fact that they’re Shia and it really is just like a better-run version of MCA. There’s guys wearing Cal t-shirts, young ones speaking English without fob accents and fobs speaking the same languages they speak over at MCA. In fact, one of the main commonalities SABA has with MCA is its rich diversity. Every night in Ramadan they have lectures in English, Farsi, Arabic and Urdu, and there are plenty of people in the crowd whose native tongues are something other than those four. After having spent the bulk of this month in largely homogenous mosques, it was refreshing to be back in a large, diverse community and made my heart ache to be so far removed from the Santa Clara Valley. Sorry, Contra Costa, there really is no place like home.

To get the full SABA experience, I didn’t bounce after iftar. I stayed for the program and spent a couple minutes debating whether or not I wanted to attend the English or Urdu lecture. I chose the English one, but was warned that due to its popularity with the younger crowd, it tended to be more elementary than the others. And yes, I saw that for myself. The first half of the lecture was basically a simple narrative of the life of Ali following the death of the Prophet, one I’d heard many times, once most infamously during a drive from Berkeley to Stanford when the driver tried his best to convince me to embrace the Jafari school of Islamic law (and since there was a lot of traffic, he had plenty of time to make his pitch).

One thing I will note, and I mean no offense by this, is that the lecturer seemed fully aware that his narrative seemed contradictory to what Sunnis believe went down. I personally would have no problem with the narrative being different, it just seemed like he was being really defensive about the Shia story being different from the mainstream’s. It’s also worth mentioning that when Sunni scholars mention the same story they make no reference to the Shia version (few are the progressive scholars who will even refer to Ali as Imam Ali to appease the Shia population.)

At the end of the lecture, one of the gentlemen in the audience asked the scholar to explain why the Iranis became Shia, as they used to be Sunnis up until the Safavid Dynasty. That question, along with what I’d heard earlier, led me to wonder if members of this community have asked the leadership why they’re different from the Sunnis. It’s just not something I would have expected to be raised, since if I were Shia, I’m pretty sure I’d accept that unquestioningly, just like I unquestioningly accept that I’m Sunni.

One final note, and I’ll get to the profile, as I’m sure you’re dying to learn about the state of the shoe shelves at this mosque.

As I mentioned earlier, the Shia practices do differ slightly from the Sunni practices, and it didn’t take much for the congregation to notice I didn’t fit in. One gentleman from Eastern Europe who was having trouble expressing himself in English first quietly asked if I was part of the SABA youth group due to my bungling up the rituals (the SABA youth group being the place where many of the young learn about their faith). I replied in the negative. He processed that, and I could tell he wanted to ask if I was even Shia. He didn’t, and I’m sure he now thinks I’m just an ignorant Shia who doesn’t know how to pray.

The facade over the front entrance, which is actually technically the back entrance to the building.

Date Visited: August 20, 2011

Location:
4415 Fortran Ct.
San Jose, CA 95134

Tag-team taraweeh: Error, error, does not compute. (Shias don’t pray taraweeh in congregation)

Qirat: Since this category applies to taraweeh qirat, I’m going to say N/A

Size of congregation: 400

Capacity of center: The prayer hall itself had a capacity of 500, but they own the entire building in this business park

Parking: Lot, and there’s plenty of it

Mihrab: Yes. It was beautifully adorned with decorations and calligraphy. I’m not sure what the significance of it was, but they’d also bathed it with green light, which made it look even more fabulous.

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Looks like they’d converted some old file cabinets they’d found in the building, though some were real shelves. They were definitely inadequate as there were many shoes lining the floor.

Building: One in a business park which they’re slowly adapting to their purposes. In addition to the large 500-person prayer hall, they have multiple assembly rooms, a library and even an entire school which I believe is currently K-4. The prayer hall is absolutely gorgeous. Persian rugs cover the span of the room, and the walls have been modified with Persian architectural features which look like mihrabs but I know have a different name (kids, not everything you learn in college stays with you). Calligraphy lines the top of the walls, flush with the ceiling. It’s very clear to me that this community has spent a lot of time and effort to make this dry office building into a mosque.

