...The mosque is Ali’s dessert for me. Later, A. confesses to me his disappointment in Ali’s membership in the Islamic Movement and this particular mosque. He says how Ali was always so broad-minded, well-educated; how could he join such a radical group? We park at the now-inevitable marble steps. While the mosque is new, as we ascend, I notice shoddiness; cracked steps, misplaced stones, weeds emerging. Ali knows people. While the mosque is closed, someone appears from the right with a key; opens the doors, disappears. This is a religious emporium, perhaps costing millions. Clad in marble, it is a copy of a famous Turkish mosque known as the mosque of cupolas; has nine cupolas in a circle and central massive cupola from which is suspended an oversized candelabra from Egypt...

...The money for this place comes from the city treasury in large part. Yes, he says almost apologetically, those funds are supposed to be for civic projects – sewers, roads, trash pick-up – but there are only two youth centers built by the city and the mosques are now being used for youth centers; there is a daycare built into the back of this mosque. During the day, sometimes, they put playground equipment on the plaza of the mosque, the very plaza we found empty on both entrance and exit. He wants to show me a prized Quran...