A Time Will Come...

By Matt Brown - Lodi News Sentinel - Lodi, CA, U.S.A.
Saturday, November 17, 2007

New Lodi imam ready to heal Muslim community
Ahmad Hashimi rests on a couch in a comfortable, cream-colored robe. His feet are bare, and a black cylindrical hat sits atop his head hiding his straight dark hair that is flecked with gray.

His bushy, black beard ends in tiny, kinky curls, accentuating his round face.But Hashimi's most striking features are his eyes. There is a certain peacefulness and wisdom in his half-opened hazel eyes that betrays this spiritual leader's age of 34 years.

These are the eyes of a much older mystic. Perhaps they are the eyes of his father, a Sufi scholar.

There is hope in these eyes and a sense of purpose. As the new imam of the Lodi Muslim Mosque, Hashimi represents a chance to heal a community still reeling from two deported imams and a terrorism investigation.

"I came here to preach Islam and paint a very lovely and tolerant picture of Islam," Hashimi says in a slow, soothing tone with a thick south Asian accent.

"A time will come when this mosque will be a model mosque in America."He peppers his speech with scholarly words and cites Goethe and the Sufi poet, Rumi.

(...)

Hashimi is the mosque's first imam since then and the first Lodi imam from the Sufi tradition of Islam. Sufism is the mystical branch of Islam with a philosophy rooted in peace, love and tolerance of other religions.

"My true nature is love toward God and humanity," Hashimi says. "Sufism accepts every person whether they are Muslim or non-Muslim."

Hashimi was born in Mansehra, a rugged frontier town in the mountains of northern Pakistan.

In the tradition of his father, the head of a post-graduate college, Hashimi began studying philosophy, eventually earning a master's degree from Peshwar University.

When Lodi Muslim Mosque president Mohammed Shoaib visited Pakistan last year, he found Hashimi teaching at a post-graduate university."When I first met him, I knew he could help us here in Lodi," Shoaib says. "I am very impressed with him".

Seated in an ornate, gold-painted chair, Hashimi delivers his oration in a commanding, yet measured voice. During the 30-minute lecture in Urdu, Pakistan's native language, many in the audience nod and mumble in agreement.

Afterward, he summarizes his lecture in English."The best of you are those that are well mannered," he says. "We should understand that the Islamic code of ethics is very firm and we should adopt this ethical code."

In his first two weeks in America, Hashimi says he can see the differences between preaching Islam in Pakistan and this country, where Muslims comprise the minority.

"This is a different community from Pakistan," he says. "I think we are having difficulty (in America) presenting the true picture of Islam. I think we should get back to the spiritual message of Islam."

[Photo: Mr. Ahmad Hashimi. Photo: Brian Feulner/News-Sentinel].