Showdown with Satan?

Are modern Muslims of NYC trashing the traditions of Mecca with this sign?

By Jawad Ali

I sat on the men's side of the couples in the middle. First with Ahmed and Patricia and then with a very sweet couple who had flown in from Kentucky just for these few hours. Sure, we were lead by a woman, but there still was none of the dreaded shoulder to shoulder mixing of genders.

The end of the communal prayer was a little anti-climactic. It always is. People got up one by one and started to mill about at their own leisure. I moved up to the front, and over to the side a little, to find a little quiet space to crank out my four rakats of sunnah.

Half way through my first rakat I felt someone come and join me to my immediate right. And half way through the rukuh I realized that it was a woman. I noticed the frilled bottom of her ankle length black skirt.

I guess that her act caused a momentary distraction for me; enough for me to register the presence of this female stranger. Men have spent centuries erecting walls and trenches for this final showdown with Satan. I felt vaguely touched by the presence of God above, and a hint of sisterly love to the right.

My mind soon moved on to other distractions. Two men shook hands right in front of me and greeted each other. "As salamu alaykum, brother. Do you speak Arabic?" Two little girls ran past me chasing after each other, and back the other way giggling all the way. This time one had the other in a head lock. She said something very clever and witty to her captive and it made me smile inside, but now I can't remember a single word of it. Someone dropped a small plastic object to the left of me. It looked like the cover for one of those small tapes that go into camcorders. Nobody came to pick it up.

In spite of all these distractions, Satan failed to win me over to his side. I finished my four rakats without losing my place. The number of times I had to gently steer my mind back to my salat was par for a four rakat course for me. I don’t possess the Jedi mind control that other Muslims have, and for this I would like to apologize to my more pious readers.

My new female companion paced her salat slightly faster than me, and was gone by the time I said my salams. On a floor that was mostly empty by now, she had made the choice to come and stand right next to me. Maybe she wanted to serve notice to just one man. Maybe she had come expecting a more radical salat and wanted to get her money's worth. Maybe she wanted to know if this giant house of cards would stand if she gently blew on it.

Jawad Ali is co-founder of muslimwakeup.com.