Muslim call to prayer in 50 states ends in Michigan

Rasa - From a beach in Hawaii to a mosque in Alaska to Disneyland in California, Jameel Syed of Auburn Hills recited the Muslim call to prayer in 50 states over the past month.

News ID: 2495

Date: 11 May 2015 - 16:51

RNA - From a beach in Hawaii to a mosque in Alaska to Disneyland in California, Jameel Syed of Auburn Hills recited the Muslim call to prayer in 50 states over the past month.

Friday night, the 40-year-old father of two concluded his religious journey at the Islamic Association of Greater Detroit in Rochester Hills, where he is the muezzin, the name for the person who delivers to call to prayer five times a day announcing to the faithful it's time to worship God. He's believed to be the first person to recite the prayer in all 50 states.

"It was amazing," Syed said of his 35-day trip across America. "It was an epic journey on some many levels."

Syed interacted with Muslims of different races and ethnicities, and many non-Muslims as well, striking up conversations in taxis, airports and mosques.

"I was in awe of the generosity and hospitality and love from people I never knew before," Syed said.

In Hawaii, he recited adhan after meeting non-Muslims on the beach. In California, he said it inside a prayer room at Disneyland with Mickey Mouse. And he met with the families of victims of incidents some say were hate crimes: in Chapel Hill, N.C., at the mosque attended by three Muslim students shot dead in January, and in Kansas City with the father of a Somalian-American boy killed in a hit-and-run.

His journey came at a time when Islam was once again in the spotlight. The Boston Marathon bomber verdict happened near the beginning of the trip, and the shooting in Garland, Texas, outside an anti-Islam cartoon event that drew negative pictures of Islam's prophet, Mohammed, happened near the end.

At the start, anti-Islam bloggers circulated an article bashing Syed's trip, sparking concern he could be attacked by haters. In January, protests from some led Duke University officials to cancel having the Muslim call to prayer broadcast from a chapel bell tower on campus. In Hamtramck, there have been complaints at times over the call to prayer being broadcast outside mosques.

But Syed said he had positive experiences. He now hopes to write a book and produce a documentary about his journey.

"I don't like throwing religion in people's faces," Syed said. Instead, he would casually interact with people he met on his trip, finding that many were curious to learn more.

Speaking late Friday night at the Rochester Hills mosque after prayers, Syed said that Muslims can set a good example by helping people, not by pushing their faith onto others.

In addition to reciting the call to prayer during his trip, Syed delivered the last speech of Mohammed in mosques, a speech that he said called for racial and gender equity, fairness and peace. Syed said that Mohammed's message is needed more than ever, recalling that people cried in mosques when he delivered it.

Syed said he hoped the trip helped promote harmony at a time of division. Referring to the attack at the cartoon event in Texas, he said: The anti-Islam cartoonists "are hatemongers, and the people who reacted to it are hatemongers. It's just sad this is the world we live in. Faith is supposed to bring people together."

The two men who attacked the center were against the tenets of Islam, he said.

"Our position is a call to peace," Syed said. "You're not supposed to hurt anyone."

The logistics of his travels were challenging. The call to prayer has to start at a specific time, and so he had to make sure to reach each mosque in time.

But with the help of his faith, he got through.

Syed said: "It was not easy, but ... God always comes on time."

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