Under the Same Sun
“Autumn Sun” by Cathy McMurray
The air was stagnant, pausing to take a moment from the heat weighing on its shoulders, grey smog curling from its bated breath. A circuit-board of spices, carpets, and camels made up the city below. The marketplace, overrun with honking and haggling most days, was just beginning to wake up. But then, in the small crook between dawn and sunrise, a sound broke through the city of Cairo. It was the Fajr, or the morning prayer for the largely Islamic population. The cacophony of pitches, discordant and yet somehow fitting, was, for my ten-year-old self, the strangest sound I had ever woken up to.
Being Catholic, the concept of Islam, or any other religion really, was as foreign to me as the stalls bulging with fares from dates and lamb to miniaturized pyramids and “I Heart Cairo” bags. Just as the market seemed chaotic from the view of an observing tourist, the prayers and customs were overwhelmingly unfamiliar. But a week spent being driven around by a man named Mohammed Gandhi changed all of that.
Mohammed was, in the roughest of terms, our chauffeur and an unofficial expert in Egyptian traffic. With his staccato accent, he patiently pointed out all the typical monuments people visiting Egypt expected to see. The true lesson however, came from the times he stopped being our guide, and kneeled on the side of the road to pray. His quiet devotional moments made me wonder, what was he doing? Why wasn’t he at church on Sundays like we were?
Mohammed was happy to explain. “The houses and the words may be different, but we are all praying to the same God. I was named after a great Hindu leader, my mother was a Christian, and I am a proud Muslim. But always remember, different demands the same respect.”
His words reminded me of a documentary I had seen with my dad about Mahatma Gandhi, how he had tirelessly helped the Hindus and Muslims of his own land foster understanding and love for each other and stop fighting. His tolerance and compassion, even when faced with foreign ideas, inspired many to turn to peace. Egypt’s people too had shown a young child like me the truth a simple chauffeur and a leader of nonviolence, whose names both mean ‘the sun’, lived their life to teach: “The essence of all religions is one. Only their approaches are different.”