Argentina-traversing South African Tablighi Jamaatis
May 18th, 2007, 11:58 pm
We’re all guilty of stereotyping.
Shortly after finishing jummah today at the ginormous masjid in Buenos Aires, I saw a bunch of unfamiliar, desi-looking bearded men dressed in thobes, but I didn’t think about stopping by to talk to them since they looked busy conversing with one another. However, an Argentine sister wanted to know where they were from, so I decided to say salaam and introduce myself. I found out they were from the Johannesburg, South Africa area and had been in Argentina for a few months, traveling from city to city, province to province to spread the message of Islam. It also turned out that they were fourth-generation South African Indians. Fascinating. They spoke English in some sort of pseudo-British accent which I barely understand at times. What was even cooler was that they had all been to Bangladesh.
When they told me they were members of Tablighi Jamaat, I was a bit intimidated. I heard that Tablighis were like a mix of Evangelical Christians and Mormon missionaries who travel and go door to door telling Muslims to convert to their brand of Islam, so I thought they were trying to recruit me or something. I mean, they don’t promote violence or anything, but the thought of Evangelical Muslims is a bit scary. Plus, their huge beards were intimidating as well. It’s weird how, as a well-educated, open-minded Muslim, I automatically assume that beardacious Muslim men are out there to judge and criticize others while thinking that only they have the keys to Paradise. Obviously, this isn’t always true.
At the end of the conversation, they asked me for my number and said that we should hang out sometime soon before they leave for South Africa in a week. I was like “Sure…” and said that we should meet up sometime during the weekdays. I headed out to have lunch with some friends, and then I realized I missed a great opportunity to have something interesting to blog about. And I felt a little guilty for having preconceived notions about them simply because they belonged a group I didn’t know much about. So I went back to the masjid to pray asr and found them there.
We took a cab to Recoleta, one of the ritzier Buenos Aires neighborhoods, to the offices of an airline so that they could make some changes to their tickets. (On a side note, the armed security guards that greeted us as we entered the building happened to be there a few minutes later. Coincidence? I think not.) Afterwards, I tried to help them find a currency exchange place, but we couldn’t find one that was open and had a good exchange rate from dollars to pesos. During this entire time, we talked about our families, our lives back home, and the importance of following Islam to lead a moral existence. Despite living different lives in entirely different countries, our love for Islam brought us together. Alhamdulillah.
What’s the moral of the story, kids? Never judge a man by his beard.