Friendliness towards women: Very, very high. The women had a separate entrance but what really blew me away was that instead of modeling a traditional mosque, where women pray behind the men/in a separate room/at home where they belong, the room was split in half vertically by a curtain, thus preserving the women’s modesty but also allowing them to begin their prayer lines the same distance from the mihrab as the men. Why should women be praying behind men, anyways?

Friendliness of congregation: On a scale of 0 to San Ramon (0 to Belmont? Nah, 0 to San Ramon) I’d say this was 1.5 San Ramons. Wow, the hospitality I received tonight. After I’d made my dinner plate, a man asked if I didn’t like the food tonight, because I apparently hadn’t gotten enough. Fantastic! Also, I really like the Shia emphasis on shaking hands with everyone around you after prayer. You see that at Sunni mosques, but Shias do it, well, religiously.

I want to thank SABA for unknowingly playing host to me tonight. I wish them the best of luck with their fundraising, both for their own building and the efforts to end the East African famine, for which the youth for the past 8 nights have run a bake sale.

My attorney informed me that her nonprofit is working with the mosque to host an open house on  August 28th.  Do take a gander.

South Bay Islamic Association (San Jose)

The first thing I noticed as I strolled around this mosque’s lobby was the wall of accolades they’ve set up in the corner. On it were letters and plaques recognizing SBIA for the services it has provided to the community over the years. Most striking was a certificate from the City of Milpitas thanking SBIA for organizing their annual Eid festival at the end of Ramadan. That’s when you know the organization’s hit the big time: when its event is so successful local cities are taking notice even though said cities have mosques of their own. In its 25-year anniversary plaque, the City of San Jose rattled off a list of activities which have positively impacted its residents. SBIA is truly an institution entwined with the community and I encourage you to visit it during its open house on August 21st.

The mosque is led by the charismatic Imam Tahir Anwar, known as IT, TA, Imam Tahir or simply Imam, depending on who you ask. He is a source of pride but also one of vexation to the community. He is a source of pride because he has embraced his role as the face of the organization and sits on committees which directly impact how the population at large views Muslims. He is a source of vexation to parents because he’s living proof that one doesn’t need a high school diploma to be successful, a fact lazy children attempt to exploit to avoid studying. Of course I’m being facetious, don’t take anything out of context, I’d still like to be able to ask him to officiate at my wedding.

I like to tell a story about Imam Tahir when it comes to Ramadan, but only because it had a profound impact on the kind of Muslim I am today. A while ago, when I was a wee tot who’d only experienced taraweeh at MCA, my father took me to SBIA on the night of the 27th, which was infamous for the night MCA took its congregation hostage till they’d reached their fundraising target. This was in the heyday of the dot com era, so I believe the target for the night was around a million dollars.

Regardless of what the target was, the fundraising staff was notoriously relentless, so my father opted to take the family to SBIA so we could actually pray instead of being harangued for cash. The night of the 27th is when SBIA finishes the Quran, and it was the first time Imam Tahir completed the Quran during taraweeh, or so I was told (I apologize if that wasn’t the case). During the witr dua, he wept openly, an act which caught me by surprise and something I asked my parents about almost as soon as I could. They explained that the Imam’s heart was still so soft he was moved to tears by the Quran, something which doesn’t happen with a lot of Muslims because we either don’t care enough or don’t have that connection with the Holy Book. It’s an image I’ve carried in my heart all these years and every time I step into SBIA I think back to that day and realize how much further I have to go before I can say I have a satisfactory connection with the Quran.

One reason why that image remains so vivid in my mind is that it seems like the mosque hasn’t changed a bit since I was a child. It’s still the same old building with the same architecture and some relatively minor interior changes, which is in stark contrast to MCA, which has made so many changes to its center hardly anyone from fifteen years ago would recognize it from the inside anymore.

I’ve always liked SBIA because of the open nature of its congregation. It was because of mosques like SBIA and MCA that I grew up thinking it was a given that men brought their wives and families to the mosque, and that women were given an equitable space to pray. Many hours of traversing the Bay Area visiting mosques have sadly shown that that’s not the case at all. Seriously, if you want to see a well-run mosque, visit them during their open house.

