By Garrison Frost

A lot of people on my morning bus read the Bible. They're not conspicuous about it, and you wouldn't be able to tell them apart from those nodding off over their "Da Vinci Code" unless you looked closely. But they're there in surprising numbers, reading their pocket prayer books, pamphlets and heavy leather tomes. Given our godless culture, you just aren't ready to confront so many overtly religious people. On the whole, these people go about their business unnoticed and unmolested.

Lately, there's been a Muslim man on the bus. Or at least I think he's a Muslim because he looks to be of Middle Eastern descent, wears a religious head covering and reads constantly from an Arabic prayer book.

As one might expect in this day and age, this Muslim man's presence on the bus has attracted a great deal of attention, in no small part because of the large book bag he carries with him every day. It should be noted that lots of students ride the bus in the morning, and that many carry large bags. Nonetheless, people watch this student with great interest. He gets off the bus a few stops before I do, so I'm there to see the demonstrative relief on the faces of my fellow passengers when he departs.

"I really worry about that bag," they say.

"You never know what he might do," others add.

"It really makes you wonder if they should check everybody who gets on the bus," still others say.

Under the watchful eyes of his fellow passengers, the Muslim student does nothing on the bus but sit and pray. Often he works through a set of wooden prayer beads he carries in his pocket. When he gets off, he leaves a bus full of people who are relieved that his bag didn't blow up and kill them all.

The other day, I had to take a different bus home from work. This one was crowded and I had to stand in the back for lack of seats. A few minutes into the journey, I noticed the Muslim student sitting in the front reading his prayer book intently. I hadn't noticed him when I got on. We came to a stop and an elderly woman boarded the bus. She stood uncomfortably in the front for a minute or so. Lots of men who had seats looked at her and then went back to their newspapers and cell phones. It was only the Muslim student who got up and offered her his seat. He didn't give her a choice, actually. He stood, gestured to his empty space and turned to walk to the back of the bus. He spend the rest of the ride standing a few feet away from me with his heavy bag over his shoulder reading from his Arabic prayer book.

(June 29, 2004)

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