Fans clothed in red were preparing to go to Camp Randall Stadium to see their Badgers take on Nebraska. I was attending the 81st anniversary of Saudi Arabia in University of Wisconsin-Madison. It wasn’t a sunny day on Oct. 1.
In a university housing building, some Arabian men clothed in white danced in the front line. It was like a war gesture. In the corner, there were some women with typical sweet cookies and brochures about their King, tourism and Empowering women program.
I couldn’t enjoy the dancing. I went to the special spot for the artificial henna tattoo. I asked the girl if she could do my favor and paint on my right hand the words, “Allah Akbar” in Arabic, which means God is the Greatest. I was thinking how very cool it would be. But she rejected me. I asked why.
“Because you will go to the toilet,” she replied.
Honestly, I was not satisfied with her answer. For some Muslims, they can’t bring holy attributes into the bathroom. Later, she agreed to paint my first name, Muhammad.
The result was OK, but her answer couldn’t stop my mind from thinking about it. If her answer was so, do we leave God from our heart when entering the bathroom?
On a previous night when I wanted to go clubbing, I was interrupted by my roommate while singing in the bathroom. It is one of the best places to become myself and sometimes I can get an excellent idea when my brain becomes relaxed. He disagreed with my singing in the bathroom. He said it was a devil place. But he allowed me to sing in the bedroom where devil also can live. He couldn’t give me either a rational or religious script-based argument.
When the celebration day finished, I had dinner in a restaurant on State Street with Dustin Cowell, a professor of Arabic Language and Islamic Studies in UW-Madison, and his colleagues.
I could see the fanatic badgers’ fans from the window. It was cold outside, but they looked very happy. I kept the rest of my vegetarian fried rice in the box it came in, and then we moved to the coffee shop.
After I had my pumpkin latte, we discussed about Palestine, their professional works and languages. Later, came some young Saudi Arabians who loved to talk with Prof. Dustin. One guy explained his disagreement when his friend said that a non-Muslim couldn’t use the word, “Assalamualaykum” which means “peace be upon you.”
I offered more drinks to Prof. Dustin. and we continued talking about Muslim in Indonesia.
I told him my thesis that bringing religion to solve the public problems is an obstacle to modernize Indonesia. And I realized that by criticizing our beliefs, we can enrich our perspective on life. At the time I didn’t realize that Badgers beat Nebraska, 48-17.
One day later, one of my roommates was sneezing in our apartment, and my Egyptian roommate said, “Bless you.” The sneezing man couldn’t accept that word. He argued it was a Christian style. The Pakistan man wants the response in Arabic because they are Muslim. “But the meaning is same,” said the Egyptian.
Editor’s note: Muhammed Kusuma is an international student from Indonesia. He writes a regular column about his adventure adapting to Madison and Madison College.