Posted on April 21, 2021 / in Articles, New Muslims

NEW BEDFORD MAN HEARD THE ISLAMIC CALL TO PRAYER 30 YEARS APART. HE ANSWERED THE SECOND TIME

DARTMOUTH — When Martin Bentz was 7 years old, he heard his first “adhan”— the Islamic call to prayer — being shouted from a mosque in Turkey.

It completely fascinated him.

Thirty years later he would hear the call again and it would change his life.

Martin Bentz, outreach coordinator of the Islamic Society of Southeastern Massachusetts, places the socially distanced markers where worshippers will stand during their daily Ramadan prayers.

When Bentz first heard the call as a boy, his family was living in Turkey where his father worked as a geologist. He would see the “muezzin”(a man who calls Muslims to prayer) climb to the top of the minaret at the nearby mosque and recite the adhan at least five times a day.

“I was mesmerized,” Bentz said. “It was so beautiful.” Back then the muezzin called out the adhan in a loud voice. Today, the call is amplified with microphones and loudspeakers.

The Islamic call to prayer is heard again… 30 years later

Bentz grew up in an Episcopalian family. His father traveled a lot for work and the family lived in Turkey, Holland, Egypt and several places in the United States. Bentz was born in Switzerland, went to high school in Holland and graduated from college in Colorado.

Bentz was in his 30s when he was working at the United Nations in New York City. He was sent to Morocco for a peace-keeping mission and it was there he heard the same sound he once heard as a boy in Turkey.

It was the adhan — and the memories of its mesmerizing and emotional sound came flooding back to Bentz.

It prompted him to ask his mission colleagues about Muslims and Islam. He picked up a pocket version of the Quran (or Koran) and began to read.

He accepted Islam in 1996 and became “more and more active in it and applying it as intended.” He would eventually settle in New Bedford and become the outreach coordinator at the Islamic Society of Southeastern Massachusetts, Masjid Al Ehsan Mosque, in South Dartmouth.

The road to Morocco leads to New Bedford

Bentz met his wife, Wafae, in 1994 while he was working with the U.N. in Morocco. Originally from Morocco, Wafae was also working for the U.N. and assigned to Gabon, a French colony in West Africa. They married in 1997. Bentz said they traveled to New Bedford many times to visit his sister and elderly mother.

Bentz and his wife found themselves on the move again when the U.N. gave them their new assignment in Congo in 2004. Four years later, they were sent to Afghanistan, but had to relocate to a safer place because of the attacks on the country. They settled in Kuwait in 2010 to set up a U.N. mission support office.

Bentz retired from the U.N. in 2011. He and his wife returned to New Bedford to set up their permanent residence.

“We love the Whaling City,” he said. “And it had a mosque.”

The Islamic Society of Southeastern Massachusetts, Masjid Al Ehsan Mosque, he explains, welcomes Muslims of all countries. There are 26 predominantly Muslim countries worldwide. Hosam Mahmoud, who serves as the mosque’s president, hails from Egypt.

Preparing for Ramadan during a pandemic

On this day, four days into Ramadan, Bentz is carefully placing paper mats on the ornate prayer carpet at the mosque. The dark blue and gold arch geometric pattern of the prayer carpet is specifically facing in the direction of Mecca, the birthplace of Islam’s founder the Prophet Muhammad.

Ramadan this year is from April 12 to May 12, during which time Muslims fast (sawm) from just before sunrise to sunset each day. They gather at the mosque for prayers each evening when the Quran is recited aloud.

“Normally Muslims of all ranks would pray shoulder to shoulder,” Bentz said. “Everyone was equal. You could be next to a baker, or doctor, or mechanic.” He said there is no distinction except for gender. Women, he explained, were to pray in the back rows — or in this mosque’s case — downstairs, so as to not distract the men from their prayers.

Because of the pandemic, Muslims are spaced 6 feet apart, which also means fewer can be accommodated in this setting. Bentz said there are typically 40 to 50 members who come to pray, but social distancing regulations only permit 25 at a time.

“Last year, we didn’t have [Ramadan prayers] here at all,” Bentz said because COVID-19 cases were just starting to ramp up and houses of worship were closed to gatherings at the order of Massachusetts Gov. Charlie Baker.

May 12 marks the end of Ramadan for 2021

The end of Ramadan (“eid”) is marked with a celebration of “Breaking the Fast,” Bentz said. Muslims would gather to eat and drink, but again, the pandemic is tamping down that celebration this year.

Bentz said what would normally be a large gathering of Muslims for the celebration, will be restricted to families gathering in their home for the eid.

“Open Mosque” night is hoping to return

The pandemic also put a halt to the “Open Mosque” program introduced in 2017 that invited the general public to come into the mosque to create a pathway for dialogue between the Muslims who practice there, and people who have questions about the faith.

The response, Bentz said, was wonderful and he hopes to be able to host “Open Mosque” nights again once restrictions on public gatherings due to the pandemic are eased.

He said the program provides the opportunity for Muslims to clear up misnomers the public sometimes has about Muslim and Islam.

“God allows me to learn Islam and explain it to people through writings and lectures,” Bentz said, “and I call on fellow Muslims to do the same.”

SOURCE: https://www.southcoasttoday.com/story/lifestyle/faith/2021/04/20/dartmouth-mosque-member-details-ramadan-amid-covid-pandemic-islam-new-bedford-ma/7253782002/

Post Views: 268