Mauritius

Mauritius was quite the experience, for the first time in a long time, since Vietnam, I was able to hang out with some of my RamRod brothers (Corey, Bruck, Graham and James). You see, RamRod is our intramural Basketball team and because the ship always cancels the game due to inclement weather we found ourselves hanging out with one another and it became a great friendship. Okay, enough with the mushy stuff. I started off my arrival to Port Louis by visiting the Jummah Mosque the Muslims there were very hospitable. This was my second time in a mosque ever; the first was in Cairo when I visited the Citadel Mosque. When we first arrived, the men seemed to pick up on the fact that few, if any, of us were Muslims. I even heard a comment by one of the men referring to one of my Hindu colleagues as, well…. a Hindu. This distinction was not hostile; in fact we learned that the Muslims at the Jummah Mosque were a part of a multi-religion council where they work very closely with other religious groups in Port Louis.
Our guide showed us the area where Muslims prayed, where Muslims observed the pillars of Islam and the area there men and women Muslims were allowed to pray together and where they were not. We learned that the Mauritian mosque was originally a place for Muslim traders to pray and it was rebuilt 58 years ago. After about 20 minutes of touring the main level and library, they invited us to the top floor, where we were seated and given a 90-minute presentation on Islam. I learned so much. First, it was surprising to me to learn how closely Muslim observed similar things to Christians. Muslims even believe in Jesus as a prophet. Muhammad will follow Christ as a prophet as stated in the book of Barnabus in the Quran. Our lecture was given by Hajee Imran Beedassed, a scholar from al-Azhar Egyptian University, and Sheikh Qari Alikahnoori, who was the Imam of Jummah Majid, they taught us about Halal, which is the precise slaughter of an animal in the name of God for Muslims to eat.
The degree to which the Muslims there were Sufi was not initially apparent, but the longer we stayed and the more we spoke to them we learned that their Pir was buried atop the mosque. Another fascinating part of the FDP was learning that Muslims believe that the Arch Angel Gabrielle gave first word to Muhammad “Read…in the name of your Lord”. According to the lecturer this, reading/learning, stands as a very important part in Islam. They prepared a great meal for us and I spoke with the Imam about American Islam and the view of Islam in the western perspective. He urged us not to judge Islam by Muslims but by the study of Islam. After such a long talk with the Imam, I was the last back to the bus. We returned to the ship and had lunch. Then I accompanied a group of friends to exchange money and then on to Grand Baie. We relaxed on the beach, it was not my hotel I was just visiting and waiting for Graham and friends to return from the adventure park. Upon my second return to the ship grabbed a snack and it was off to our hotel in Blue Lagoon. When we got there it was realized that 12 of us could not legally stay in our hotel so we decided we’d camp under the stars on the beach. That night we met locals and ate and hung out. We had a blast and woke up to a beautiful sunset. A cold night met a warm morning and by 11 it was off to our catamaran lasted all day and took us too many spots including Il Aux Cerf’s. We met a couple French families on the boat and used my French which was awesome. I met some locals namely a Rasta named Sebastian who I spoke to about blacks in the Diaspora and he taught me that surprisingly a lot of slaves had come from Mozambique, he gave me blessings and said that life’s motto should be “one Love” because when everything boils down we are one people and we should just love one another. In my cab back to the ship we slept but the family of the cab driver was really cool and said they were considering coming to the states soon. To be honest I cannot give Mauritius its due in this blog because the experience was superb. We were only there for 36 hours but the time spent was well allotted between learning at the Mosque and the beach and catamaran. This was an experience to strengthen friendships and relax after our Global Studies Exam.