the muslim community with Shahid Sheik, part 1 (ep. 3, 19)

In part one of this two-part conversation, Shahid Sheikh, president of the Bentonville Islamic Center, traces the journey of Northwest Arkansas's Muslim community from a handful of families gathering in garages, parking lots, and rented hotel halls to a thriving community of over twelve hundred people to build a permanent masjid and community center in Benton County. Co-hosted by Monica Kumar, the conversation opens with Sheikh's personal story, immigrating from Pakistan as a child, growing up in the Bible Belt of Dalton, Georgia, navigating the smell of curry on the school bus and the sting of childhood difference, and eventually choosing Islam as his own faith after a year and a half of studying Judaism, Hinduism, and Christianity. Sheikh walks listeners through the foundations of Islam: the Shahada, the meaning of "Muslim" as one who submits to the will of God, and the five pillars that structure a life oriented toward God without exception or time off.

The conversation moves into the founding story of the Bentonville Islamic Center, how families pooled their own money, purchased and renovated an old house, and built a place to belong without borrowing from a bank. Sheikh describes the extraordinary diversity within the community, families from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Jordan, Saudi Arabia, Sudan, and beyond, and extends an open invitation to any listener who wants to visit the mosque, observe, ask questions, or simply sit and share chai. Monica Kumar draws on her own immigrant experience from Uganda and India to surface shared patterns of sacrifice, displacement, and the fierce determination to give back more than you've received. The episode builds to Sheikh's defining statement on belonging: "Belonging is not only something that you find, it's something you build. And I've chosen, along with the 1,200-plus Muslims in Northwest Arkansas, we've chosen to belong here."

episode webpage:  https://www.theunderview.com/the-muslim-community-with-shahid-sheikh-bentonville-islamic-center

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Transcript

S03E19 the muslim community with Shahid Sheikh, part 1.

episode preview. 

[00:00:02] shahid sheikh.: because I have a belonging with God in my relationship and he's defined for me, that makes it easy for me to belong to this community. Have I found it here in Northwest Arkansas? Yes. Yes and no. And I would say that I have found community, deep, genuine community at Bentonville Islamic Community and beyond. I found neighbors who know my name and my family.

But there are also moments when I'm reminded that I'm a minority in this place. When someone looks at my beard or my daughter's hijab. With a sense of suspicion, when news of something happening elsewhere gets extrapolated to all people of my faith.

What I can say is that I have chosen to belong here. And that choosing matters. Belonging is not only something that you find it's something you build. And I've chosen, along with the 1,200-plus Muslims in Northwest Arkansas, we've chosen to belong here. This is home for us.

episode intro.

[00:02:07] monica kumar.: You're listening to The Underview, an exploration of the shaping of our place. My name is Monica Kumar. Season three has taken Mike and me into homes and sanctuaries and fellowship halls across Northwest Arkansas, sitting with pastors and priests and deacons, tracing how faith takes shape in our region of the American heartland.

Today, we're going somewhere we haven't been yet, but that's imperative to understanding the ever-evolving landscape of Northwest Arkansas. This is part one of a two-part conversation with Shahid Sheikh, president of the Bentonville Islamic Center and highly engaged local business leader and community builder.

We had the privilege of sharing a table with him to engage in an unhurried, nuanced conversation, and now we have the honor of being able to share it with you. Shahid didn't just describe the Islamic faith and his faith practice. He shared his journey into it, and he invited us to walk alongside him as he shared the way Islam grew within him as he navigated becoming an adult and discovering for himself what it means to be a patriotic American and a faithful Muslim.

He shared about five daily prayers that structure a life with God at the core without exception, and with no time off from the faithful practice of connecting to internal faith. And he shared the historical journey of how a handful of families went from praying in garages and rented hotel halls to building a mosque to belong, both literally and figuratively, in Bentonville, Arkansas. Every nuance and question about nurturing belonging as a person with faith sit at the heart of this season. Indeed, it was my motivation for taking on Mike's generous invitation to co-host.

And in this episode, Shahid will share the brightest and clearest personal interpretation of what it means to practice a faith and belong to a place.

Part one of this conversation shares where we started, with faith, with family, with what it means to be Muslim and American and a neighbor in Northwest Arkansas all at once with conviction.

Let's get into it

episode interview, part 1.

[00:04:14] monica kumar.: Welcome. Today, we have the privilege and honor of sharing our table with Shahid Shaikh, who is the president of the Bentonville Islamic Center and of the Muslim community here in Northwest Arkansas. Shahid, thank you so much for being here with Mike and I. 

[00:04:29] shahid sheikh.: Thank you so much for having me and giving me this opportunities. I, I'm humbled, and I'm very appreciative, Monica, of you and Mike both for giving us an opportunity to just speak to each other, yeah- Yeah ... and learn from each other.

background.

[00:04:44] monica kumar.: ... Well, Mike and I have had so many conversations about this, and we feel so humbled and honored that you're here. And yes, this conversation is something we have been so looking forward to as we start, we'd love to just have you introduce yourself. Where are you from? How long have you been in the region? How does, how do you and your family just contribute to the general community life in Northwest Arkansas? What does that look like for you? 

[00:05:05] shahid sheikh.: Yeah. So That's a great question, I'll start with on my end, and I share with people because I think it's important that I'm first and foremost, I'm a son. I'm a father. I am a brother. I'm a husband. I have four beautiful kids that I'm raising in this-- trying to raise in this community in Northwest Arkansas. I'm a proud Muslim. I'm a proud American, and I am a entrepreneur and a businessman in the community. I've been blessed for over a decade now to be able to create jobs in the area to help those that are in need and at the same time, just enjoy life being in Northwest Arkansas and currently I'm, I am serving, as you mentioned earlier, as the president of the Bentonville Islamic Community.

And that's a role that I cherish more than everything else because ultimately it connects me to the thing that I'm most passionate about, which is my faith, and how that comes to life in my personal, my professional, and my communal life. So yeah.

foundations of faith. 

[00:06:06] monica kumar.: Well, that's that's a really beautiful segue, 'cause I think about into my next question, because I think about, a lot of people in Arkansas, including myself until very recently and really through through the Bentonville Islamic Center, we rarely get the opportunity to have an unhurried conversation with a Muslim person about your faith traditions and what you believe.

