In Conversation with Aman Ali, Co-creator of ‘30 Mosques in 30 Days’
You may have seen these guys on CNN, FOX, BBC, NBC, ABC, CBC or even Al Jazeera; or perhaps you are one of the 100K visitors who have been stalking them via their blog; but regardless of your previous knowledge about the stand-up comedian (Aman) and the advertising guru (Bassam), you’ll get to know everything about what they did last summer.
Beginning August of this year, they took a cross-country trip from Alaska to their home-town New York, stopping at a different Mosque, in a different state, each night — solely for the purposes of getting to know the community. Interesting? It gets better:
Mithaq Kazimi: How did it all start?
Aman Ali: It was an impulsive idea that started in 2009. I and my friend Bassam Tariq found out that there were 160 Mosques within the 10-mile radius of where we live; one told the other “Dude, wouldn’t be crazy if we went to thirty mosques in thirty days of Ramadan?”
So after doing so — visiting each mosque every night to break the fast — and receiving a great response, we realized that there were many other communities around the country that could be explored.
As a stand-up comedian myself and Bassam being in advertising, we had traveled around the country on our own and knew there were many ‘cool’ communities out there that we wanted to visit and that’s how the idea of “30 days in 30 mosques” came about.
What motivated you guys to embark on this project?
Given the socio-political climate about Muslims in America last year, I was a bit pessimistic that Muslims were not doing enough to tell the world who we actually are; but this year, I feel very optimistic and inspired to learn that Muslims are doing great things as a collective Muslim community.
When we speak about Islam in American history, very vague stories come to mind. Growing up, I learned that maybe there was a Muslim that Thomas Jefferson met, but during this trip we realized that Muslims have lived in Iowa since the early 1800s.
What was different this year?
This year we focused on personal narratives, asking people what is the relevance of Islam in your life, or the importance of faith in general. We realized that Islam means so many different things to different people, so our journey was about highlighting exactly that.
It is so inspirational to meet such people and hear their stories. I realized that we are all blessed in our own respective lives in one way or the other.
Was this year a continuation of last year’s efforts?
Yes, we had gone to thirty states last year, so we covered the other twenty this time around.
Also, going into the project this year, everyone recognized us when we walked into a mosque and there was a greater amount of support from the communities. This time we didn’t really stay in hotels and instead were invited to people’s houses. So no matter where we went, we felt at home.
Even last year, without knowing about us much, there was this warm hospitality in the community. This is probably a testimony to the characteristics of the Muslim, and the American community in general.
What did each of these individuals have in common?
I think what a lot of people had in common was this idea of love — whether love for God, the community or their own lives. But it was love that drove these communities and these individuals on daily bases.
Although there were many different individual stories, but what made them all similar was this idea of connecting with God and a higher power.
What do you think Muslims share in common with other religious groups?
On a day-to-day base, regardless of our backgrounds, we believe in the idea of serving the broader community and thus serving God. This idea of giving and helping the unfortunate, this is the idea that binds us all.
What are some ‘hot’ and ‘binding’ topics at the mosques?
We live in this country just like everyone else. They talk about general daily life issue. Topics such as life under this hard economic times, relationships, house renovation, quality of education, break-ups with women, taxes and Facebook status updates.
How did the media catch on with you?
Last year it was the whole controversy around the Ground Zero Mosque and people were interested in learning what really goes on in a mosque. This year it was a bit different; because our mission was not to counter any anti-Islamic views or respond or run a PR campaign about Islam, but rather “tell stories” about who Muslims are.
And were you successful?
I would say so. There has been so much of positive response from around the country and even from abroad.
We recently met Charles Barkley, the basketball athlete, who knew about us. Many journalists that didn’t even interview us knew what we were up-to.
For example plenty of non-Muslims may feel nervous about asking a Muslim about Islam and what goes on in a mosque, so this project gave them the freedom to read about it from the comfort of their home.
Who are these people, your audience?
I would say about 60% are Muslims and around 40% everyone else. And since the core element of our project was to build buzz through the social networks, you could say the age group is around 20–35.
Who were your supporters, how did you fund the project?
The money was raised through online contribution and individual donations.
There is so much credit I and Bassam could get for this project; it’s really people who donated and suggested what we should do with out project and everyone else who has made it as big and beautiful as it is.
Will you do this next year?
We were asked the same question last year and we said “no.” But sure, we’ll do this if it only makes sense. We’re not going to do it, just for the sake of doing. Many organizations have approached us about doing a more global journey, perhaps 30 countries, but we’ll only do it if we feel the need for it.
What keeps you guys busy post the project?
We’re doing a cross-country tour in universities and organizations and talking about this project and our learnings.
We’ve realized that people want to learn more and we want to learn more, so we’ll keep on exploring.
Any developments inspired by the project?
There were two filmmakers who followed us and there will be a documentary which will air on PBS in the coming years.
We’re on the process of writing a book. We have an Apple and Android app out in the market. And we continue to implements the learning’s in our lives and profession — on my stand-up comedy shows.
And lastly?
One thing that we took away was there was so much we hadn’t covered. But on the other hand, we benefited so much personally and we really enjoyed the journey.
If you haven’t yet, check out their blog at www.30mosques.com & visit the Conversation page of this blog for more unique interviews.
