the muslim community with Shahid Sheikh, 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/About the underview:The underview is an exploration of the development of our Communal Theology of Place viewed through the medium of bikes, land, and people to discover community wholeness.Send us a Voice Message at https://www.theunderview.com/Website: ⁠⁠theunderview.com⁠⁠Follow us on Instagram: ⁠⁠@underviewtheHost: @mikerusch