So can we just start there? Can you share who you are as a person of faith? How would you introduce your faith to someone who genuinely is curious and maybe knows very little about it, or has one very specific lens that they've learned from the media or from books? . Can you give us a sense of that?

[00:06:45] shahid sheikh.: Yeah. So, I think one, one thing I would tell you as as a Muslim I tr- always try to tell folks that, don't introduce yourself to Islam based on what's on CNN or Fox or in your social media feed. And I invite folks to come to the mosque. I invite folks to go to lunch and go to dinner and just chat.

And, for me introducing Islam to someone maybe who has not heard more than the sound bites on media, for example, Islam is a,, a, we believe is a continuation of the Abrahamic faiths with Christianity, Judaism. It is not something new. It is not something different. There's more that Muslims and Islam have i- in common with the Christians and with the Jews and with Christianity and Judaism than we than we would disagree on. I would say that in my experience, I would say probably, gosh, well over 90% of the- principles and the general day-to-day actions and the way that we live life it's the same, and we have more in common with that.

You know, The oneness of God is a, priority. The Shahada acknowledging that there is only one God and no other God to be worshiped. He is not he does not have, any spouses, any partners, any children. It's just one God. And I think that's if you were to say, and at its core, if you believe that then you are a Muslim by definition.

And something I, I like to help my non-Muslim friends understand is that Islam, the word Islam translates into peace through submission. And so some folks are like, "Well, what am I submitting to? Who am I submitting to," right? And as someone a Muslim is someone -- anyone who submits to the will of God, the creator, the one entity, the one being who's all-powerful, all-knowing. When you submit to that one entity's will and you live your life day to day according to that will, then by definition, by that definition, you are a Muslim. So when I say I'm a Muslim, the only thing I'm saying is that I have-- I submit my life and my choices and my practices to the will of my creator, and so that makes me a Muslim. And because I've submitted to His will, who's all-knowing then I know that I'm going to find peace, and the way that I find peace when I submit my-- submit to His will, I find peace in Islam. So that's literally-- So a Muslim in Islam, Muslim is a person who submits to the will of God. Islam is finding peace from having submitted to the will of God, and that's the pursuit of our life from birth to death as Muslims .

a personal faith. 

[00:09:30] mike rusch.: That's- That's beautiful.

[00:09:31] monica kumar.: That's so beautiful, yeah, and not a message that I have heard e- ever, I think and never presented that way, so thank you so much. You've just blown my mind. Yeah. And we just started.

So we started this conversation and you shared about how important it is to be personal and share about yourself.

So we would, I would love to hear, and I think our community would love to hear, can you share about when your faith became personal to you and what did that journey look like insofar as you're willing to share about that? 

[00:10:01] shahid sheikh.: Yeah. Yeah. So I think I'll, I... my journey and my faith I think there's three three points in my life that sort of really resonate in my mind as I look back, where I think faith and my connection and my relationship to God really is emphasized, and I'll share those.

I, I think even as a young child especially when we immigrated to the US from Pakistan there was a lot of cultural changes and things that I was experiencing, and I'll share a personal story with you that, growing up in a... I grew up in a very loving home. My mother, we were blessed to have my mom home. She prepared some of the best food every single day fresh. She would wake up and have breakfast ready for us. She would lay out our clothing. So we're like second grade, third grade, I'm thinking about. And Pakistani food, if you know anything about it, similar to Indian food and m- much of South Asian cuisine very aromatic.

And I know my mom was always like, "I'm going to make my kids fresh food." And so when she would make fresh food in the morning, I kid you not, like, it was delicious. It was amazing. I loved it, but the odor that the smell of the spices and the curries that would stay. And so when you're, when you're showered and you're ready and you've got a fresh pair of clothes that you just put on and then your mom's making fresh, breakfast, and our breakfast is not a bagel and cheese, and maybe a pe- peanut butter and jelly sandwich. It's curry, it's rice, it's biryanis. Those are our, that's our breakfast. And so I recall, going to school, and in the morning I would get on the school bus, and I would have kids... kids can be mean sometimes, and they would make comments, "Oh, you smell like onions. You smell like rice," and this.

And I realized that, culturally we're different. Like what I have for breakfast, that carries, and that component of my culture carries with me. And so I would get, a- as many, as a young child, I would get upset that, the kids were saying these things. I, this. And eventually it turned into me being upset with my mom, like, "Why are you making- thinking, "You don't have to cook in the morning. I don't wanna eat breakfast anymore." But I couldn't quite tell her in that way, right? Like, I didn't wanna hurt her feelings. And so I would, and I recall one particular day where the kids were really, like, mean-spirited in, in that and making a lot of jokes and stuff, and I came home very upset and, I think that night I was crying and I was very upset and I started praying.

I was like, "Why," "why are we having to do this? Why is my lifestyle like this?" And so I remember at a young age, there were things, there were challenges that happened, and I would naturally... and today I thank God that's how I was created, that I would naturally turn to him. And I remember praying at night and crying and asking for his help with my homework, with tests, and with friends, and with any issue that came up, little or large. And then as I've as I grew up in, in Dalton, Georgia, as I made friends and I got older and I realized that- I think going from, "God, I need help with my test," to, "God, I need, I, I need help with building a better relationship with people. I need, this and this," to losing my grandfather.

Then that relationship all of a sudden matured, 'cause that was the first loss I experienced in my life, and that was in 2005. And so coming face to face with death in that respect and losing someone who I loved so much really took to the next level of, "Okay, God, what do you... what's happening to my grandpa now? Like, what is going to ultimately happen to me? Am I going to die?" And coming to those and dealing with those at a young age I was 19 at that time, and so I was going through this sort of internal... I was born, I'm I, alhamdulillah, I thank God that I was born in a Muslim household. But at the same time, in my journey I lived a, I lived in a Western country surrounded by a culture that was not at its core aligned to Islamic values.