Taraweeh here is obviously different from MCA’s because of the strong hanafi influence (MCA is more of a pick-and-choose kind of mosque when it comes to the Islamic schools of law. I’ll explain tomorrow). There are duas plastered on the walls which would make a salafi shudder, and they’re prayers I’ve really only heard being said at hanafi mosques. There’s no harm in saying extra prayers, of course, but there are those in the Muslim community who outright attack SBIA for doing things they claim the Prophet never did. Does it really matter if we’re doing things which the Prophet never did? As Imam Tahir patiently explained at an event a couple weeks before Ramadan, there is nothing wrong with doing something from which there is only benefit, and no harm. Who cares how the taraweeh is run as long as whatever’s being done is bringing the congregation closer to God?

One of the two main entrances to the mosque.  This is technically the back entrance, but during major prayers it's as widely used as the front entrance.

Date Visited: August 12, 2011

Location:
325 North 3rd St.
San Jose, CA 95112

Tag-team taraweeh: No

Qirat: Awesome. I always like how IT kicks it into overdrive for taraweeh, too.

Size of congregation: 150

Capacity of center: I think they could fit 300 people in there if they really wanted to and utilized the basement.

Parking: Street, off-street shared with a medical center and the Salvation Army

Mihrab: Yes

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Yes

Building: I believe the building used to belong to a veteran’s group. It’s a one-story structure with a basement containing a kitchen, an open area and the restrooms.

Friendliness towards women: Women are more than welcome to attend. They have full sight lines of the mihrab thanks to the magic of sizeable one-way mirrors. Men and women use the same doors to enter the building. Lots of women were coming to the masjid unaccompanied by males, which I have to say wouldn’t happen at some of the mosques I’ve visited.

Friendliness of congregation: I wanted to keep a low profile tonight, but I know the community is welcoming. Anyone is welcome to attend the community iftars.

Islamic Community of Bay Area Bosniaks

Date visited: September 5, 2010

Location: San Jose, CA
1445 Koll Circle #103
San Jose, CA 95112

Tag-team Taraweeh: Nope

Qirat: Good!

Size of congregation: 300-400

Capacity of center: 250 (yeah, there were people praying in the parking lot behind the unit)

Parking: Tight. The Koll Center is home a lot of the Bay Area's biggest radio stations (e.g. 98.5 KFOX, Channel 92.3) so I'm sure their employees didn't appreciate how we took up most of their parking.

Mihrab: Yes

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Yes

Building: A unit in the Koll Center. Far too small for the community, and they've already purchased a bigger building to suit their needs.

Friendliness towards women: Extreme. Women and men were mingling like it was no big deal. After taraweeh, the imam had some girls come up to the front for their Night of Power celebration.

Friendliness of congregation: Gosh. Some people follow the sunnah of the Prophet, and others embody it. These folks fall in the latter category.

Way back, in the early '90s, I was a young child bumbling through the halls of the MCA Islamic Center. While traversing the building one day, I came across another child, a white child. "Me Eldin," he said. I later laughed at length with my friends at this kid. What kind of white kid didn't know how to speak English? As I started looking around, I noticed there wasn't just one of them, but literally dozens.

These children, and their parents, were of course Bosnian refugees, who were escaping ethnic cleansing in their homeland. The US government placed them in the Bay Area, and the MCA, being one of the bigger mosques in the area, welcomed the new community with open arms.

However, as time passed, I noticed fewer and fewer Bosnians at the mosque. Soon there came a day that I didn't see any Bosnians at a prayer. I learned that they had formed their own masjid, whose location I didn't learn till about two weeks ago.

Today was my opportunity to learn more about this community. My ex-roommate was Bosnian, and he prepared his parents for my arrival. He told me the community would be thrilled to host me, and he wasn't lying.

My friend and I stuck out like sore thumbs at this mosque. Literally everyone, save for one other person, was Bosnian. You want try something surreal? Try taking in a mosque where almost everyone except for three people are Caucasian.

