Goma Makhlouf sits quietly at his computer, a tablet of Christian writing in Arabic script perched to his right. An Egyptian, Makhlouf received his religious education at arguably the world's greatest Islamic university, Al-Azhar in Cairo, and is now completing his Ph.D. in translation and comparative religion at an Egyptian university. He's a full-fledged Imam, a Muslim spiritual adviser and scholar. Except, he's not taking on his craft from the crowded crush of Cairo. Rather, you can find Imam Makhlouf right next to Kids' Heaven: His new mosque, Masjid al-Hadaya (Mosque of Guidance), is adjoined to a child daycare center in Blacksburg.
But while he's off the beaten path for the Islamic community, he's not too far: Because the loosely-organized organization the Islamic Society of Blacksburg's Web site, islamview.org, was one of the first American Islamic Web sites, it retains a small following. The Islamic Center, led by professor of electrical engineering Sedki Riad, supports and maintains the mosque. Makhlouf said he has fielded inquiries for religious guidance from as far afield as New York.
Makhlouf is but one part of the complex and robust Islamic community of Blacksburg although he is emblematic of a larger trend. While mainly hailing from abroad, the Islamic community is both highly educated and sees itself as an experiment, perhaps even a model, of the possibility of an Islamic way of life in a Western nation.
Out of Egypt
"Let's say I have some connections," Riad, who was born and bred in Egypt, said, leaning back in his chair in his office in the upper reaches of Durham Hall.
In Egypt, one could call Riad's ability to requisition an Imam from the Egyptian government for the Blacksburg community an exercise of "wasta," a mixture of gravitas and familial or personal prestige that lubricates all sorts of social and commercial transactions in the largest of Arab nations. While he is quick to point out that he is only a caretaker and doesn't feel any sort of leadership over the Islamic community, Makhlouf's presence in Blacksburg is clearly a coup.
"He doesn't cost us a penny," Riad said with a smile.
One of the longest tenured members of the Islamic community (he came to Blacksburg in 1979), Riad has watched the community grow from a handful of active participants to "a four-digit number" with several hundred active members and two mosques, al-Hadaya on South Main Street and Masjid al-Ihsan on North Main Street.
Comprising this community are a great number of students in the technical sciences, particularly engineering, many of whom hold or are pursuing advanced degrees. "When I go to the masjid and there are two doctors on my right and two Ph.D. students on my left and two engineers in front of me, and the one who is leading the service is a 19-year-old business student; it can only happen here," said Amine Chigani, a Moroccan Ph.D. student in computer engineering.
The mosques serve as a meeting place and a shared community of understanding.
"The thing that brings people together is the mosque and the religion. In Christianity, you can find the American, the European, the Chinese, all together. The same thing in Islam," Makhlouf said.
The mosques do operate a bit differently, however. While Makhlouf maintains al-Hedaya, al-Ihsan is lay-led, with a rotating group of students, faculty and community members filling the roll of khateeb, or the one who gives the Friday khutba, or sermon.
"In our case, we don't have the luxury of having a knowledgeable Imam because that becomes very useful as someone who really knows and who can teach and guide and answer questions," said Chigani, who frequents the al-Ihsan but also prays at al-Hadaya. "There is a lot of advantages (to lay leadership), which is the diversity of thought, the openness of thought, and the decentralized authority in terms of religious thinking, and that's proven to be very, very useful to our community. We lack consistency, but just having people like you reminding you of certain aspects of the religion, it really hits a good tone with you. A student like me is giving khutba, and the importance of prayer is really going to make sense to me because he's a student and I'm a student."
Again, the educated nature of the Islamic population makes both courses viable.
"They are all educated and open to new ideas. If you go back home where people are illiterate, they sometimes follow what the imam says blindly," said Javed Podakkudiyar, a junior industrial engineering major from India who grew up in Kuwait.
Still, there are some challenges. The sounds and feel of an Islamic lifestyle in an Islamic country are nowhere to be found.
"Not hearing the call to prayer every day, I do miss it. That said, anyone who leaves the Blacksburg Muslim community, they miss it, too," said Heshan Rakha, an Egyptian professor of civil engineering.
Linguistically, the varying languages and Arabic dialects make it difficult for students to communicate in their mother tongues, Riad said. Thus, the majority of the services as well as the social conversation are carried on in English.
Simply practicing the faith on the day-to-day basis can bring some stares.
Eddie Sues, a freshman engineering major from New Jersey, said that Islamic prayer preparation (which involves the washing of the feet, hands and face) can catch many off-guard.
"Usually I wash in my dorm room, but if I'm off campus like at McComas and I'm washing my foot in the sink or something, and I think people think it's more strange because they wouldn't expect a white guy to be doing that," Sues, who converted to Islam at 15, said.
Finding a niche within the community as an American-born Muslim can also be a challenge.
"When I first became Muslim, it was very difficult for me," said Jeremiah Abiade, an assistant professor of engineering. "Not only because it's a lifestyle change but because there are so many cultures in the Muslim community and the one that is seen the least is the one I was most used to - the American culture.
People are so hospitable, and they greet you, but you go home, and you're by yourself, and eventually you get to meet people, and they understand your situation, but that takes some time."
While the difficulties are real, there were no reports of and very little concern about prejudice from the non-Muslim community.
"With the Blacksburg community being as multi-ethnic and diverse as it is, it's one of the most welcoming communities. We hear about much more issues in other communities, but we haven't had anything that would even be close (to prejudice). We have a good relationship with the town government and the town police as well as the FBI, who come to visit from time to time. They are reaching out to us, and we are reaching out to them," Riad said.
Muslim-American
When Nishadh Podakkudiyar was applying to universities in the United States, his friends wanted to know how he was going to continue to practice his faith.
"In India, people would ask us, 'How do you pray in America?' How do you maintain your religious views?' But you can," said the freshman mechanical engineering major.
With all of the cultural diversity within the Islamic community, the experience of shock resulting from entering a new place with new cultural mores binds those within the Islamic community.
"When I first came here, I wasn't really paying much attention to the details of my religion until I was put into a situation where I had to speak about it. Like I tell my students, if you want to understand something try to relate it to someone else," Riad said.
For Chigani, who did his undergraduate study at Radford University before coming to Tech for his master's and Ph.D., the question of identity raged within him as he navigated a campus without a Muslim Student Association.
"First of all, I am labeled an international student, not an American resident student. So you accept that fact, and you either embrace the diversity you bring in or you want to hide it - your accent, the way you talk, you dress, you eat," Chigani said. "Are you going to be a Moroccan or just an Arab? You are a Muslim whether you pray, whether you drink, whether you like it or not because your name is so-and-so, and you're from so-and-so country. That is something we never had to go through back home. We have people back home: they drink, they smoke, they don't pray, and they never had to question themselves, so when you come here, that doesn't cut it anymore. If you are going to be a Muslim, you're going to be clear about it, and if you're not going to be, you're going to be clear about it."
This need for introspection has led Chigani to consider the Muslim communities in the United States as test communities for the interaction of Islamic peoples and Western cultural norms.
"My decision was, this is who I am: I am Muslim, I am international, I am Moroccan, and I bring the diversity that the United States really prides itself with and that I should never, ever give that up," Chigani said. "One of the things I'm extremely passionate about and one of the things that people are discussing is the notion that Islam and Western culture are incompatible. I think it's false, and I think it's wrong, and more and more people need to be vocal about it. We're bringing together our Muslim identity and the American dream."