And so I would say probably around that age, I started questioning throughout high school, like, what does it mean? What is life? Why am I here? And going through that, that I think many of us are privileged enough to go through that. And in reconciling that, I studied Judaism. I studied Hinduism. I had friends in college who were, who belonged to these faiths, and I would go with them to their church or their or their place of worship. And-- I got the books from their faiths, and I started reading and understanding for myself. And so I went on this little journey to really see what was out there. And, the thing that I thank God every single day is after about a year and a half of researching and studying other faiths, I came back to the conclusion of that for me, In my life, Islam is the truth, and that is the faith that I belong to. And so having gone through that journey, and I love my parents and I appreciate both my father and mother for allowing me to experience that journey and understanding.

And so going through that allowed me to internalize my faith. And so I would say that's that, that second moment in my life. And lastly, the third moment for me was, having my children and trying to find a place for them to belong, and ultimately finding that place in the mosque and in the community in Northwest Arkansas, and seeing the impact on their lives, the Muslim identity seeing the impact on those around us, that was really meaningful for me.

And so these three events that occurred at these three different stages of my life have really grounded me in my relationship with God in how I practice and I live. And I tell folks like, it's not-- Islam is not something that you pick up off the shelf, two times a day before going to bed or when you wake up, and then you put it away all day, and then you go interact with the world.

Islam is something that, for us, it's twenty-four/seven. We live by it every-- We at- we try to live by it in everything that we do, every aspect of it. It's not something that I can put away because I'm at work. It's not something I can just put away because well, I'm running my business now.

No. Every aspect of o- of our life is permeated with our faith and our belief. We stop five times a day no matter what we're doing, whether it's work, whether it's school, anything and we pray. We turn back to God five times a day. And so through this reminder, this constant connection there is no opportunity to unplug from our relationship with God. It's twenty-four/seven. I, I don't, I don't know if I went a little bit long, but I hope I, I- Yeah ... help answered that. 

[00:16:50] monica kumar.: No, that was amazing. And I don't wanna speak for every South, every South Asian or every Asian, but I don't know anyone who has not had ... i, for me, it was like the samosa versus the sandwich story like, like at lunch I would get samosas and everyone else has, like, a PB&J sandwich or something. And it's so funny you mention that, Shahid, because I would pray to God and for two things. I would pray that, one, I would wake up white, and two, I would wake up not smelling of curry and spices, and could go to school with a sandwich and not, like, biryani or not, pilau or samosas, 'cause that was, like, a lunch favorite. So that just resonates- Love, love samosas ... so m- Oh my gosh. Yeah. And now every one of my friends is like, "I can't believe you would rather have a sandwich than a samosa." 

[00:17:34] mike rusch.: Yeah.

islam and shared lineage.

[00:17:35] monica kumar.: You know, You talked about the connection between being someone of Jewish faith and then Christianity and how close those roots are to, to Islam. And I recently learned of, that Jesus very honored in Is- in the Islamic faith. Mary has a chapter in the Quran named after her. Yeah ... so as we move into the conversation about and I really wanna talk about your center and how that sort of build is a part of the place and sense of community in Northwest Arkansas, can you just share a little bit more about that lineage and and how that impacts the way people of your faith show up and build connection?

[00:18:12] shahid sheikh.: Yeah. So yeah, definitely. I'm glad you hit on that. And Jesus, peace be upon Him, is very important. His mother, Ma- Mary is very important in Islam. I think one thing that often people of Christian faith especially, I think they get surprised by is that we admire and we love Jesus, peace be upon Him. We, as Muslims, we believe that He will return, and He will lead us to the right path. I, I think where we differ is that we do not attribute a a godly quality to Jesus, peace be upon Him. So for us, Jesus is a prophet, a very beloved prophet of God and not God or the Son of God or that. And I think this is this is a core divergence between the principles of Islam in that it's a it's a monotheistic faith versus something more. And absolutely we agree and believe in the virgin birth. But in that, we believe that, it's similar to how God created Adam. The way that God created Eve, the first man, the first woman, right? If God can take clay and put together a form and blow into it life, then, He's done it, done it again without... So a familiar relationship is not required for God to create in that sense.

If I had to give one, really one core aspect of th-the relationship between-- So the Quran is the holy book that we revere and we hold onto and read in, in Islam. The Christians would have, the Bible, for example the Torah. These are books that we believe in. As Muslims we believe in all prophets, Abraham, Moses Jesus, peace be upon each one of them. And by the way, when I say peace be upon them, that's us-- that's me showing respect for their role and for who they are. And so it doesn't matter if it's our prophet or not, prophet of God deserves that respect. So when we add peace be upon them, that is our etiquette for showing that respect. Ultimately I think as a Muslim Muslim-- being in Islam is not something that th-there is n-nothing forced. You cannot force anyone to come to God.

There is no-- It's by choice. It's God chooses you, and you in kind respond to that. And so, you know, you cannot force anyone to believe in any single way, and that's not permitted at all in, in Islamic teachings. The submission that happens has to be from the heart. Otherwise, there's-- it's pointless

history of Bentonville Islamic Center. 

[00:20:52] monica kumar.: One of the, Pieces of this conversation and this season is we're really thinking about a sense of place and the connection of faith to our place. And so we can't have this conversation without you sharing a little bit about the history of the Bentonville Is- Islamic Center, how it came to be. How did that vision happen to build it in Northwest Arkansas in a place where, that's not have a lineage or history of Islam and and that community, and yet you planted a flag and planted a place of love? Would love to hear about that.

And then specifically, I was very taken, ... I have been, I've been to the Bentonville Islamic Center, and I know that you have a very robust partnership with the Northwest Arkansas Food Bank. And you h- and you serve anyone regardless of their religion, and I think you even have a sign that says, "We welcome all humans. We do not ask questions." So can you speak to those two pieces? Because I think that they're definitely interwoven, but I don't wanna speak for you on that. 

[00:21:50] shahid sheikh.: Yeah. So definitely. I think when I think about the Bentonville Islamic community here, so I moved in, moved to Bentonville in 2008. I came with Walmart. And at that time, there were in 2008, there were probably less than 20 Muslim families here. And so I recall at that time we did not have a mosque, and so we would gather in people's homes and garages, in parking lots. We would gather for Friday prayer. We would rent out a hall at a hotel just so that we could pray on Fridays and things of that nature.

