The Muslim Shop - C.P. Gharwala

One of the first stops we made on the tour was at a shop that supplies religious articles (and other things) to the Musljm community. This shop was started by our host’s grandfather, and has been a family owned business for over 75 years.

If you don’t know anything about this religion to begin with, it’s all pretty fascinating.

The first thing we saw was a prayer rug. Prayers happen 5 times a day, and you’re supposed to face Mecca when you pray. How do you figure that out, though, if you’re in, say Burke County?

There are two possibilities. First, you can guess. That’s not very accurate, though. You can also look at the little sticker in the drawer with the Bible and The Teachings of Buddha in your hotel room – wait, that’s not likely to work, either.

Nope – the best way – they sell a compass just for that. There’s the freestanding one that’s about the size of a saucer, and you just coordinate where you are and it’ll point the way, or there’s one made right into the rug for you.

Apparently the rugs are intended to be travelled with.

Every Muslim is expected to make a Hajj, or Pilgrimage, to Mecca at least once in their life. Once they have done this, the head covering (a prayer or skullcap for men, and a scarf for women) will be a different color than those who have not.

We were given a short course on the Hajj by the shop owner, who in an unusual twist is not Muslim but is, in fact, Hindu. You got to love the diversity in this culture – they all seem to respect and appreciate the fact that they need to get along and deal with each other’s little quirks. There’s no big controversy here over whether you’re a sprinkler or a dunker – it seems to be more of a “cafeteria plan”, where you take what works for you, let the other guy do the same and go on about your business.

They had all kinds of other things as well. If you go on a Hajj, you wear a specific garment – white, kind of like a terrycloth robe, very utilitarian. Why? To remind us all that in God’s eyes we are equal, and there’s therefore no class structure or better clothes or anything while on the pilgrimage.

Didn't get to take any photos in the shop -- it was very tiny and crowded, but right across the street, this little number was up for sale.  Our guide said in this neighborhood, it'd go for $1 to $1.5M US; if the same building were in Chinatown, it'd easily hit $3 Milliion.

Anybody need a vacation place?