Here are some of my impressions when we visited a Moroccan Muslim friends home in Madrid, Spain.
Visiting a Moroccan Arab home is a family affair. After some flexing of all of our schedules, we are going to visit their family. Can I manage the city-size apartment building maze? Thankfully my friend Muhammad meets us in order to take us up to his apartment where his brother, his sister-in-law and two adult sisters are waiting for us.
This is the first time that we are going to meet his family, though we have heard many comments about them and no doubt they already know about us. We hope they like us as much as we like Muhammad. My wife has already thought ahead and we have an appropriate gift to bring them. My two teenage kids are interested too, since it reminds them of Morocco.
As we arrive, thoughts are going through my head of how culturally different will they be from Spaniards? For example, Spaniards never take their shoes off, yet in Moroccan culture guests take their shoes off at the door. Hope my socks don’t have holes? Upon arriving, we discover that my friend Muhammad didn’t take off his shoes upon entering, but when we moved past the kitchen and hallway into the living room (with a big oriental rug), he took off his shoes. That was our clue. Good sign, our socks are clean and no holes. No fair, they have slippers to cover their feet.
We sit down and out come the nuts and other Moroccan light pastries. Of course it is accompanied by mint tea, the official drink of Morocco. We sit around the living room and watch the big screen TV that is playing. It is tuned into a Spanish station, but not too interesting of a program. I wonder how they view Spanish TV in this particular family?
While the meal is being prepared, we ask them questions about their family, Morocco and other cultural events in their life. This gave the sister-in-law the idea of turning on the six-hour wedding video marathon. After watching a good bit and hearing their ongoing commentary about the wedding, the ten different dresses the bride wears and key people at the wedding. Finally the brothers intervene and the men get her to turns it off. We realize from the wedding video that this family comes from a wealthy background. What would they think of our Christian weddings? What about our comments of our families and customs?
Finally the meal comes out and it is the national Moroccan dish of Cuscus. This particular family is used to giving a fork or spoon to dish out of the common plate. It is tough being left handed and having to be culturally appropriate by eating with the right hand. There was way too much Cuscus on the floor around my plate. I hope they don’t notice. It doesn’t seem to matter since we all sit around and eat, talk and laugh.
As the night finishes up with desert, we have learned so much more about them as people. They aren’t just Muslims, though that certainly does comes through, yet they are first real people and friends.
As the night gets very late, it is time to say goodbye. We need to invite them to our home. Will they come? Have we earned enough respect that they won’t worry that we will feed them prohibited food. It has been a great night and a great time to be together.
My Muslim friends are real people. I appreciate them for who they are as wonderful hosts and good friends. My life has been enriched by their hospitality.
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Categories: Christian-Muslim Interaction
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