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Sunday, September 23, 2001
Understanding Islam
Religion provides way of life for its adherents
By Dan Parker
Caller-Times

George Tuley/Caller-Times

Barefooted men gather in the prayer hall of Abul Qasim Masjid, a mosque in Corpus Christi. Most Muslims submit to one God, Allah, and believe Muhammad is the last messenger of Allah.
Syed Kazmi is a student who carries a 12-hour course load at Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi and works 20 hours a week as a computer specialist. Yet, the 22-year-old, sometimes secreting himself in an empty classroom and bowing toward Mecca, still finds time to do the five daily prayers required of him by his Islamic faith.
   "You feel empty unless you do it," Kazmi said. "It's like any prayer in any religion. When you're upset, you take time out to focus your mind on God. That little connection you make calms you down, and you think straight afterward.
   "My best friend is a Christian, and he wants to be a Methodist minister someday," Kazmi said. "He said the way prayer works for me - it works the same for him."
   Praying five times daily is one of the five tenets of Islam - an ancient

George Tuley/Caller-Times

Muhammad Amin Ulkarim of Corpus Christi prays at Abul Qasim Masjid. A tenet of Islam requires prayer, or salaat, five times daily.
religion that has millions of peaceful practitioners. But American public perception of the faith, uncertain at best in the past, has suffered perhaps its worst downturn since Sept. 11, when terrorist hijackers, believed to be from the Middle East, crashed planes in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania, killing what might turn out to be more than 5,500 people.
   Twisted interpretation

David Pellerin/Caller-Times

A screen separates women and children from the men during a service at Abul Qasim Masjid, a local mosque.

   The hijackers appear to have been motivated by some twisted interpretation of Islam, said David Cook, an Islamic studies professor at Rice University. The hijackers and their backers see the West as being very powerful, he said.
   "And that denies Muslims what they perceive as the rightful place of Islam in the world," Cook said. "They believe they should be the primary focus of the world and should not be in a subsidiary position. It's humiliation to Muslims, they believe."
   But the Koran, Islam's holy book, forbids such violence. "It says the prophet of God forbade the killing of women and children," Cook said. "It says you should not kill anyone in cold blood." The Arabic translation for the word "peace" is "Islam."

David Pellerin/Caller-Times

Jordan Abdullah reflects during a worship service. Many of its adherents believe Islam is different from all other religions in that it is a way of life.

   Muslim Yousri Elkassabgi, a mechanical engineering professor at Texas A&M University-Kingsville, said those responsible for the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks face a terrible fate.
   "For me, they will be in hell fire," said Elkassabgi, president of Corpus Christi's sole mosque, called Abul Qasim Masjid. "They committed not one sin, but too many sins. They killed innocent people. ... Nobody in any religion or any book says you go and kill innocent people."
   Five pillars
   Most Muslims strive to live their lives according to Islam's pillars: belief in and submission to one God, Allah, and believing Muhammad is the last messenger of Allah; prayer five times daily; donations to the poor; fasting during the month of Ramadan ; and a pilgrimage at least once, if possible, to Mecca, the holiest city of Islam, in Saudi Arabia.
   Islam provides a specific map for how Muslims should conduct themselves throughout their lives. The religion provides rules for marriage, divorce, inheritance, trade, contracts and relations between neighbors and family.

George Tuley/Caller-Times

Usama Nassar (center) leads Syed Kazmi (right) and Muhammad Amin Ulkarim in a prayer. 'It's like any prayer in any religion. When you're upset, you take time out to focus your mind on God. ... you think straight afterward,' says Kazmi.

