A sheikh came to visit us during Ramadan. Born in Egypt but now an imam in South Carolina, Sheikh Muhammad Adly was a short man with a large gray beard that seemed to run the length of his body. I found him strange and off-putting, but the others appeared to revere him. Their deference toward him reminded me of the treatment that Sheikh Hassan received. Early in Sheikh Adly’s visit, Dennis Geren told me a story that illustrated this deference. “I was drinking Pepsi, and one of the other brothers was giving me flak about it,” Dennis said. He didn’t explain the reason for the flak: perhaps it was because Pepsi is unhealthy, or perhaps it was because the drink represents the infidel West. “I said, ‘Well, Sheikh Adly drinks Pepsi, so as far as I’m concerned, it’s practically Sunnah. ’ ” That is, he was suggesting—playfully—that because Sheikh Adly drank Pepsi, one could almost consider it encouraged as part of the Prophet’s example. The others immediately accepted this statement.
What do You think about My Year Inside Radical Islam?
