Waco-area hotel owner Rick Danani long ago decided there’s no better place for him to practice his Muslim faith than in the United States.

A follower of the minority Ismaili tradition of Islam, he left Pakistan 29 years ago, escaping a growing pattern of religious intolerance and extremism. He became an American citizen, a successful businessman and a member of a Waco mosque where historic divisions among Muslims didn’t matter.

So when extremist Muslims commandeered jetliners a decade ago and attacked his adopted country, it felt personal.

The Muslim faithful offer prayers Friday afternoon at the Waco Islamic Center. Its leaders say they have grown closer to Christian and Jewish congregations since the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks.
Rod Aydelotte / Waco Tribune-Herald

“It was an attack against the freedoms and democracy we believe in,” said Danani, 41, owner of the new Days Inn and Suites in Robinson. “I never thought in a million years this could happen on our shores.”

Danani and other members of the Waco Islamic Center said Sept. 11, 2001, did nothing to shake their faith in American ideals of democracy and religious pluralism.

Danani said Muslims in Waco faced suspicion and discrimination in the months and years after the terror attacks, but they also experienced “overwhelming support” from Waco congregations of various faiths.

“I had more positive reactions than negative reactions,” he said. “People do make judgments, and you can tell they feel more scared of the unknown. But by nature we’re a fair society.”

Al Siddiq, the mosque’s founder and volunteer president, said 9/11 was a tragedy for all Americans

and a setback to acceptance for American Muslims. But he said it provided an opening for Muslims to discuss their faith publicly.

Siddiq estimated McLennan County has 300 to 400 Muslims from a broad range of backgrounds, with about 250 associated with the Islamic Center of Waco.

Since the attacks, Siddiq has spoken to 52 Waco churches and synagogues and has participated in numerous interfaith fellowship events.

This Sunday at 7 p.m., the mosque at 2725 Benton Ave., will host an interfaith candlelight vigil in memory of 9/11.

Rabbi Gordon Fuller of Congregation Agudath Jacob said he is encouraging fellow Jews to attend the service. Fuller has served with Siddiq on the Waco Interfaith Council and has attended the mosque’s Ramadan feasts. Siddiq comes regularly to the synagogue’s Holocaust memorial services.

‘Shared experiences’

“We’ve shared a number of experiences together, because it’s only through learning about one another in a personal way that can we overcome our prejudices,” Fuller said.

American Muslims came under more scrutiny after 9/11, and last year’s controversy about a Muslim community center planned near Ground Zero showed that anti- Islamic sentiment still smolders.

Chris Van Gorder, a world religions professor at Baylor University who has studied Central Texas Muslims, said “Islamophobia” is alive and well in Waco as in the rest of the U.S., but the Waco Islamic Center has done an admirable job of educating the community about Islam.

Siddiq, a U.S. Army veteran and automotive shop owner, said he has nothing to hide. Siddiq said the FBI interviewed him five times after the attacks, apparently concerned about his mosque’s proximity to the Crawford White House. On the first visit, he said, an officer asked him about a rumor that Siddiq was planning to attack Israel with a plane.

“I laughed at that,” Siddiq said. “After they found out I had served in the military they relaxed some. . . . I knew they had a job to do.”

Siddiq founded the mosque in 1987, shortly after moving to Waco. The mosque accepted both Shia and Sunni Muslims, quietly bridging a theological divide that dates back more than a millennium. The mosque has no imam, or official leader, and members take turns leading prayers and giving sermons.

Siddiq said the mosque reflects the democratic ideals of his adopted country.

“My religion has strengthened since coming to the U.S.,” he said. “Here we have the freedom to preach and pray as we like. In the mosque, I can question my own faith. Back home you can’t.”

In his native Pakistan, Siddiq says he was not particularly religious, and he shared the uninformed prejudices of his upbringing. While serving in the U.S. military in Korea in the mid-1980s, he got to know people of other faiths and found his faith was respected.

‘Why should I hate them?’

“When I was living in Pakistan, I hated Jews like everyone,” he said. “It wasn’t until I came here that I got to know Jews and Christians, and I thought, ‘Why should I hate them?’ ”

Two of Siddiq’s three sons attend St. Paul’s Episcopal School, where his wife, Gazala, is a teacher’s aide.

“They go to the Episcopal school because I want them to have a better understanding of Christianity,” Siddiq said. “I want them to be better human beings before they become better Muslims.”

His son Haris, 11, a sixth-grader and basketball player at St. Paul’s, said his friends have no problem with his faith, and he doesn’t mind attending Christian worship services.

“I’m fine with it,” he said. “I know it’s not my religion, but I like to hear the stories.”

Siddiq saw interfaith compassion in September 2005, as Gulf Coast residents fled Hurricane Rita. The mosque took in a large group of Muslims but didn’t have room to house them all, so the Waco Primitive Baptist Church next door to the mosque offered its building to the women.

“They even gave us the key,” Siddiq said. “I asked myself, ‘If something were to happen to Christians, would Muslims open their mosque to them?’ I would, but I think the majority of Muslims wouldn’t. That gave me more respect for Christians.”

Danani, the hotel owner, said his faith has also flourished in a religiously diverse society.

Intolerance

“I don’t have to look over my shoulder when I’m praying here like I would in some Middle Eastern countries,” he said. He grew up in Hyderabad, Pakistan, following the Ismaili faith, making him a minority within a minority. Ismailis are associated with Shia Muslims, which in Pakistan are often in conflict with the far more numerous Sunnis.

Rick Danani, owner of the Days Inn and Suites in Robinson, says America is the best place to be a Muslim.
J.B. Smith / Waco Tribune-Herald

“Here I see a harmonious relationship here among all the Muslims — Sunni, Shia and Ismaili — that you don’t see in Pakistan,” Danani said.

He said intolerance has taken hold in Pakistan since he was a child. His brother and sister went to a Catholic school, and he remembers mutual respect among religions.

“I think the Pakistan where I grew up was a pluralistic place,” he said.

But Danani said extremist strains of Islam have been imported to Pakistan in recent decades, and he barely recognizes his native land today. On one recent visit, he said he met a bearded man who was hoping his sons would grow up to be suicide bombers to kill American infidels — including Ismailis, the man said.

Danani moved to Waco as a teenager in the early 1980s, joining his sister and brother-in-law, who was attending Baylor. Danani couldn’t afford Baylor and ended up attending McLennan Community College and Texas State Technical College.

He ended up owning an interest in several local hotels along with a wholesale fuel business, which allowed him to travel the world.

“I’ve been all over the Middle East, Europe and the Far East, and when I come back, I know this is the greatest country in the world,” he said.

Danani, whose son also attends St. Paul’s Episcopal School, said Muslims, Jews and Christians have a common tradition and should learn about one another. He said Islam has a tradition of respecting the other faiths.

One night earlier this summer, he said an elderly couple stopped at his hotel after being in a car wreck. Danani said he spent the next hour calming them down and helping them get in touch with relatives. Afterwards, the woman embraced him and said, “You’re such a fine Christian boy.”

She laughed and embraced him again when she found out he was Muslim, and Danani wasn’t offended by the mistake.

Siddiq said if it hadn’t been for 9/11, he might not have developed as many relationships across the boundaries of faith. He recalled a recent Ramadan dinner that drew about 100 Muslims, Christians and Jews, with food provided by Seventh and James Baptist Church.

“I enjoy this kind of thing,” he said. “It’s beautiful when we can all sit down and talk about the goodness of God. It’s sad how divided we are. I wish people would realize their lives are short and we should live them in peace.”

jbsmith@wacotrib.com

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