   "Islam is different from all other religions in that it is a way of life, a complete way of life," said said Usama Nassar, a 40-year-old Corpus Christi physical therapist who is Muslim. "The secular and the sacred are not separate from each other for us."
   Nassar said his faith in Allah has grown strong from years of reading the Koran. He reads the Koran 15 minutes to an hour every day and can recite about 150 pages of it from memory. Many Muslims can recite the entire 600-plus pages, he said. Nassar also does volunteer work every day at Abdul Qasim Masjid mosque, conducting services and teaching others about the Koran.
   "I am trying my best to fulfill my obligation that has been outlined in the teachings of the holy Koran and the teachings of the prophet Muhammad," said Nassar, former president of the Islamic Society of South Texas. "This means to me being a better person who will succeed in this life and the hereafter ... by being honest, by being trustworthy, by being active, by being involved with others (and) trying to be helpful first to my family and secondly to my community surrounding me."
   Nassar said he immigrated to the United States from Egypt eight years ago because people in the United States have the greatest freedom. He said he and his family go to the bayfront each year to watch July 4 fireworks celebrations, and the celebrations have special meanings for them.
   "For us, as first-generation immigrants enjoying the freedom that is in the U.S. - it's an experience that the American raised in the U.S. doesn't have," he said.
   Islam has been criticized by some for its treatment of women.
   When a Muslim girl reaches maturity, she wears clothing that shows only her face, hands and feet to people outside her family. She may wear modern clothing here, but it cannot be too revealing.
   "The Muslim woman should not be used as a sex symbol," Nassar said. "We see that women still are in slavery when you use them in men's clubs, as objects to make profit. ... Women should be honored. They are the mothers, sisters and wives. So, if a woman keeps her body parts for herself, that is honoring, not degrading. It keeps their dignity."
   By the same token, Nassar said, Islam forbids men from dressing in tight, sexually provocative clothes.
   At a recent prayer service at the mosque in Corpus Christi, everyone wore western clothing, making them indistinguishable from the average Southern Baptist on the street. Several men wore Docker khaki pants. One wore a T-shirt advertising the San Antonio Spurs basketball team.
   Show of faith
   Travis Coreale had a lot of money problems when he first started classes at A&M-Corpus Christi about two years ago, but his Delta Sigma Pi fraternity brother, Syed Kazmi, helped him out.
   "He really took care of me," said Coreale, 22, who today considers Kazmi his best friend. "He told me not to worry because no matter what, my faith in God would sustain me, and that really helped me."
   Kazmi, a Muslim, allowed Coreale, a Methodist, to stay at Kazmi's apartment for a semester, until Coreale got on his feet.
   "It's amazing how God can bring a person from another faith to show me God's grace," Coreale said. "It's really odd."
   Coreale said he admires Kazmi and other Muslims for their devotion to their religion. Most every night, Kazmi sets his alarm clock to go off at 5:30 the next morning so he can pray.
   After waking up, Kazmi first washes his face, arms and feet and rinses his mouth at the bathroom sink in his apartment. Then, in the pre-dawn darkness, he steps onto a mat on his bedroom floor, gets on his hands and knees, bows his head toward Mecca, thousands of miles distant. He prays for several minutes, sometimes silently and sometimes chanting softly to himself.
   After morning classes at the university, Kazmi does four more prayers before he goes to bed at night. He tries to do the prayers at the times of day prescribed by his religion - one about 1 p.m., another about 5:30, another just after sunset and another later at night - but he sometimes must combine two because of his busy schedule.
   He does some of his praying at the mosque and some at his apartment.
   "I pray to please God," Kazmi said. "In return, he will give me what I want."
   Fasting for Allah
   Muslim J.I. Qureshi works as chief engineer at an H-E-B bakery where the air often is saturated with the scent of freshly baked bread.
   It is in this environment where Qureshi must fast during daylight hours for one month during Ramadan. From one hour before sunrise to sunset, he eats nothing and drinks nothing. Not even a glass of water, and certainly not a bite of bread - something he normally loves to taste just after it comes out of the oven.
   "It is not difficult if you have spiritual feelings," said Qureshi, a 47-year-old American citizen who came to the United States from Pakistan. "All this is purification of your soul. When you don't eat and drink, you feel for the poor and needy that are hungry and thirsty. You feel how difficult it is for them.
   "And, of course, this is spiritual," Qureshi said. "The only person who knows you are fasting is you and your almighty."
   Quershi contributes $1,000 to $3,000 each year in Zakat - a Muslim's donation to the poor. Islam requires Muslims who can afford it to donate some of their money to the needy.
   Quershi drops checks in a box for offerings for the needy at the mosque, and he contributes to the United Way through payroll deductions.
   "It is an obligation, but actually ... it doesn't decrease your wealth," Quershi said. "Allah gives rewards. ... He gives you something else you weren't even thinking about, like you might get a bonus at work you didn't expect."



Contact Dan Parker at 886-3753 or parkerd@caller.com

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