Bookstore offers enlightenment as Ramadan begins | Houston & Texas News | Chron.com - Houston Chronicle
By BARBARA KARKABI
Copyright 2008 Houston ChronicleAug. 31, 2008, 11:43PM
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LIGHT OF ISLAM BOOKSTORE
The Muslim bookstore will host an iftar dinner, which breaks the daily Ramadan fast, at 7 p.m. Sept. 13.
Where: 409 E. NASA Parkway, Webster
Other events: Islam 101 meets at 11 a.m. on alternate Sundays.
Information: 832-205-1457 or www.light-of-islam.org
A few days before the start of Ramadan, the Muslim holy month, Syed Kadri goes out at night to look for the moon.
He’s not searching the heavens for just any shape, but a particular one — the crescent moon that indicates the beginning of the holiday. The morning after its sighting, Muslims begin their monthlong fast.
He admits it’s a little old-fashioned, but it’s a childhood habit — even though he has only seen the Ramadan moon twice in his life.
“It was a thrill and very beautiful,” Kadri said.
National organizations have selected today as the beginning of Ramadan through astrological calculations.
But the Islamic Society of Greater Houston likes to do things differently. They watch for the crescent, and don’t begin the holiday until one is reported from any part of the country.
Last week, Kadri was visiting the Light of Islam Bookstore, which had its grand opening on Saturday. He sat in on the first Islam 101 class offered at the store and looked pleased as several non-Muslims pelted teacher Yusuf Shere with lively questions.
The nonprofit bookstore and its educational classes are the dream of Islam convert Ruth Nasrullah, who blogs on the Chronicle’s HoustonBelief.com Web site.
During the class, Nasrullah peeked into the cozy room lined with books and filled with comfortable chairs that visitors can sink into while reading or talking. It looked just as she had imagined. “It was the inauguration of Light of Islam as an educational center, and I was very pleased,” Nasrullah said.
She listened as Shere explained the month of Ramadan, one of the five pillars of Islam, to the class of eight.
Muslims, except those who are exempted, fast from food and liquids from dawn until dusk, he said.
“It’s also a month of spiritual reflection and introspection where we try and discover ourselves again spiritually,” Shere explained. “We focus on getting closer to God. The fasting is important because it’s a way to conquer your physical desires.”
Afterward, Nasrullah talked with several students and showed them books including sets of the Quran, histories, fiction, books on the veil and the hijab, a rack of books on Ramadan and several cookbooks.
More than a bookstore
Yolanda Arreguin visited the bookstore recently and bought a book Nasrullah suggested, The Everything Understanding Islam Book. “It explains Islam simply and in an organized way,” Arreguin said.
She had previously bought a book about Muhammad that she found contradictory. “Then I saw the author wasn’t a Muslim,” Arreguin said. “I don’t think I will buy anything about Islam again without checking with Ruth because I don’t want to be misinformed.”
There are several other Islamic bookstores in Houston and a few mosques with small stores. But Nasrullah wanted Light of Islam to be more than a bookstore.
The mission of the Clear Lake-area shop, she said, is to provide Houstonians with accurate and accessible information about Islam and Muslims.
It’s also an educational center that will offer classes, lectures, panel discussions and workshops, as well as events like an upcoming Ramadan iftar, or dinner, open to the community.
She envisions the store as a place where people of all faiths and interests can go to read, listen, share and learn more about Islam.
Focuses on new converts
“A lot of people suggested that I open the store at a mosque,” Nasrullah said. “But because I am more focused on non-Muslims and new Muslims who are not always comfortable going to the mosque, I wanted it to be free-standing.”
Nasrullah still worries that when she visits a new mosque she might do the wrong thing or break a point of etiquette.
“It’s probably kind of silly to worry about that now,” said Nasrullah, who converted to Islam 20 years ago.
Even so, she considers herself a “born-again Muslim,” a reawakening that happened after Sept. 11.
“My hometown in New Jersey is 15 miles west of Manhattan, so I actually saw the buildings burning. It was bad and unreal,” Nasrullah said. “There were people in my town who were killed, so there were a lot of interfaith services. When I heard the imam’s prayers, it rekindled something in me.”
In 2003, she married Mohammed Nasrullah and moved to Clear Lake, where her husband is an active member at the Highway 3 mosque.
Ruth Nasrullah says she will focus her energies on the new bookstore. However, opening a bookstore right before Ramadan, she said, has challenges and opportunities.
“The main challenge is to be able to recruit people to teach classes and run activities,” she said. “But it’s an auspicious time because Muslim life is very much in the forefront. Muslims are trying to be more spiritual and people are so impressed by the idea of fasting for a month, that it’s a good time to get people interested in finding out more.”
