Day 24: Wisconsin, Islamic Da’wa Center in Milwaukee

Sheikh Kaleem grasps my hand and smiles when I ask him what impact his blindness has had on his faith. “You ask some interesting questions,” he said amidst a crowded room of people at the Islamic Da’wa Center in Milwaukee.  “I’ve memorized more verses of Quran while I...

Day 23: Minnesota, Dar Al-Hijrah in Minneapolis

Before Break Fast, Reflection We arrive around 6 PM to Dar Al Hijrah, the local mosque in downtown Minneapolis, and are welcomed by the congregants of the community. A group of elders sit around reciting Qur’an together. They take turns reading the first part of a verse and then everyone...

Day 22: Ross, North Dakota – A Leap in Time

Bassam and I stress over our planned visit to Fargo, North Dakota. We didn’t expect our rental car to break down in Montana and the time it took to fix the car (thank you all for the prayers!) is making us late. It takes 11 hours to get to Fargo and getting there at a [...]...

Day 21: Breakdown in Montana

BAM / Thud / CLUNK. However you describe the sound, Aman and I hear it before we see smoke build up in front of our Chevy Cobalt. Aman panics and pulls to the side. “I think I hit a large rock.” A rock, really? We get out and inspect the car. Things look fine, we [...]...

The First 15 Days in Photos

Sitting in a hallway at Montana State University — with a broken car and draining laptop battery — I feel like it’s a good time to look back at some of the best moments and photos of our first 15 days on the road....

Day 15 – New Mexico, Dar al Islam in Abiquiu (Pt. 2)

28
Aug
By Aman Ali | 26 Comments »
Note: We seem to have misplaced a substantial number of amazing pictures we took during this visit, so our sincerest apologies. We will try to find them as soon as possible and post them. Bassam and I were getting ready to leave New Mexico for an eight hour drive to Arizona, but we took an [...]...

Day 15 – New Mexico, the Taha Mosque in Santa Fe (Pt. 1)

27
Aug
By Aman Ali | 24 Comments »
Hakim Archuletta tells me it’s time to break our fast and I pull my smartphone out of my pocket to ascertain if it’s time to do so. He grins and puts his hand on my shoulder and asks me to look at the colossal mountain landscape just a few miles from the house we’re standing [...]...

Day 14 – The Colorado Muslim Society in Denver

26
Aug
By Aman Ali | 29 Comments »
Sheikh Abu Omar counted on both of his hands how many times he came close to dying. The 80-year-old man has escaped drowning, political assassinations and even a fatal health diagnosis in the 1970s that remind him how blessed he feels when he wakes up every day. “Allah has protected me,” he...

Day 13, Kansas, Islamic Society of Wichita

25
Aug
By Bassam Tariq | 63 Comments »
Taking pictures outside of the Islamic Society of Wichita, I strike up a small conversation with Ammarah, a journalism student from the local university, Wichita State, who is following us today....

Day 12, Oklahoma, Teaching at the Mercy School (Pt. 2)

24
Aug
By Aman Ali | 14 Comments »
Before we left Oklahoma City, I told my homegirl Sarah that I’d check out the Islamic School she teaches at, the Mercy School in Edmond, OK. It’s affiliated with the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City mosque that we visited in this community. Pretty awesome place, the new $9...

Day 12 – Oklahoma, the Islamic Society of Greater Oklahoma City (Pt. 1)

24
Aug
By Aman Ali | 26 Comments »
My homegirl Sarah Albahadily made all the arrangements for our visit to Oklahoma City today, and she’s just about as Oklahoma as you can get. She proudly blasts country music in her car and often wears cowboy shoes under her long flowing abaya dress. On the 4th of July, her mother puts on a...

The Lady Caliphs in Atlanta – A Short Video

23
Aug
By Bassam Tariq | 9 Comments »
In Atlanta, we visited the Mohammed Schools where we talked about the Lady Caliphs, the high school girls basketball team that made it to the state championships a few years ago....

Day 11 – Texas, Synott Mosque in Houston

22
Aug
By Bassam Tariq | 26 Comments »
Synott isn’t the name of the mosque we visited tonight, but that doesn’t matter because in the past ten years I’ve been frequenting it I’ve called the mosque nothing else. This is your hometown mosque, that mosque where you learned about Islam, ran into your first Muslim...

Day 10 – Louisiana, Zeitoun After Zeitoun, A Photo Essay (Pt. 2)

22
Aug
By Bassam Tariq | 10 Comments »
AbdulRahman Zeitoun is an iconic American Muslim. But if you tell him this, he will shrug and change the subject. He doesn’t talk much about the book written about him or the animated movie that is in the works (directed by Oscar winner Jonathan Demme). He’d rather talk about his...

Day 10 – Louisiana, Spending time with family in New Orleans (Pt. 1)

22
Aug
By Aman Ali | 31 Comments »
There are millions of people in New Orleans that can tell you stories about how they’re struggling to rebuild after Hurricane Katrina. But a different kind of story here hits close to home for me because it’s about my brother Salman....
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