And so, there was a lot of effort made by that first generation who arrived here to try to give a sense of community, a sense of belonging. And as we realized that we were actually ... We love Northwest Arkansas, and we wanted to truly, as people started laying roots, and then it became obvious that, hey, playing in parking garages or praying outside or praying, renting halls in a in a hotel or or going to someone's garage to pray is not ideal. We need our own place to belong to where we can worship together and come together for different aspects of community building. And I think that aligns with the history that a history of the Muslim community in America. That's how we come in. Someone comes in and then- They look around and then they start connecting with people who look like themselves and don't look like themselves, who believe like they do and don't believe like they do, and that connection is real.

And I think Bentonville is a beautiful story in that respect. So I thank from the bottom of my heart to that generation that first arrived here, the first five, six families, and for them to have the wisdom and the passion that, "Hey, we need to build our own mosque. We need a place for us to gather and future generations to gather."

And out of that, basically everyone pitched in donations and funds and we purchased a, an old house and renovated it and turned it into today where we worship as the Bentonville Islamic Center. And it was very organic. It was very organic. And so it's not-- we didn't have-- we don't really prescribe to the go to a bank and get a loan and build a mosque, right?

From an, from that perspective. And so everyone contributed and gave, and we raised the money that we needed. And I'm proud to say that the Muslim community in Northwest Arkansas is very blessed. We, we are an incredibly diverse group of professionals, very successful professionals engineering m-medical doctors nurses business owners, people who have given back to this community, I dare say, more than they've taken.

People who feel a sense of responsibility to contribute as net-net contributors and not necessarily as someone who's just sitting back and enjoying the fruits of other people, others' work. And for Northwest Arkansas especially, I, I-- one of the things that I think about w-we're in the process now...

We've outgrown this mosque, and we're in the process of building a new mosque and community center. And I say mosque and community center because the masjid for Muslims the mosque is not just a place of worship. It's a place of gathering. We, during the month of Ramadan, we all come, in the evening, and we open our fast together.

We pray. We probably spend six to eight hours a day in, in the mosque together, socializing and praying and worshiping. And five times a day, there's mashallah, there's brothers and sisters in the community who literally, they start their day at 4:30 a.m. with a morning prayer, drive-- leave their home, drive to the mosque, come in, pray.

15 minutes later, go home, get ready, go to work. At 12:30 p.m., they stop, they take their lunch break, and they drive back to the mosque, and they come in, and 15 minutes they pray, and then they drive home. Then on their way home, 4:30 p.m., 5:00 p.m., they come back to the mosque, 15 minutes, pray in congregation, and then leave again.

And as sunset happens, they come back to the mosque, and they pray, and then many of them will stay until the night prayer around 10:30 p.m. So like right now with the summer hours, we're starting at like 4:30 a.m., and around the clock five s- five times a day, many Muslims make that trip to the mosque as a point of center. And so the-- even the act of driving back and vis-- coming back to the mosque is that connection with God and that relationship. So the mosque and the masjid or the masjid, you can use it interchangeably are really central to the life of a believing Muslim, a practicing Muslim. It's a place where we welcome non-Muslims to come and engage with us.

We open, and we welcome. There's nothing-- I think sometimes if you go based on the, on what's on the media, unfortunately they make it sound like it's some sort of a scary place where you're going to be possibly brainwashed. And it's no. Like, we welcome anyone and everyone who wants to come. I apologize in advance. We don't have pews. We don't have chairs. We have a few chairs, but we-- It's just, it's very humble. It's carpet on the ground, and we worship praying on the ground. Often if you walked into a mosque, you would see men and women just sitting on the ground together, gathering, either in-- either drinking chai or eating samosas because we do have a big representation from the South Asian community here.

If you look at the makeup of Northwest Arkansas, we have Muslims from, Gosh I think we're well over 12 different countries. And regionally, if you think about across the globe Pakistan, India, Bangladesh Jordan, Saudi Arabia Africa multiple countries in-- from Africa, Sudan for example. We, we have a w- in Eid gathering, Eid is similar to what would be in the Christian faith like Christmas, for example. It's a celebration to that level. In that gathering in Northwest Arkansas, it's one of the most diverse gatherings you will see. And people from each culture, from each country, they wear their clothing, and they come in, and it's one of the most beautiful things to see 'cause you see such beauty and difference, differences in culture and the expression of that.

But they all unite as one, as Muslims and believing in one true God. And so the community in Northwest Arkansas that belongs to our mosque is incredibly diverse. On any given Friday, after the prayer is finished, as you're exiting and walking through the parking lot, there's probably I would say easily 10 different languages being spoken.

I mean, and what unites us all is English, and so everybody can, come back to English. But this is this is the beauty of Islam. I mean, you're talking about almost two billion people across the globe in Muslims, and I think most people here in the US unfortunately think they're all Middle Eastern, and that's just not the case.

[00:29:09] monica kumar.: If I'm someone who genuinely is curious about the masjid, about mosque and you said that you're welcome to come in, tell me what that would actually look like. Like I'm a listener right now- Yeah ... and I'm thinking- Yeah ... I actually would love to know what a Friday at the mosque is like. Yeah. I would love to go in and have a samosa and chai with someone- Yeah ... there and have a conversation. And I think that sometimes the invitation is there and the journey is unclear, so can we make that clear for people?

[00:29:39] shahid sheikh.: Yeah, absolutely. So our ... if you were to go to Google, for example, and you searched up Bentonville Islamic Center, our phone number is there. Our website is there. You can email us. You can call us. When you make that phone call, that phone, it actually ... my phone number is one of the phones that it forwards to.

Our imam, who is the si- similar to a pastor, for example the religious leader the expert so to speak in Islamic teachings for our community that phone rings for him. And so when someone contacts us it's mostly by phone. And so I answer the phone, and we have a conversation, and they say, "Hey, I'm interested in learning more about Islam. Could I come in and have a one-on-one discussion?" Absolutely. Let's set you up an appointment, a time with the imam . If you just wanna meet some members of the community, you're welcome to come in and do that. If you just want to come in, you don't really wanna talk to anybody, but you just wanna observe, then you're welcome to come to observe. We have five times a day we pray. I would recommend for them to come in the sunset time, the evening prayer times. That's when majority of the community is there in congregation. You're welcome to come to a Friday prayer, for example and sit at the back of the room and just sit and observe, stand and observe, whatever makes you comfortable.