However, at this mosque, the lingua franca is Bosnian. This community has refused to succumb to the pressures of assimilation and have made the collective decision to preserve their culture as best they can by speaking only Bosnian at the mosque. In my opinion, they've succeeded. I've never been to Bosnia, but from what I saw today, I got a pretty accurate picture of what Ramadan in that country looks like.

"Are you Zuhair?"

I turned around and saw a friendly woman looking at me. She was my ex-roommate's mother. I was surprised for a half-second that she was able to recognize me, and then I remembered, oh yeah, I'm one of three brown people in a crowd of 400 white people. Anyways, her approach led to me being connected with my ex-roommate's father. I used this to ask a burning question I had about this community.

Why did they break away from MCA? It turns out, the answer makes a lot of sense. My ex-roommate's father explained the biggest reason they formed their own community center was because the older refugees simply did not speak English. MCA does its Friday sermons and generally all of its communication is in English. Truth be told, I can't blame them. If I suddenly had to relocate to a country with an alien language, I'd feel more comfortable in an English-speaking mosque as well.

The secondary reasons were the religious practices at MCA seemed strange to them. The Bosnians hailed from a culture which prescribed to a different school of Islamic law so some of the customs at MCA seemed too bizarre. Most notably was the practice at MCA of people leaving after praying 8 rakats of taraweeh. Bosnians believe that taraweeh should be 20 rakats, no discussion.

The uniformity in this community is amazing. Everyone is on the same page when it comes to prayer. For example, when Isha ended, everyone immediately got up for sunnah. At a big mosque like MCA, you'll see some people making dua, some people not praying sunnah and folks moving around to pray sunnah. Also, after every two rakats of taraweeh, everyone was saying the same dua in unison, another practice alien to MCA. All in all, my taraweeh experience at this mosque was very different from MCA and the more time I spent there the more I understood the need the community had to establish their own home.

I have a lot of respect for the uniformity of this mosque. If they keep it up, their traditions won't disappear and they'll preserve their culture. MCA was essentially started by three guys who decided to start praying jummah together on Fridays. Now, MCA's bending the rules by having jummah before the actual time for zuhr. Would the guys who "started" MCA be shocked at this practice? Probably. Ironically, I'm willing to bet that the guys who started MCA are still somehow involved in the mosque and may have been responsible for that decision.

Anyways, my point is, if this mosque plays its cards right, in 20 years they'll be doing their prayers the same way they were doing them today, and I assume that's the same way they did them back home. However, I recognize a big reason why MCA even started to change and evolve was the introduction of new ethnic groups in the populace. Is this Bosnian mosque destined to acquire community members of a previously unrepresented ethnic group, just as MCA was 15 years ago? Mayhaps...and it'd be interesting to see how that plays out, if it happens.

To end on a lighter note, taraweeh tonight was only 8 rakats. Seemed kind of funny, especially after my ex-roommate's father emphasized that taraweeh should be 20 rakats.

No, let's end on a serious note. Like I mentioned earlier, everything was being said in Bosnian. My friend and I were therefore lost, and that just made us feel even more like we were in a foreign country. However, as soon as the prayer started, a feeling of peace washed over me. I sure couldn't understand what was being said before the prayer, but as soon as the prayer started, we were all on the same page. That's the wonderful thing about Islam. I could go to the most wretched place on Earth but still find someone and say, "Okay, my UC Davis brother, it's time to pray, let's do this."

The Catholic church had the same thing going on, what with Latin being their universal language, but we have the Vatican II to thank for practically getting rid of that.

Blossom Valley Muslim Community Center

Date visited: August 17, 2010

Location: Blossom Valley, San Jose, CA
5885 Santa Teresa Blvd #113
San Jose, CA 95123

Tag-team Taraweeh: No

Size of congregation: Small, > 100

Capacity of center: Very small. They had overflow prayer mats outside

Parking: Cramped. Shared with a bunch of small businesses in a strip mall

Mihrab: Nope

Minbar: Yup

Shoe shelves: Not enough.  Tons of shoes outside

Building: Tiny space in a strip mall.  Definitely not sufficient.

