Visit to the Masjid

This semester for the first time I decided to take students for a visit to the Islamic Society of Vermont, which is essentially our only mosque in the state.  I've taught several classes dealing with Islam and the Islamic world, but had never considered arranging for a visit.  Truthfully, I think this had more to do with the logistics than their welcome at the mosque itself (the good folks at the ISVT are notoriously friendly).  Happily, two of my students, Logan Rice and Ryan McCarthy, are van certified (as am I), so we just reserved all three school vans, and it was so easy to pull off I'm already kicking myself for not doing it earlier.  The ISVT is very happy to have people swing by for the Friday communal prayer, and even join in the prayers if they want, and I since we've spent all semester discussing the faith in my Dar al-Islam: Yemen class I thought it would be a great way to end the class.  At this particular masjid the men pray downstairs and the women pray upstairs (at least until the latest building renovation is complete), which meant I'd be downstairs with the male students and the female students would have to go upstairs by themselves.  Now, I wasn't really worried about that because I  know that the Muslim women at the ISVT are remarkably welcoming, but I also wanted to make certain that the experience was as seamless and worry-free as possible so that the students could focus on the experience itself.  My colleagues (and friends) Kelly Thomas, Kristin Novotny and Miriam Horne volunteered to come along, which is deeply appreciated.  Because I have two large classes I split them up and brought one on one Friday and then the other the next Friday (including one student who enjoyed himself so much he went both times).  Plus, we ended up with other students who heard we were going and decided to tag along, which meant that we had two big crowds.  The Imam, Islam Hassan, graciously hung around on both days to talk to the students and answer their questions.  My students asked some great questions, mixing batting practice questions ("What's it like to be a Muslim in Vermont?" and "What's your relationship with the other religious organizations in the state?") with some high, inside fastballs ("In today's world is it still necessary to segregate the men and women during prayer?" or "Terrorists will often claim to act in the name of Islam.  How do they justify that?").  I gave them complete freedom to come up with the questions themselves, with my only rule being that they should ask them respectfully (we were visiting someone else's house of worship), and I'm very proud of how they handled themselves.  By all accounts (and I always press my students to tell me the good and the bad) the students had a very rewarding experience.  During the debrief one of the students said that she was surprised that the experience wasn't more "intense," which I think gets at the need for these type first-hand experiences.  We tend to exoticize the "other" (if not sadly demonizing them) and what really struck the students was what an absolutely normal, casual everyday experience it was.  The same student continued, "during the sermon the Imam just encouraged the congregation to be the best person they could be all day long with everyone they meet."

The students look slightly apprehensive here at the very beginning of the discussion, but they had a great visit and asked some thoughtful questions, and there was even a fair bit of laughter. The Imam had kindly given out short books on Islam to everyone of the first visit, which the students had heard about so they were determined to get theirs as well (which the Imam, typically, was more than happy to deliver).