We only ask is that, we don't wear shoes inside, so the most inconvenient thing you might have to, might be faced with is having to leave your shoes outside. But other than that, you're welcome to come in and just observe. And when you're finished observing, you wanna have a dialogue and you wanna ask questions, come and talk to me, other members of the community to the imam. We'll set you up a time where you can do that. We have free resources, material available if you wanna come in and read that and, "Well, what's really going on here?" You're welcome to come in and take any of the material and read it and look at it and then ask question. We have weekend classes. We have a new Muslim program to help educate.

Just you're welcome to join. And that's the ... Then the beauty of it is that you can come for five minutes, and if you think, "Hey, this is all I can take," no problem We'll see you next time . Like, if you wanna come and our session was an hour and you're saying, "Gosh, I've got so many more questions. This class is over. Are they trying to hide anything?" No. We'll stay over. We're happy to meet with you one-on-one. We're happy to extend you. We'll invite you for the whole semester if you want. You're welcome to attend. So it is really the engagement and the relationship with the mosque and with the Muslims all depends on how much you want, and whatever you're ready for, we will meet you and provide, God willing 

[00:32:27] monica kumar.: Thank you so mu- so much for that, Shaheed.... That question was sitting with me because of earlier you had made a comment about the media will sometimes shroud a mosque or a masjid in mystery. And mystery can be unknowing, and unknowing is scary. Yeah. And so I wanted... and love that you were so explicit about what that invitation looks like, so thank you for that. Yeah, that just that, yeah that just feels so, so welcoming to me and and centered on a sense of you belong here, which is so important. And so thank you. Thank you for such a clear, direct answer. Thank you. 

[00:33:05] shahid sheikh.: Yeah. No, thank you for the opportunity. I've, I think one of the responsibilities I feel like as a leader in this community is I want to make sure that we do address the fear at a national level, especially in our media, that gets- that's being created. And I think you and I were, we were speaking earlier that our lives and I'll mention it again here, I think for most Americans and most individuals in the world our lives are defined by our social media stream and our feed. And so what, w- and sometimes that social media feed takes us to such a singular dark place on our own.

It's like human beings were not meant to be an island on their own. We're meant to gather and commune. And so I sometimes I feel like while the benefits of social media and technology have definitely been there, but unfortunately, I think most individuals sometimes get consumed by that. And so being able to step away from customized feeds that only give you what they want you to hear, like come and engage in dialogue in real life judge me based on how I act and who I am in practice. Don't judge me based on what somebody is saying that, that defines me at a high level and not personal in any way at all in their own context. 

[00:34:36] monica kumar.: Yeah. Shahid, it's one of the reasons why it was so important to me to be invite- also humbling and important to me to be invited into this conversation and this season of all the conversations. Because for me that, that is the relationship sometimes that I have with Christianity. It's a relationship through social media. It's a relationship through the stories that I hear and read, and not through people and real relationship and real community. And this season has been more impactful for me personally than I can even tell you because of the relationship and the com- communing I have had with individuals across faiths, and specifically I would say across different Christian faiths. Which is not- Yeah ... which is not a journey that I've made as deeply before

the five pillars of Islam. 

[00:35:24] shahid sheikh.: No. Yeah I think, and so for many Christians, one thing that I'm now thinking about when we didn't touch on earlier, but, the five pillars of Islam really tie, really tie into that. And I hinted at some of these earlier but, when I said earlier that as a Muslim, my life centers around God in every single aspect and it ties to these five pillars as a believing Muslim.

One is the that testimony of faith, the Shahada that there is no god but one God, Muhammad is his messenger and the final messenger.

Establishing prayer, what I mentioned earlier about the five daily prayers. So five times a day, that's not optional. We, we have to and establish and maintain that on a daily basis. There's no days off, no vacations. It's you're on vacation, you're praying. You're at work, you're praying. You're at home, you're praying. If you're asleep, you wake up and you pray. Five times a day.

And then number three would be zakat. zakat . So giving and charity. Charity is tremendous in Islam. W- we have a mandatory, for those who may not be familiar, but we have a mandatory a g- a requirement of giving. It's around 2.5%. M- many Muslims give more than that of their accumulated wealth. It's not 2.5% of their gross income or their net income. It's their wealth. And so when we say 2.5%, that means if you've, if you've stocked up, if you've been blessed to have cash in the bank and gold and jewelry and multiple homes, well, the 2.5% is not, "Well, I have a job that only paid me 100,000, so I'm gonna give my, $2,500 and I'm done." No, no sir, no ma'am. As Muslim, God commands us to take care of those who are in need, and that the charity that we do is based on our wealth and not based on our income. And so that's-- it's far greater. And if you think about, like from a giving perspective I've seen some studies that estimate almost a trillion dollars is globally donated by Muslims in zakat, in almsgiving across the globe every year. Just in the US alone, based on the s- very small one and a half percent of our population that's made up of Muslims I believe in this one particular study it was I wanna say almost $2 billion um, that is given annually by Muslims to those in need. So charity is a tremendous part of our faith. I jokingly we were talking about, Some of our friends were talking about, "Hey, there's supposed to be a check from the government that's supposed to be coming and, because of the tariffs and because of these other things, and we should see some of that money." I think-- I don't think we saw any of that money, but at that same time when this conversation was happening it was Eid, the Eid hol- Eid celebration was coming up, and part of that Eid, one of the requirements in zakat is giving charity to those who need. Just in Northwest Arkansas, our community came together, and I'm blessed to be able to help coordinate for our community members. But we identified o- over forty families in need and we were able to collect donations from the Muslim families. And we gave eight hundred dollars to each family to go and spend on food, spend on clothing for their kids.

That was just one, one effort and but there's so many more that happen. And so Islam, when it's practiced as intended takes the burden off of the government, takes the burden off of everybody because we as people should take care of each other. So that's really important.

