Second Set of Fieldnotes!

I had gone out on the 22nd of October around noontime in hopes of finally catching one of the main prayer times and finally being able to meet with members of the culture. I was lucky enough to arrive around a 1pm prayer time, and meet with the Assistant Imam at that! Below is my analysis of my second set of fieldnotes. Much like the last set I'll be answering a few questions about what I saw and the notes I took!

What surprised me?
This in general was an extremely surprising journey. My last set of fieldnotes had me thinking that the culture of the mosque was going to be very toned down and much like something I was used to, boy was I wrong! Upon actually meeting with members of the culture I was given a crash course as to the realities of these extremely dedicated few that I was lucky enough to observe and talk to. One of the most interesting surprises were a few of the ideas that the assistant Imam, Shabaz, had put forth to me. I had spoken to him briefly about having never been initiated into a religion myself, in and response he went off to detail how children are considered Muslim before entering puberty, regardless of what religion they followed in their brief lifetime. This came to be very interesting as apparently it meant that if children died before growing up (something which happens much too often in some war torn countries), they were considered to be Muslim. I had also been surprised when I asked about the role of the Imam in Islam. I was under the initial impression that the Imam acted much like a priest, as an intermediary between the individual and the creator. This turned out to not be the case according to Shabaz. It seems that Islam is a much more personal affair, he told me that there is only the creator and the individual, a much more individualistic view than the one shared by many Christian denominations which suggest the priest, or the pope, is a closer link to God and an adviser to the public of sorts. Shabaz told me that Muslims were actually not allowed to confess their sins in the way that one would to a priest.

What intrigued me?
 Both of the things that intrigued me especially came not from any cold facts, but from the perspectives which ended up being revealed through them. The first of the intriguing matters was the notion Shabaz put forth on children having a close relationship to the creator from nature of birth, which was the given explanation for why all children were considered Muslim. This greatly interested me as it seemed to corroborate a theory that I had found parallel in many other systems of belief, this idea that children have a much more powerful connection to a "source" of sorts. We see this represented in western popular culture in horror movies, where children are the ones to see spirits or have odd spiritual phenomena surrounding them. This can be seen in many esoteric and spiritual circles as well, it can be broadly defined as the idea that children have a special quality about them, or lack of quality, which allows them greater connection to the mysteries of the universe. We can see evidence of such a thing even without taking a more metaphysical view; we have common ideas and phrases involving seeing the world through a "child's eyes" or the "heart of a child". The fact that I found this view in Islam as well gave me a great swell of interest as it demonstrates that it is not only a western creation, and children are considered to have special qualities worldwide. The second bit of intrigue came from the separation of men and women in the mosque. It was a strict separation and it was expressly forbidden for men and women to see each other during prayer. Shabaz had told me that the only time it was acceptable was when both parties were first learning about how to pray and about Islam, but once they knew what they were doing they must be separated. Shabaz seemed to see it as more a matter of separate but equal than subordination to men. At first I didn't believe it to be equal, as the Imam was a male and the women were not allowed to see him or speak to him during prayer, but once I saw a bit more I began to change my mind. Shabaz had put forth the idea to me that the Imam held no special power or connection to the creator, so was it really a privilege to be able to pray alongside him? When I saw it in this perspective, it seemed much more equal. This idea seemed to hold even more ground as time progressed. During their prayer I noticed that regardless of age and demographic, the men lined up and prayed together, all performing the same ritual, and without lineup in regards to status. The children were in no special positions relating to the others, and the Imam was only in front in order to speak briefly into the microphone, but prayed in the same manner as all others. With this new take on the duty of the Imam, the separation of women and men seemed much more separate but equal to me, and this way of thought was extremely intriguing.

What disturbed me?
Last time I found myself not disturbed by much, but this time I was able to identify at least one thing that I found disturbing, and that was my own initial assumptions. I'm a stickler for outliers. I'm usually the kind of guy to point out that there's no point in generalizing people as you could meet the one outlier out of millions that follow the trend on the street someday and make the incorrect judgement. Regardless of how I usually thought, I found myself expecting exactly what the Assistant Imam ended up looking like. Before he came to greet me, I expected a man of Middle-Eastern descent with an accent and a long beard, and that's exactly what I got. It seems like there was no harm done since I was correct in the matter, but the way I see it, it's more of a shocker to remind myself that I really don't like thinking that way personally.

Too bad I had to end on the note of disturbing things, not a great way to end the analysis of fieldnotes for one of the most interesting things I've done in a long while. For that reason I decided to write this little conclusion saying how great of an experience it was. The opportunity to travel to another world of sorts that I would have never imagined resided within Rhode Island was definitely worth all the writing and research I had to do to get there. My journey is nowhere near finished though, so stay tuned!