In the 80’s Mr. Mudri’s sister married a guy from Uganda. When Idi Amin, evil ruler of Uganda, was practicing genocide they escaped to America via churches that were taking in refugees. His sister later sponsored his arrival in the States. He’s been here about 30 years.
For a good while he had a grocery store at 12th and Vliet Street. A good while was over the day he was robbed at gunpoint and locked in the walk-in cooler.
He said something about cooking for one and I mentioned the senior centers around the county. His family is now all gone but he has his own community at his mosque. We had just passed the mosque at 13th and Layton. He is not a member there. They are Sunnis. He is a Shia Muslim. And, he is not one of those Shia Muslims; the ones that famously kill people. He does not understand them either and is sad about the damage they are doing to the good name.
I said I was pretty much a Christian and there are many branches.
“Are there branches in Islam?” I asked.
“Seventy-three” he said. “The main split is Sunni/Shia but they all have their own schools, branches, and beliefs.
He said 73 so quickly it seemed as though he had just been reading up on it. I don’t doubt him and do not care to count that high myself.
Speaking of counting … I stopped listing the countries after I hit 50. I have them all on my recorder but do not take time as often as I would like. I might be up to 55 by now. Tanzania is a new one on me and Mr. Mudri is a fine ambassador.
I should like to have a coffee with him someday.
No comments:
Post a Comment