The fourth pillar I'll talk about is fasting. I don't know if many-- I know fasting has really hit the Hollywood scene now, and people are doing it to lose weight. While yes that's definitely there, but we fast during the month of Ramadan, which is basically from sunset to sundown. And so this m- blessed month comes one time a year. And in this month, and people, Muslims fast throughout the year for various reasons and various things as well. But specifically in the month of Ramadan, we are required by God to fast. And so-- and it's not just about the hunger. It's no food, no water, no sexual intimacy being in solidarity with all of those who go hungry, who don't have that. And then to come back and break that fast at the end of the day, and then spend the night worshiping until one, two AM, and then start the day again. And that's a, that's requirement.

And the fifth one fifth pillar is the Hajj. And the Hajj is essentially something that it's a once in a lifetime journey that every Muslim, if they are sane of mind, if they are, out of debt and they are financially able to, physically healthy enough, they would take that journey to Mecca in Saudi Arabia and visit the house of God that Prophet Abraham and his son built. And we would perform the Hajj, the pilgrimage, once. And it's something that's required, a minimum of once in a lifetime for those who are healthy enough, who are mature mentally enough to understand what that act of worship looks like and financially able to. So borrowing money and taking loans, for example, is not a good idea. It's not really recommended. So you have to have the means. It's an act of worship for Muslims that involves every aspect of life, so you're physically demanding for you to go out there, and it's 110 degrees in Saudi Arabia in Mecca. So physically demanding, financially demanding, spiritually demanding, emotionally demanding.

So there's every aspect of worship is covered in that pilgrimage. But those are the five pillars of Islam that really kinda tie, and we try to embody them in the Bentonville Islamic Center day in and day out throughout a year. So if you come in, depending on what's happening and, like, where we are, like month of Ramadan, we invite people to come and join us for breaking fast. It's a giant feast at the end of the day. We have a lot of food. People get together and we welcome that. And I think any time you can sit down and... And it's, by the way, it's some of the most delicious food you will ever have 'cause families make it at home, and it's just, it's so good, so yummy.

So 

relationships between Islam, America, and the Ozarks.

[00:42:10] monica kumar.: Well, you ta- I wanna talk about the connection. So you talked about being a proud American. You talked about, you have talked or at least shared in spirit about being a very proud Muslim, and then you have, I think you, you touched on being really proud to live in Northwest Arkansas.

So can you talk about the relationship between those three pieces and how they connect back to the center and your life as a Muslim in specifically in the sense of in the place that we live in, which is Northwest Arkansas and the region, and then also how it connects to you being an American, which is a national conversation.

Can you speak about the connections there? 

[00:42:49] shahid sheikh.: Yeah. So I think, when I think about, for example, when I hear at the, on the national level like, "Oh, we want, we want immigrants, for example, that are contributing to America and not taking from America only. We want law and order. We don't want crime. We want to move society forward together. We want to have tolerance, and we want people to unite -" under the principles of America, for example. And I tell folks, like, as a Muslim, all of these things are a part of our faith.

What the folks that are screaming of what they want those are all part of our faith. And for example Islam forbids laziness. It frowns upon taking. It, Islam and God wants, God wants us to work. God wants us to not be lazy, to be productive. God wants us to give back. Someone who has their hand like this versus this, God prefers the one with his hands like this. So don't look, don't seek, h- not to seek a handout necessarily, right? Like, be a giver. So when we think about these things security, honesty, transparency, all of these things that are being highlighted as somehow somehow like non-white and non-Christian individuals don't, don't partake, that's- it's a false narrative. It's not truth at all. And in fact, for us coming to the US as Muslims and when I say I'm a proud American and a proud Muslim, specifically for me I love the opportunities that this country gives us. My father, may God rest his soul and, and grant him the highest level of Jannah. Jannah is heaven. May God grant him the highest level of heaven, he came here 50, almost 50 years ago seeking a better life. And when he got here he didn't have papers. He didn't-- He wasn't, He was just somebody... He was a mathematician. He was the first to graduate in his town. He was a college graduate in in a country where unfortunately a lot of opportunity didn't exist, and he had a family to think about and take care of, so he left in-into the world. He went to different countries seeking to better himself.

And the journey that my father went on is exactly the American dream. That is the journey. Like, you do your best with honesty and to take care of yourself. And so when he came here, he was given that opportunity. He worked around the clock , two jobs at a time to raise us and put us through school. He prioritized our education. He saved money to send back to his family in Pakistan and to take care of us here.

And his entire life, he just spent, basically just investing in us and the future. And what I would tell you is that we take that to the next level because we know the sacrifice that he made being away from his family. Immigrants don't just leave everything to come to the US because it's easy. It's the most difficult thing that you can do. You leave everything you know behind, the language, the culture, the family, the relations you have. You come to a new place, and you're restarting and rebuilding. That's not easy to do. Given the choice, most people don't wanna have to choose that. It's out of necessity.

And so for my family, for me, like when I think back to the sacrifice that my father made to get us here, like I, I went through the college, the education system. I gra- graduated with a bachelor's. I continued and pursued a master's in operations engineering. I was blessed enough to graduate from the University of Arkansas in that, and then I went and got my MBA.

So this is the American dream. And so the fact that the resources I have had access to and the systems that I have access to that have allowed me to elevate myself and my family, I'm very grateful. I'm eternally grateful, and I thank God for allowing my family to come to the US where these systems existed.

Now, my responsibility as a Muslim is that I want to help improve and better these systems for the next generation, and not just the next generation of Pakistani immigrants, but the next generation of Americans, which is everybody, not just one. Because ultimately, that's the responsibility that, that's upon my shoulders, I feel.

Like, I wanna set that up. And so for me, like when I think about my role in America and why I say I'm a proud American is because the success I have as an entrepreneur today, as a father the success my kids have... I'm gonna brag on my son a little bit. I thank God he he's I guess second generation or my father immigrated.

I, I was not born here. My, my grandparents were like, "You've gotta come back home." And so I was born in Pakistan, but I was, like, six months old when my mother brought me back to the US, for example, and then my kids were born here. My oldest he just took his MCAT, Monica, and I'm so proud of him. He's gonna kill me for saying this.

