Site Visit

It was in 2009, when I was visiting Pakistan in my summer break, I was invited by my friend to attend a gathering at the mosque. He volunteered as a translator as it was a gathering where a group of foreigner Catholics was invited to visit the mosque. The event was organized in order to convey the message that not all the Muslims in Pakistan are extremist and there is this handful of people who are on the way of extremism. I have always been interested in studying the behavior of Muslims in front of foreigner non-muslims and it was a great chance for me to satisfy my curiosity. A carload of curious Catholics arrived at the exact time from their guesthouse to the mosque.

The guests were practicing Catholics and they were visiting my city, which is a small town in south of Pakistan, to discover the thoughts and opinion of local Pakistani Muslims. They were very impressed with the fact that Imam-e-Masjid himself invited them for the visit and he personally looked after them during their visit.

I was enormously fascinated when I saw the visitors placing their shoes alongside their host's on wire racks lining one wall of the foyer. They kept the decorum of mosque and were very respectful, as were the hosts.

The women were already covered from chin to ankle, pulled on scarves to cover their hair. It was pretty clear that they did their homework before the visit. The men were lead to a large simple, rug-covered room in the main atrium and the women were requested upstairs to a balcony watching the same prayer room.

People already inside the atrium greeted the visitors very warmly, though quietly, and lined up, shoulder to shoulder, in rows that stretched across the room. Everyone faced towards Imam. Folding chairs were provided to those who had difficulty sitting on the floor.

The excitement of having guests was clearly visible on the faces of the locals and everyone was trying to be as friendly and helping as possible. And I could tell that visitors...