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| Bassam Tariq and Aman Ali |
America is a country of people who are sometimes portrayed as unaccepting and rude, but Aman Ali and Bassam Tariq discovered something completely different.
The two decided to go on a quest across America to visit 30 mosques and blog their travels. They started up in New York, headed all the way west to California, and ended their journey in Michigan. With the way the media has portrayed Americans in the past, one might expect them to encounter friction or difficulties on their trip across our nation. However, Ali and Tariq were pleasantly surprised to find the opposite.
The Muslim travelers blogged about their pleasant experiences in places like Georgia, Florida, and Nevada, and they hashed on a very spiritual experience visiting the spot where America’s first mosque stood in North Dakota. Now, a cement block styled mosque sits on the land where the original structure once was, and it is surrounded by some graves of people who were among the nation’s first Muslims. One of the travelers described his prayer experience as so exciting and touching that he felt as if he were falling.
They recapped other experiences such as being welcomed with open arms in a confederate souvenir shop, and visiting a mosque that took a community 12 years to build with their bare hands. In one post, they recalled their car breaking down in a small town in Montana, and they were forced to ask a fisherman for a ride into town.
The two decided to go on a quest across America to visit 30 mosques and blog their travels. They started up in New York, headed all the way west to California, and ended their journey in Michigan. With the way the media has portrayed Americans in the past, one might expect them to encounter friction or difficulties on their trip across our nation. However, Ali and Tariq were pleasantly surprised to find the opposite.
The Muslim travelers blogged about their pleasant experiences in places like Georgia, Florida, and Nevada, and they hashed on a very spiritual experience visiting the spot where America’s first mosque stood in North Dakota. Now, a cement block styled mosque sits on the land where the original structure once was, and it is surrounded by some graves of people who were among the nation’s first Muslims. One of the travelers described his prayer experience as so exciting and touching that he felt as if he were falling.
They recapped other experiences such as being welcomed with open arms in a confederate souvenir shop, and visiting a mosque that took a community 12 years to build with their bare hands. In one post, they recalled their car breaking down in a small town in Montana, and they were forced to ask a fisherman for a ride into town.
When he approached the fisherman after their car broke down, Tariq says, he didn't know how he'd be received. He asked if he could hitch a ride to town and the fisherman "happily does it." When the man asked Tariq what he was doing in Montana, he told him about their 30 mosques journey. "And he doesn't flinch and doesn't get worried," Tariq said. "For me, it was like, 'Wow! That America still exists.' "
Drash. In fact, the most trouble they saw was from a mosque in Mobile, Alabama. The personnel asked them to leave after discovering that they were working in conjunction with CNN to publicize their blog and travels.
All in all, it’s nice to see some positive publicity about our great nation.
References: Information in this article was obtained courtesy of CNN and CNN.com. Wayne Drash, 2 Muslims travel 13,000 miles across America, find an embracing nation, CNN, Sept. 10, 2010 (“Drash”).
