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