{"id":752,"date":"2012-07-24T12:49:43","date_gmt":"2012-07-24T16:49:43","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/myislamiclife.wordpress.com\/?p=752"},"modified":"2012-07-24T12:49:43","modified_gmt":"2012-07-24T16:49:43","slug":"muslims-near-and-far","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/myislamiclife\/2012\/07\/24\/muslims-near-and-far\/","title":{"rendered":"Muslims Near and Far"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Each and every time we leave the comfort and security of our little city, we search out the Islamic community of different parts of the country. \u00a0I look up the names and addresses of the mosques closest to where we will be staying, and search out restaurants and shops that are owned by Muslims. \u00a0We do this so that our children get a sense of belonging wherever they are, and that Islam isn\u2019t just isolated to our city and countries far away, but all over the USA.<\/p>\n

Because Ramadan, and Eid gifts have been on my mind since (literally) the beginning of summer, when we planned our trip to the city of Chicago, I assumed that it would be easy to find the shops and pick up some great gifts. \u00a0I asked a few people I knew from here about shops and places to go in and around Chicago. \u00a0I kept thinking, Chicago is a great big city, surely there is a large number of Muslims and mosques there. \u00a0I was surprised to find that no one really knew where to shop there, and no one knew where the mosque was inside the city.<\/p>\n

During our morning walk around town, we walked down the 600 block of Wabash street, where a beautiful mosque like building resides. \u00a0It is home to the Bloomindales Home store. \u00a0I was very curious, but didn\u2019t stop to get a closer look until later on our return trip. \u00a0Around the outside of the door, was \u2018la illaha ila Allah\u2026\u201d (from where I was standing) the ladies and I stopped to talk about the building and take photos of the Arabic script around the doorway. \u00a0Once home, I googled\u00a0the building and found that it is the historical Medinah Temple.<\/a> \u00a0It was saved from demolition back in early 2001, and is now a Chicago Landmark.<\/p>\n

We travelled to a place on Devon Street called IQRA<\/a>. \u00a0They had a wonderful selection of books in English, Arabic and Urdu. \u00a0The shop is fairly large and well laid out with the topics and prices clearly marked. \u00a0I appreciated this method of organization, and felt very comfortable inside browsing. \u00a0We went late in the afternoon on Saturday, so most of the shops were closed. \u00a0This area of town is focused on Pakistani Muslims, Indian cuisine and shopping. \u00a0We did not see any gift shops, and the few clothing stores we found were selling Indian\/Pakistani clothing. \u00a0We were on the hunt for more Arabic\/Egyptian style clothing\u2026so we moved on.<\/p>\n

Our next destination was Pulaski Rd.<\/a> \u00a0This address was vacant. \u00a0We did see a small grocery store and restaurant, and Khaled spoke to a man who pointed out the mosque around the corner. \u00a0This was the Algerian-Muslim section of town. \u00a0Moving along to Montrose Avenue, the area seemed desolate. \u00a0There were signs written in Arabic here and there, but for the most part, the area was deserted.<\/p>\n

That night, we happened to catch a cab driven by a man named Khalid. \u00a0Once Khaled started to make conversation, there were grins and smiles and laughter sprinkled inbetween the rapid fire Arabic conversation that took place those short 5 blocks. \u00a0It is always fun to witness Khaled meet and converse with other Muslim men in new cities. \u00a0I am in awe of the quick\u00a0camaraderie\u00a0that springs up once they\u2019ve greeted each other \u201cAssalamu Alaikum.\u201d \u00a0I\u2019ve never been able to do that. \u00a0Later I would find out that our driver told Khaled that the Muslims don\u2019t live in the city, but they live outside in a small town called Bridge View. \u00a0With this nugget of information, we made plans to visit there on Sunday.<\/p>\n

On Sunday afternoon, on our way out of town, we programmed a route for the intersection of Harlem and 87th streets in Bridgeview. \u00a0It is a small strip mall that houses The Nile Restuarant<\/a>, a Middle Eastern Grocery and Al Omari Islamic Fashion.<\/a>\u00a0 We were a little apprehensive at first because of the size of the store, but once inside, we quickly changed our mind. \u00a0Al Omari had 2 full circular racks of Abaya for little ladies, and racks and racks of adult sized Abaya ranging from extremely simple to Henna Party extravagance. \u00a0We browsed, and selected\u2026the ladies tried on their choices and when we were ready to pick out matching hijabs, the owner and her daughters were more than happy to help us out. \u00a0They recommended colors, and fabrics and styles. \u00a0They offered tips to Pea and Kate on how to put on the hijabs and complemented them on their skill. \u00a0Once we finalized our purchases, each lady got their own tote bag to carry their outfits back to the car. \u00a0I was ever so pleased that it was a warm, welcoming and helpful shopping experience. \u00a0Al Omari had such a nice selection available that I wanted to spend more time looking for something for myself, but we were still a long drive from home and the time was late.<\/p>\n

After we returned home, I found out that Dianas Fashions<\/a>\u00a0was just a 10 minute drive from Al Omari. \u00a0Had we known about these shops before leaving home, we certainly would have\u00a0allotted\u00a0more time for shopping! \u00a0\u00a0I hope to return to the Bridgeview area at least once a year to get new abayas for the ladies. \u00a0Now that we know where to go, we will spend less time searching for the shops, and more time searching for the perfect outfit.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Each and every time we leave the comfort and security of our little city, we search out the Islamic community of different parts of the country. \u00a0I look up the names and addresses of the mosques closest to where we will be staying, and search out restaurants and shops that are owned by Muslims. \u00a0We […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2860,"featured_media":757,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[18,4,7,11],"tags":[21,31,44,53,56,60,73,84,87,94,116,125,140,169,175,204,213,219,252,257,258],"class_list":["post-752","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-hijabs","category-in-the-house","category-ramadan","category-resources","tag-abaya","tag-american-muslim","tag-books-2","tag-children","tag-clothing","tag-convert","tag-devon-street","tag-eid","tag-eid-gifts","tag-family","tag-growth","tag-hijab","tag-islam","tag-mosque","tag-muslim","tag-ramadan","tag-religion","tag-revert","tag-travel","tag-vacation","tag-wabash-street"],"yoast_head":"\nMuslims Near and Far<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Each and every time we leave the comfort and security of our little city, we search out the Islamic community of different 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