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About Smoke signals. (Grand Ronde, Or.) 19??-current | View Entire Issue (Dec. 1, 2001)
Smoke Signals 7 jw became a Muslim in 1989 and calls the United Arab Emirates home, DECEMBER 1, 2001 Off cover. Every day. Within two months of their courtship, he pro posed. "It was such a respectful thing he said," she added. "I was so happy." Thus, within two months of meeting one an other, Sarah Farlow and Adel Fataihi were soon married. And within two months of marriage, Farlow converted to Islam. "I would listen to him, things he would say, talking about the birds flying and how Allah God is there," she said, entranced. "I'd never thought about these things before. "He never pushed anything on me," she said. "I watched him pray (five times per day) and he told me we don't bow to anyone but Allah." ., Devotion to Allah helped her accomplish that which was previously impossible: giving up al cohol. "It was not easy before," she said. "But be cause it's haram forbidden I found it much easier to do." Patrick and Christopher Doty, her two sons, shared in the newfound piety. They converted one week after her and as a further sign of de votion, changed their names. Patrick now goes by Youseph. And Chris selected perhaps the holiest name available, Muhammad, after the original Muslim prophet. The transition was by no means easy. As Farlow explained, the last few years in Boulder, her clothes became longer and covered more. Some people stared, others afforded her more respect, almost as if in admiration for one so de voted and disciplined. "I can remember one day in Boulder, at the mall, I was wearing this over my hair, and a man opened the door for me," she said. "I don't ever remember that happening before." Though her marriage to Fitaihi lasted only four years, her faith persisted and in 1994 the family signaled their dedication by opting for life in the motherland, the Middle East. They gladly traded the magnificent peaks, regal evergreens and the snowy fluff of Colorado for sandy wind swept dunes, the luscious spice markets, the won drous souqs and medinas of the United Arab Emirates. Travelers and psychologists alike often fail in explaining the phenomenon of culture shock, and perhaps we can forgive Sarah Farlow for being short of words in the same task. "It was hard," she said, searching for expres sion. "We're... we're spoiled rotten here. I'm thankful for everything I have." Different food, different people, different land scape they would usually all merge to over whelm those suddenly faced with the prospects of building a new life in that environment, yet Farlow came to embrace it, particularly the rusticness of it all. "It's getting modern," she said. "And I'm not too happy with that." Newcomers to Arab countries are universally surprised by the loud prayer calls that blare forth from every Mosque five times per day, at least one before sunrise. Yet that's a sound Farlow now savors ("God, I miss that!"). Middle Eastern cuisine has found its niche in her heart. "The food is so different. At first I didn't know how to cook it," she said. "Because here every thing is in a box or a can." Cooking matters in the Arab countries, she explained, because in Islam, hospitality and gen erosity are qualities one strives for. A typical guest in a Muslim household has only to get out of bed. Everything else comes to them. "In Islam, with guests, we give them three days," she said. "They don't have to do any thing we cook, we let them rest. We must be like that." Farlow tries to come back every year, prima rily to visit her family, especially her parents Bud and Geraldine Farlow, both of whom live in Sa lem. And her family, despite what must be a drastic change, has never been less than sup portive. "Since I was little my mom was always telling me I was trying to belong somewhere," she said. "Now I do." Farlow still recalls with vivid clarity the first time she visited since moving to the Emirates. Her father's eyes widened as she walked out of the plane complete in the hijab-nacob-abayhh combination, and he stared speechless. The shock was short-lived, though, she said. Though in no hurry to convert, there was much about Islam they lauded. "No swearing, no drinking, no drugs," Farlow listed. "They liked that. And when they saw my kids treat me with such respect. . . "I think as long as I'm happy, they're happy," she added. "In my life I've finally found something that makes sense to me," she said. "I really got the answers that I needed." Her answers have come, like for many Mus lims, from that heart of Islam, the work pur ported to be the untainted words of Allah, the book we know as the Koran, and referred to by most followers as the Qu'ran. Muslims take pride in their book and rightly so. Even scholars of other faiths have rarely questioned the authenticity of the Qu'ran, which to this day has remained unchanged, never al tered, and translated from Arabic to a myriad of other languages with the most carefully chosen words, so as not to deviate from the original message. Muslims tout the Qu'ran as being the exact words spoken by Allah through the Angel Gabriel, who in turn provided the revelation to Muhammad, the Holy Prophet. Though clearly Islam's premier text, the Qu'ran, a lesser though still revered other book abounds. Second only to those words of Allah is the Sunnah, Farlow explained to me. Whereas the Qu'ran explains what a Muslim must do, the Sunnah dictates how it must be done, though in no way is it obligatory. continued on next page Islam the Middle- East is in the Middle East has roots that run very deep. come to assist the poor and the sick. The fifth, and to many the most difficult, is the hajj, or pilgrimage to Mecca. All Muslims physi cally and financially able must journey to the city in Saudi Arabia during Ramadan at least once in their life. The birthplace of Muhammad, the city serves as the site for numerous other rituals. Obviously there is more to Islam than that. Like any religion, it has broken off into sects, each one having their own interpretation of how to be. That is why in some countries women are covered head to foot, and others not. And that is why some believe in violence to transmit their religion, and the vast majority, do not. "You have to be careful with whom you in volve yourself with," said Tribal member Sarah Mohammed Farlow. "There are lots of different sects out there in Islam." America's rocky relationship with Muslims in the Middle East has roots that run very deep. But one special bone of contention, and one noted by Farlow during her interview, is Palestine. The exact geographical location of Palestine has changed constantly during the last few thou sand, years, though human habitation by Arabs and Semites extends back even farther. It is situated in the area near Israel and Jordan and has been the subject of numerous claims from Arabs, Jews and Christians, mostly due to the fact that the region is sacred to Islam, Judaism, and Christianity. In 1947 the United Nations moved to partition the area into separate Arab and Jewish states, a move not favored by neigh boring Arab states. In 1948, the state of Israel was officially proclaimed, marking land the Palestinians claimed their own. Egypt, Jor dan, Syria, Lebanon, and Iraq immediately declared war. The Israeli army was able to stave off the ensuing attacks, dubbed the Arab-Israeli Wars and defeated another ef fort in 1967 called the Six-Day War. Israel's spoils for this war were none other than West Bank, claimed from Jordan and the Gaza Strip, taken from Egypt. Needless to say, Israel is in no good standing with its neigh bors, and the U.S., through its military sup port of the country has also earned the en mity of the Arab states. Many Muslims feel the U.S. support of Israel only aggravates the situation and as an ally of the Israelis, makes them an enemy. D