Friendliness towards women: Could be better...while the women and men were entering the mosque from the same door and there was no barrier to hide the fairer sex, I was a bit perturbed by an announcement about the emergency exits.  There are two emergency exits in the mosque, one in the front, one in the back.  The dude made it clear that the one in the back was for women, and the one for men was in the front.  Apparently even in an emergency they don't want men and women making contact.

Friendliness of congregation: Saw a lot of familiar faces.

Please tell me if there's any more categories on which you'd like me to report.

I've always been opposed to the concept of minarets in American mosques.  First of all, those who argue that it's traditional apparently don't know that the Prophet's mosque never had a minaret while he was still alive, let alone the Ka'ba, the holiest site in Islam.  However, when trying to find this mosque, I realized how useful minarets can be.  Imagine that you're an out-of-towner, and say you went to Davis.  You're having trouble finding this place just like you've had trouble finding your way through life.  Instead of getting frustrated by the fact that all strip mall stores look alike, however, all you'd have to do is look for the minaret and you're golden.

This mosque doesn't have a minaret, by the way.  I was just fortunate that because it's Ramadan there was a big enough flock of hijabis heading towards a single location that I was able to find the mosque with ease.  Normally it'd be enough to follow a gaggle of brown people but in this neighborhood, that wouldn't be enough.  This is the district of San Jose that's so brown it elected the city's first Desi city council member.

The first thing I noticed about this mosque was that they had prayer mats outside on the strip mall sidewalk.  Big warning sign of how crowded it was going to get, and I patted myself on the back for being smart and arriving early.  The second thing I noticed was that the carpet was very familiar: it was the same carpet as MCA.  The third thing I noticed was that the imam leading taraweeh at this mosque was one of MCA's resident imams.  The carpet and the imam were enough to convince me that this mosque is MCA, Jr.

And this is a junior mosque.  In terms of square footage it's smaller than the average 3 bedroom house.  Despite the small size and the lack of a non-carpeted surface, however, it seems like the Muslims down here know how to have a good time.  They have plenty of community iftars and have lectures down here all the time.  I must imagine clean-up must be a bitch because it's not easy avoiding spills on a carpeted surface, but hey, they make it work.

After 8 rakats I jetted, but I stuck around to watch the people outside who were praying.  They seemed incredibly serene, and it struck me that they're closest to the Prophetic taraweeh than anyone else in the entire Bay Area.  The Prophet's first mosque didn't have doors; for all practical purposes, it was an outdoor mosque.  I'm just glad for them that Ramadan's moving into the summer months; I can't imagine how terrible winter Ramadans will be if they don't get a new center.  I'm actually surprised they haven't been able to expand into the neighboring stores; given the high rate of small business failures you'd think they could buy them out.  I guess this is one neighborhood where business are actually sticking around, because as far as I know, this mosque is at least 7 years old.

South Bay Islamic Association Evergreen Center

Date visited: August 13, 2010

Location: Evergreen, San Jose, CA
2486 Ruby Ave
San Jose, CA 95148

Number of imams: 2

Qirat: Not bad.  I liked Imam Ilyas' better than the other guy's, but he's not as good as his brother, Imam Tahir

Size of congregation: Small. Maybe 200 people

Capacity of center: Not big enough. Folks were squeezed into that tiny place. They are building a new center on the same plot, but judging by the plans, I'm thinking it's already too small for that community. Folks estimate there's close to a thousand Muslims families in that part of San Jose.

Parking: Not enough. There's a parking lot, but I had to find street parking. I did find parking right across the street, though, so it's not like I had to walk for too long.

Mihrab: Yes

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Not enough. I had to leave my shoes on the floor outside, which would have gotten gross had it been winter.

Building: A converted house. However, as mentioned earlier, they're building a new center, due to be finished in 9 months or so.

Friendliness towards women: The women were sequestered in a completely different room with its own entrance. However, it is a predominantly Desi community, so they're not too conservative.

Friendliness of congregation: Folks will say hi to you, but since it's an old and established community it's hard to break into the many social circles, especially if you're not brown.

Please tell me if there's any categories on which you'd like me to report.

