Shabbir Bala and his wife, Ruqqy Bala, own the Boondocker's Cafe in Marysville. The Pakistani Americans say they've become "ambassadors" for the Muslim religion.
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER
http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/local/284590_alteredlives11.html
9/11 -- Five Years Later: Tragedy forged a new path for many of us
Monday, September 11, 2006
P-I STAFF
(Excerpt from larger article)
Shortly after the 9/11 attacks, Shabbir and Ruqqy Bala wondered how the local community would react to the couple, one of the few Muslim families living in Snohomish.
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Gilbert W. Arias / P-I | |
Shabbir Bala and his wife, Ruqqy Bala, own the Boondocker's Cafe in Marysville. The Pakistani Americans say they've become "ambassadors" for the Muslim religion. |
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The line at the door of their burger restaurant in Lake Stevens erased any apprehensions.
"That was our busiest weekend," Ruqqy recalled. "There were caring people asking, 'Are you OK?' That made me feel that we were accepted not only as Muslims, but as a family, too."
Five years later, the couple say they have become "ambassadors" for Muslims, explaining and sometimes defending their faith to the curious and the critical. They also condemn violent acts committed under the guise of Islam.
"Suicide is not allowed in Islam," said Ruqqy, 48, and those who blow up themselves and others do so to make a purely political point.
Such views are served up along with omelets, gourmet burgers and steaks at Boondocker's Cafe in Marysville, where the couple recently relocated their restaurant.
The clientele is mostly conservative and white. The Balas are liberal and emigrants from Pakistan, with Shabbir, a veteran restaurant manager, arriving in 1970 and Ruqqy following in 1983, when they married.
Their daughter, Sahar, 16, the lone Muslim in her junior class at Snohomish High School, said 9/11 placed a spotlight on her that has not dimmed.
"It gives me motivation to change people's minds," she said. "I definitely want people to be more accepting, to know and understand the differences between politics and religion."
Shabbir, 55, thinks the government has gone too far in targeting American followers of Islam. In the fight against terrorism, "the people you really want on your side is a Muslim," he said.
That's the case with the Balas' son, Faraz, 21, who is a second lieutenant at West Point after a stellar academic and athletic career at Snohomish High.
Faraz "looks at the Muslim world and believes we need to improve ourselves," Ruqqy said. She and her husband agree to a point, but say individual Muslims can do little to affect acts of a worldwide religion lacking an overriding hierarchy.
Since 9/11, Muslims are lumped together into "one group that's terrorizing the world," she said. "We are Muslims, but at the same time, we're individuals."
-- John Iwasaki