raMAD(an) MEN Road Trip

Meet Aman Ali and Bassam Tariq.

Last year, for Ramadan, they visited 30 NYC mosques in thirty days and blogged about it. This year, for the month of Elul Ramadan, the two men will drive their Chevy Cobalt to 30 states in 30 days and visit 30 mosques. The project is called 30 Mosques 30 Days, and it is a nice glimpse of various mosques and Muslim communities around the USA.

It makes me envious. It makes me wish I borrowed a Prius and drove around the USA (or Brooklyn) to visit a different synagogue for each day of Elul. It reminds me of the time I tried to visit different sukkahs in Bangkok, Hong Kong, Singapore and Kowloon one Sukkot. Makes me pine for the time Danny Siegel did a stint driving a Jewish bus around the USA. we could have a bumper sticker that said “Honk if your love hummus.” We could then make a film of it. In each town we find and interview a guy named Steve or Stephen or Stephanie Cohen and call it “Searching to Steve.”

But I digress.

Aman Ali is a writer and comedian who is part of the Muslim Funnymentalists. Bassam works in advertising, just like on MAD MEN, except with no martini lunches. So far they visited the Park51 mosque in lower Manhattan (where there are over 800,000 Muslims in the area) and one in Augusta Maine (where there are 12 Muslim families) No lobster rolls were served at the iftar. It is enlightening to read their postings, and also to read the comments. For example, one reader criticized the NYC’s mosque separate entrances for men and women, a practice not done at their place of worship.

Maybe I will send them a case of dates to give as gifts on their journey?