INTERVIEWER (Q1): Would you please introduce yourself.

SYED FARHAD (A1): My name is Syed Farad, I live here in Arampur. My ancestors came from Medina over a thousand years ago.

INTERVIEWER (Q2): And what do you do?

SYED FARHAD (A2): Primarily, I travel from village to village and talk about Islam.

INTERVIEWER (Q3): And do we have your permission to tape record?

SYED FARHAD (A3): Yes, brother.

INTERVIEWER (Q4): Ok, so if you're going to explain something about Islam to American students about Islam, what misperceptions would you correct, what would you say?

SYED FARHAD (A4): Well, as far as Islam goes, there are a lot of religions in the world-a lot of them. Our religion Islam says that in the beginning the first man who came into the world was named "Adam." And from him another person came forth, Eve. She came from his left side. So they were husband and wife, Adam and Eve. And from these two the entirety of the world was made. The religion that Adam and Eve originally practiced was religion as it was meant to be-and it should be ours as well. After all we are their offspring aren't we? Whatever their religion was should be ours as well. And what is religion? It's a way, a method, of living life in the world. So Adam came and he lived for one thousand years and his lineage became great-lots and lots of children, seventy thousand. By the time Adam died, he had seventy thousand children and he taught them the religion that had been his. But the question remains, if he told them everything then how did everything get so confused? Well, there is our enemy Satan. While human beings were made from clay, Satan is a jinn and was made from fire. When Allah made the first man from clay, he gave all the angels an order to prostrate themselves, but Iblis (Satan) didn't do this and was expelled. Because he was expelled from paradise on account of the original man, there developed an enmity between the the two. He (Satan/Iblis) thought that he was expelled because of Adam and so he said to Allah: "Because of this man, You're banishing me but that man will go down to the world and fight, quarrel and kill." And so he misled the man and made him distant from God.

So whenever humankind is deluded by Satan, Allah sends a prophet who tells everyone that they have deviated from the correct path and then points them in the right direction. Everyone follows the path and for a time things go well. But after awhile things become confused again and Allah sends another prophet. In this way, there have been 124,000 prophets sent by Allah into the world to instruct humankind. And so the prophets who come bring with them a law. But again after a time, people bring confusion into the law. So prophet came and after five hundred years another one. The second prophet came and he said that he had been sent by God and that the law is the law. Some people accepted this but others did not and continued according to their old ways. So religion became divided. First came Judaism, then Islam-Jews are in their own place and those who follow Jesus have their own religion too-but in reality everyone should be together. Then after this Muhammad came and brought Islam. And he proclaimed "We have become Muslims. Those of you who accept this are Muslims and those who do not are on a different path." Look, around here we say there's a court-there's a lower court and a judge sits and makes decisions. Above that, there's a high court that also makes decisions. And even above this is the Supreme Court. There's an appeals process, from lower to higher, but when the Supreme Court gives a decision the appeals process is over. So which decision should be accepted-the lower court's, the high court's or the Supreme Court's?

INTERVIEWER (Q5): Would you please tell us something about Muhammad Saheb?

SYED FARHAD (A5): Muhammad Saheb explained what will come to pass in the future. There will be much division, but it will end-the day will come when this world will finally end. So, what will the end be like: it is said that an angel will blow a trumpet and there will be a fearful voice that will make all hearts tremble upon hearing it, everyone will die and the sky will break and collapse, the earth will crack and water will pour forth. And the mountains will tremble. Brother, look at what's happening now-the final bomb is being made. America has made a bomb, Russia has made a bomb-a cobalt bomb, or another bomb. You know, only one bomb was dropped on Hiroshima, or whatever it was called, and Japan was destroyed. But that was a long time ago. Things have developed so much that there are much bigger bombs than that.

INTERVIEWER (Q6): Would you please tell us something about the importance of Ramzan?

SYED FARHAD (A6): As far as Ramzan goes, Allah explains in the Quran that everyone has the responsibility to fast during the month of Ramzan. That's one of the primary responsibilities-fasting is the first responsibility. Today fasting is in every religion-in one month three days, two days in another. Some people abstain on Sundays, others on Thursdays. Allah has ordered that all of this be joined together in one month. Because of the sacred month of Ramzan, you don't have to do all of this three times a month stuff. So, you have to comport yourself this way: that one and a half hours before the sun rises you stop eating and drinking, nothing-no water, no food, no tobacco. From that time until sunset. From one and a half hours before sunrise until sunset, nothing to eat, nothing to drink-no sherbet, no eating of fruit and the like.

INTERVIEWER (Q7): In the past thirty years, how has Arampur changed?

SYED FARHAD (A7): Well in times past people used to be religious, but they're falling behind now. The change is this: people used to be traveling along the correct path but now they fallen away. People aren't ready to accept anything. In times past, people used to respect the words of their elders, but now people aren't ready to do that.

INTERVIEWER (Q8): Why?

SYED FARHAD (A8): What can be done, brother?! It's part of the nature of human beings, it's inside them. Sons don't respect their fathers as much as they used to. Sons used to obey their mothers, now they don't

INTERVIEWER (Q9): Ok, what's the name of this neighborhood?

SYED FARHAD(A9): Jama Masjid.

INTERVIEWER (Q10): And who lives here?

SYED FARHAD (A10): There are both Muslims and Hindus. And maybe a Sikh-no, just followers of those two religions.

INTERVIEWER (Q11): Ok, one final question. We were interviewing a Muslim from this neighborhood and when we asked him whether we could take his picture and put it on a computer, he said we could use his voice but not his picture. He said it was against his religion-why is it this way for some Muslims but not others?

SYED FARHAD (A11): No it should be prohibited for everyone. There are two aspects of this. For example, you're not going to get a passport without a picture-therefore you won't be able to leave the country. But if a husband and wife go to a photostudio to have their picture taken that increases wickedness. This is because a woman has to observe pardah and you as a man have to remain outside. And now brother, so much work is being demanded from women-- in every locality in every office, women are working. They're ready to do more work than men. But our religion says that women need to remain in pardah. So the point is this-when you go to have a photo taken with your wife, she's going to want to have a photo taken of herself and people will see it. Now you need to have a photo taken for a voting card, so having a photo taken, when it's useful, is not necessarily bad. But having a photo taken just because you want it, that you shouldn't do. But since it's your wish, and we're brothers, please take a photo.

INTERVIEWER: Then is would make us happy if we could sit close together-thank you so much.