And he scored in the 98th percentile for his MCAT, and I'm I'm so excited for him and where that's going to take him. My daughter is he's married. My daughter's about to be married. She wants to go to law school. And like, it just, it's just, for me, like, and it, like, my father made that ultimate sacrifice.

He's not here with us, but he leveraged and he took advantage of the American dream and gave. And the one lesson I recall my father constantly saying is, "Hey- Don't mess with law enforcement, pay your taxes, and do the right thing. Like, those were the three lessons to my entire family that when we immigrated here, he was-- he made sure that it was part.

He said, "Do not ever mess with the IRS, so pay your taxes. Don't, respect law enforcement. They're here. The system we have is thanks to these laws and that, so have respect for that. And then just be a good human being." And so I feel like the national narrative around the Islamophobia and the anti-immigrant sentiments, I feel like those are just misplaced.

They're false. It's a false narrative. I think as my kids-- I, I pray to God that they're going to be net contributors. My brothers is-- my brother siblings I have, my sister, she's she's currently an executive or in Walmart, for example. My brother, he is a physician assistant, emergency room doctor or, a provider in the emergency room.

I'm an entrepreneur. I employ almost 100 employees through Northwest Arkansas. I-- my companies alone have a payroll of about two hundred and eighty thousand dollars a month in payroll. So we're not taking from this community and from this country in any way. We are living our faith in the best way that we can and giving back, and we're proud to be in America.

We're proud to be Americans. We're proud to be Muslims because our faith has allowed us to succeed in this land that we now call our home. And specifically in Northwest Arkansas that it's, it's- really brought it to us, and so it, I think it's important for people to understand that w- we are just as American, if not more, I would say.

If you look at the tax bill I have, I'm more American than probably some of our political leaders. 

[00:50:59] monica kumar.: Yeah. Shaid, that journey you just shared feels so similar. I mean, obviously I grew up in London, but my parents were from Uganda and India. My dad left, didn't speak a word of English. They worked nights. I'm the first person in my family to go to college.

I went to law school. So I'm so excited to hear that your daughter is thinking about law school, and if she wants to talk to me, please connect her. And I have a 16-year-old son who is about to enter his senior year and it, and your just sharing about the success of your son, mashallah, makes me so happy.

Because I'm like, "Okay, this is, like, a scary... Like, it's like the precipice." And I f- And e- so many things you have shared just resonate so deeply for me. Like, our journeys are different, from different countries and yet here we are in the same community together, which is amazing. But yeah, just so many things you have shared just, I feel like I have so much nexus points to your conversation and your journey.

And yeah I very much resonate with, And my family resonates so much with this idea that, my husband is also an immigrant or his parents were. He's, he was born here. But we both resonate with how do we give back far more than we have received from this country- Yeah

that we both love so much? And then specifically from the community that we have incredibly, surprisingly grown. We w- You know, we're in Northwest Arkansas for 12 years, and have grown such deep roots and connections there. And yeah, when you say I feel more American than, in, in so many ways, I feel like the immigrant story is the American story, and you do.

It is sitting in your heart and it, it- 

[00:52:36] shahid sheikh.: Yeah ...

[00:52:36] monica kumar.: it, like, is rooted. Like, America is rooted in your heart because I'm an immigrant, that's how I feel. 

[00:52:42] shahid sheikh.: Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. I... Man, I love it. I love it. And I could see on your face, like, we, we have so much, and I cannot wait to hear your story, by the way. 'Cause I could see the emotion and, from you, and I'm like, "Okay, there's definitely a connection there," and I, ultimately, I think that's what makes America beautiful. Like, I feel like, to me I may get a little bit emotional, but when I think about it in this way that, everyone has a struggle. There is struggle in every human being's life. And from an Islamic perspective, if you think about this, we believe that this life is a test. God created each and every one of us to test us, and who is greater in faith. And that is the test, and that's why we're here. And so I feel like anyone who says, "My life is perfect and I have no issues," I think they're probably fibbing. I because, and if that is truly the case, then they should really be worried because their test is that, that they have everything, so what did you do with everything that you have?

And I feel as a nation, when I hear people tell me like, "Oh, you should, like you should change. Like you're in America don't try to change America like become American." And I said, "Define for me what that means." Because you living in Arkansas in the Bible Belt as an American, what you think is America, if I go to New York, they're gonna tell me something else. If I go west to California, the white Americans in California are gonna tell me something else. So even in our own demographic of white America, quote, unquote you can't tell me what that means.

So but I'll tell you what it means to me, and I'll tell you what the Founding Fathers and what brought us to where we are, what it means. And you know, it means being able to express yourself, the best of yourself, as you interact with all of those around you to help uplift them together.

That is the most American thing to me. I can't imagine anything less than that. So yeah, I'm pro-immigrant. Yes, I'm pro-helping people because that's what my faith teaches me. We have to lift each other up. The American dream wasn't built on, strict, like my success at the cost of everyone else's. We've got to, we've got to collaborate together.

I hope I hope I answered that question. I don't know 

[00:55:21] monica kumar.: Yes, you answered it. 

[00:55:22] shahid sheikh.: Oh.

[00:55:23] monica kumar.: Mike, I'm gonna ... I am gonna let you ask your question now. 

[00:55:27] mike rusch.: I just am the incredible recipient of this, and I feel like Shahid, like, just please keep talking. Honestly, I have ... I'm just listening and, like, taking it all in. And yeah I'm so thankful for your voice in this conversation.

Obviously, all of the work that you and the s- your community have been involved in it's just deeply humbling to be... in many ways I feel like I'm the recipient of that of that service, of that gift. And in so many ways, without really knowing that or f- or being able to acknowledge that. And so I feel like my responsibility is to say thank you for the work and the focus and the just the, yeah the vision I feel like that I hear from you. Rooted in love and rooted in grace and rooted in community. It's a really beautiful thing to see. And so I'm just, yeah, I just wanna, I, like, I feel like I took, I could... i'll go on and on if I'm not careful, but I think... i'd like to circle back if I can, if you'll give me, gi- Yeah ... give me permission.

belonging to this place. 