This place is too god damn small given the size of its community. I showed up at 9:28, two minutes before the prayer started and the hall was already full. This posed a problem because people, especially Muslims, are never running on time and I genuinely do not know where the latecomers prayed. What kind of irked me about the mosque was that the new one they're building alongside this shack of a masjid didn't seem to be much bigger. That's the problem with the Muslim community; they only build what they can afford without thinking about the future. The new mosque will be gorgeous, I'm sure, but what good is a new building if it's going to be too small in 10 years?

Tag-team taraweeh (I'm going to trademark that phrase) reared its pretty head again. Imam Tahir's little brother, Imam Ilyas, ran half the show down here. The Anwar brothers, I learned have been trained to do taraweeh as quickly as possible; the imam who started the taraweeh here actually took his time. I didn't think it was possible for a Desi imam to do taraweeh slowly, and yet here he was.

Oh yes, got another, "what are you doing here?" at this masjid as well. I did get a masha'Allah when I told him about my quest, but still, I started wondering, am I ever going to be able to step out of my father's shadow? When am I finally going to be old enough for people to stop assuming I'm at a mosque with my dad?

South Bay Islamic Association Center

Date visited: August 11, 2010

Location: Downtown San Jose, CA

325 North 3rd Street

San Jose, CA 95112

Number of imams: 2

Qirat: I liked Imam Tahir's recitation because of how quick yet clear it was.  It was a real pleasure listening to him.  The other guy was a notch below in terms of quality.

Size of congregation: I'd say about 400 people were in attendance the night I was

Capacity of center: Good for the congregation. There was plenty of spillover space

Parking: A bitch. Downtown San Jose isn't the best place to find parking, especially since the city started charging for paking in their lots after 6 PM. I came early and found parking in their tiny lot.

Mihrab: Yes

Minbar: Yes

Shoe shelves: Yes

Building: It was definitely converted, but I can't tell what it was before.

Friendliness towards women: Good. Women weren't put in a separate room, but there was a barrier to separate the sexes.

Friendliness of congregation: Good. Folks are happy to see you here.

Please tell me if there's any categories on which you'd like me to report.

The last time I went to this mosque was the first time the resident imam, one Tahir Anwar, had finished the Quran while taraweeh in Ramadan. As a young child, one of the things which struck me was how the imam started openly weeping during the closing dua. I remember mocking him at the time because who cried during prayer? Sheikh Jibreel had never cried like that, and he was my standard for what imams should be. My parents patiently explained to me that the young imam's heart was still soft, and that it was common for people to be so moved by the Quran. I later developed a tremendous respect for the imam the more I thought about how much love and respect he had for his faith.

Folks were surprised to see me. I'm what you can call an MCA poster child; I've grown up close to the mosque almost all my life and my father was president of the organization in the early 90s. There's always been an underlying tension between MCA and SBIA; SBIA was founded because certain individuals felt like MCA was not going in the right direction. The story of SBIA's founding only underlines the fact that due to the vastness of the Islamic world, it's hard for Muslims to see eye-to-eye.

Imam Tahir kicked off the night by leading Isha, but my heart sank when he announced they'd hired an imam from Leicester, UK to lead taraweeh. What was this crap, I thought, I was hoping to hear IT recite the Quran. SBIA was in fact that first mosque where I experienced tag-team taraweeh, where 2 or more people lead taraweeh. Growing up in MCA, where Sheikh Jibreel ruled supreme, it was unusual for me to witness this collaboration. After speaking to my father later, he said that Sheikh Jibreel is the exception, not the norm; it is so difficult to prepare for even 8 rakats of taraweeh that oftentimes masajid split the duties amongst many imams.

The biggest difference between SBIA and MCA is the speed at which they do taraweeh. Sheikh Jibreel is meticulous in his recitation, which means it can take close to two hours for him to finish 20 rakats. Imam Tahir and his cohort finished taraweeh in 55 minutes thanks to their rapid-fire Desi style of recitation. Frankly, I was impressed at how quickly the man was spitting Arabic, but I saw that he also made more mistakes than Sheikh Jibreel because of his speed. However, since at the end of the day everyone has to go to work in the morning, I'm sure nobody was complaining that IT finished taraweeh in half the time of MCA.