ABSTRACT
While in graduate school, I decided to study Arabic. A few miles from my house was a mosque and, on the other side of the street, a school for Muslim children. For whatever reason, I turned left into the school and inquired about taking classes in Arabic. At the age of 50 I started to attend the school and was placed in a fifth grade class. Most of the children attending the school were from Iraq, Iran, and Pakistan. Of course I was quite the oddity and the children, especially the girls, hovered around me asking me if I had converted to Islam. They offered to teach me to wash before I pray, taught me the prayers offered throughout the day, and instructed me on etiquette in their cultures. At the time, I would never have imagined that I would spend years researching this community for my PhD dissertation. I would become a scholar of Shi’ism and professor specializing in Islamic studies.
