Salonista Bill Messer on Visit to Mosque after Bombing
Hello Ellen,
I am sorry to have missed last Monday's Salon. ...
It was nice to see you at the Friday afternoon service at "our Muslims'"
Mosque; you looked lovely wearing the scarf you'd selected. I very much
enjoyed reading both yours and Fanchon's accounts of the service. I was
sorry to have missed seeing so many people in attendance whom I know who
but did not see or even know where there (due to their being female),
but I am pleased to have learned they were there, somewhere above me.
One aspect of the service which no one seems to have mentioned may have
been experienced only in the larger, lower chamber. At the points in the
prayer at which all intone the same words simultaneously, the sound was
so deep and resonant, it seemed to be coming from inside my head rather
than from others' mouths. There were probably 500 men in that lower
space (and I don't know how many women above). The sound was amazing.
After the service, perhaps as many as 100 of these men came up to Steve,
myself and the other "visitors" standing by the back wall to thank us
for attending and showing our support. It was a good place to be.
Salam,
William Messer
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