Paranoimia

About 7-8 years ago or so, before the events of September 11th shocked us into the reality that we are fighting a war against terrorists, I knew Muslims. I worked with them in NC...one was an SAP specialist and the other was a desktop support tech. The SAP guy was older and was India while the younger was younger and American born. While he was black, he was Muslim, not Nation of Islam.

These two men were joined by a faith but were very different. The SAP specialist, "MK" would be what most would consider "moderate": He smoked during Ramadan and I am not sure he went to prayer five times a day, (but I cannot say that he didn't), had respect for Christians (at least he appeared to), and had meaningful conversations with me. I remember one conversation where he told me (I am paraphrasing here), " That the God of Islam and the God of the Jews/Christians was the same being...we just look at him differently because of our culture. He also said during the same conversation that Islam in Asia and the Middle East looks at our women as whores...all they think about is sex. Now I am not turning this into a debate on MK being right or wrong...that is not the point. MK, at that time, was a moderate. He was telling me how he was raised and I admired his honesty.

The desktop support tech, "LA" was a completely different person all together. LA made it a point to ask me if it was alright that he took his prayers during the day and I had no problem with that. As long as he got his work done (I was his and MK's team lead for a while), he could go to his prayers. I told him that I was not going to pay him to go to prayer, but he was free to go when needed.

Once LA and I starteda deep conversation about his faith. He knew I was a Christian and hew willing and openly talked to me about many aspects, including mujahadeen (freedom fighters). He told me supported those who were of the Islamic faith and were oppressed because of it. At that time I think he was talking about Bosnia/Kosovo and the like. Again this was before 9-11-2001. No red flags went up at that time.

LA is invited to the family day that my company sponsored at at theme park. LA brought his wife to the event, since we were allowed to bring family, and I brought mine. I was not surprised to see his wife in a burqa (and I think it covered her face) instead of hijab, since I knew he was rather strict and orthodox in his faith. LA introduced me to his wife but I did not shake her hand, not wanting to offend LA. I introduced my wife (dressed in her typical longish shorts and t-shirt...typical theme park clothing) to him, but he refused, stating he was not allowed.

At that time I was in CommColl at DTCC (Durham Tech Community College) and was taking a Humanities class and I had a Muslim girl in the class, also wearing a burqa, but without a face covering. I told her I did not know too many Muslims, only a couple from work. Since at that time the local Muslim community was small, she asked me who the people were. I told her MK but she did not know him, but when I told her LA, she rolled her eyes and said she knew him. "He is a sweet boy (I noticed she did not say man), but he is a bit misguided."

I am not sure why, but yesterday LA came to mind. I have not seen him nor heard from him in at least 7 years. When he came to mind, I immediately started thinking about the differences between him, MK, and the girl from my Humanities class and my paranoia kicked in. Could LA be someone that needs to be watched?

Yeah, I know I am being a tad paranoid, but I guess all the news regarding terror threats, commentary regarding "moderate" and "fundamentalist" Muslims, it does make me wonder. I have been tempted to Google my former co-worker (and his former employer) but I have not. I have also considered contacting the DHS and giving the info I have, but that seems a bit "McCarthy-ish" to me.

I have met other Muslims since 9/11, and even worked with one (from Suadia Arabia..inthe US since the mid 70's), and from what I could tell he was pretty moderate. He too, smoked during Ramadan (food, drink, tobacco, and sex are forbidden during the daylight hours during Ramadan, from what I gather) and he did not make his middle school aged daughter wear a hijab, but she was wearing long pants..not shorts.

While my exposure to those of the Muslim faith has been limited, I have seen different levels of adherence to the faith by those I h have met. Of course you have the same with Jews and Christians, but those two groups have not been implicated in any acts of terrorism recently that I know of...