[00:56:25] mike rusch.: As I listen to you and the work a- and your presence in this community and the work that your community is doing, this idea of belonging is not is not this idea. This is a lived practice if I can say that. I don't wanna put words in your mouth, but I, what do, what does it mean to you if y- if there is the ability to articulate it? What does belonging here, where are its roots? Where do you find its depth? What do you hold onto as a part of this belonging in this place? 

[00:56:55] shahid sheikh.: Yeah. So man, that, that is such an, I think that's such an important question, Mike, and there is so much to unpack in the sense of this belonging. I think something that non-Muslims folks who are not... maybe who've never befriended a Muslim or who've never visited a mosque or who've never outside of the talking points in the on their favorite n- social media feed or their newscast channel, like they just don't understand.

But for a Muslim, like the most important belonging that we have in our life is actually initially it's a vertical belonging to God. And so between... and I talked about this a little bit before with respect to living our faith day in, day out in everything that we do. It's not just wearing a piece of jewelry that says, "I belong to this faith, and that's who I am," or or hand gestures or sayings, but it's living it.

It's what people can see in action is what really matters. And so for me, when I think about belonging in Islam, first of all, it's grounded in my relationship with God which then allows me to belong horizontally across the community with everyone else. So because I have a belonging with God in my relationship and he's defined for me, that makes it easy for me to belong to this community and what I take away from there. Have I found it here in Northwest Arkansas? Yes. Yes and no. And I would say that I have found community deep, genuine community at BIC, Bentonville Islamic Community and beyond. I found neighbors who know my name and my family. But there are also moments when I'm reminded that I'm a minority in this place, when someone looks at my beard or my daughter's hijab and w- with a sense of suspicion when news of something happening elsewhere all of a sudden gets gets extrapolated to all people of my faith and then that creates anxiety in everyone because it's something that happened so far away from here that we have no control over, nothing part of, but it affects us and we're being defined by that. What I can say is that I have chosen to belong here. And that choosing matters. Belonging is not only something that you find it's something you build. And I've chosen, along with the 1,200-plus Muslims in Northwest Arkansas, we've chosen to belong here. This is home for us. This is home for our kids and the next generation. And when my children feel safe enough to become themselves and the best of themselves, then I know I've belonged. When they don't have to hide who they are or explain and justify their existence, then we belong. I'm not there yet, but I believe we're building that. A- and I think any community, regardless of the color of your skin, regardless of your race, regardless of your faith, I think those are two universal elements of belonging that are my kids able to be the best of who they are, right? I- are they safe? Like, if I can take care of those two things, then I know, okay, yeah, I belong to this place. But if I'm walking around feeling like I have to be on guard, and I've gotta justify my existence, my reason for being here, then that makes it really difficult.

And I think with the atmosphere today, the polarized environment, there is this push to make people feel like they don't belong, that they're not safe here that they should have to justify their every breath that they take, every action that they take, and I'm not okay with that. That's not the America my father came here 50 years and helped build. That's not the America that I wanna leave my kids. This nation has been blessed by God with resources beyond measure. We have been given, and we have a responsibility to take care of each other and everyone around us so that they all feel like they belong. And honestly, Mike, like, when we truly belong, we can do our best, and we can give back our best. So I think we should-- we have a responsibility to find how each of us make this home and belong, and then we facilitate for others regardless-- disregarding race, religion, belief, personal choice, values, everything. But we've gotta help kinda make that

[01:02:18] mike rusch.: Yeah. I, think I'm gonna ... I'll take that as a sound clip and just I'm gonna put it on repeat and listen to it because I, there's, like, the words of acknowledging what you just said, right? That, like, I think it's easy for us as a community, as a people, to say, "Yes, I agree with that. Yes, that is the right standard." I think it's another thing to live it, right? It's another thing to say that this is what's going to orient my life. And I listen to your words and, it's, it seems in so many ways, and these are my words, and you're welcome to redirect me, but it just feels so deeply unjust in that this idea of what belonging can be and should be and what the beauty that can come from that is ...

like, I come from a Christian faith tradition, As I hear you, maybe take on the critique sometimes or often that comes from our culture about about your faith tradition. It feels so deeply unjust because all of the things that you've mentioned are all critiques of a Christian faith tradition as well. They're not unique to, to one faith tradition, and yet it feels like a deeply unjust double standard that's been applied from a position of power. And and I just, I listen to your words, and I think I'm challenged to not just listen to them, but I'm just deeply challenged to to make them reality in our world today.

episode outro.

[01:03:42] mike rusch.: Well, this is where we're gonna pause for this week. We'll release part two next week, and you'll be able to hear the continuation of this conversation. Shahid just said something, though, that I think we all need to sit with, that belonging is not something you find, it's something that you build, and that the measure of whether you belong is whether your children feel safe enough to become themselves.

Next week, in part two, Shahid takes us deeper. He walks through an idea that his community is not the victim of anything. He talks about what Islam actually teaches about economics and power, and about who gets to profit from whose pain, And my question is, is how much of it will sound like something you've heard from your own tradition?

[01:04:20] shahid sheikh.: My responsibility to my non-Muslim neighbors in Bentonville is as real and as sacred as my solidarity with my Muslim brothers in Palestine, Cairo, Pakistan, wherever. Islam doesn't ask me to choose and prioritize between people. Like when I say: Who is my neighbor? Who am I in community with? It's everyone. And I've been on the receiving end of some of the most beautiful Christian human beings that have impacted me in-- at a young age that there is no aspect of my life where I don't wanna give back.

As a Muslim in this community, like I want to offer support, and I want to offer help to all non-Muslims and Muslims alike equally, and if not more. Because truly as society, we benefit when we take care of each other, when we see each other all equally in that sense.

[01:05:22] mike rusch.: He 

[01:05:22] mike rusch. (2): He also tells a story about a neighbor named Miss Jean, and I haven't stopped thinking about it. And he answers a question about wholeness in a way that I will remember for a very long time.

If this conversation is already stirring something in you, we would love to hear it. Remember, you can send us a message by going to theunderview.com and clicking the Send Us a Voice Message button.

Part two will be coming next week. I wanna say thank you for listening, and thank you for being the most important part of what our community is becoming.

This is the underview, an exploration in the shaping of our place and our faith.