…but I didn’t recognize him. Very embarrassing.
(Check out PBS’s biography of Wallace Muhammed if you aren’t very familiar with him or need a refresher.)
I was at the Center for Islamic Studies about to have some sermons scanned when a professor I met last summer came up to me and said, “Hey Jim, what’s up?” Next thing I know he was taking me to meet “a very famous Muslim leader in America” who was standing in the lobby with a couple others.
I shook hands with Mr. Muhammed and after I introduced myself we started talking about his visit to Turkey. He said he was involved with interfaith dialogue projects, but the purpose of this trip was to find some goods that Muslim communities in the U.S. could import and sell; it was mostly a business trip and he was traveling to Dubai this evening to continue his search.
It was only when the professor mentioned a mutual acquaintance at Princeton and Mr. Muhammed said, “If you see her, please say hello from Wallace Muhammed,” that the scales fell from my eyes.
Now, to be fair, I wasn’t expecting to see the most important leader of African-American Muslims in recent history walking through a library in Istanbul, let alone meet him. On the other hand, it was Wallace Muhammed.
This incident has inspired me to make photo flash cards of certain key figures just so I’m not caught off guard again.
2 comments ↓
Photo flashcards, interesting idea. Nice of him to say his name instead of assuming too much. He could’ve just said “tell her I said hi” expecting you to know.
Yeah, I’m glad he did that, too. I think he was on to the fact that I didn’t recognize him.
The only example of photo flashcards that I could think of was the deck of cards created by the U.S. military showing Iraq’s most wanted. I remember thinking it was distasteful, but the concept itself might be useful.
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