“It’s the manly part of dinner preparations,” Azar teases, referring to their father’s plans to barbecue this evening. We’re standing around the kitchen island in the family’s suburban Wisconsin home. Azar’s mother, Fehmeeda, quietly chops vegetables for the salad as she glances over with kohl-rimmed eyes, listening as Azar and Bashir talk to me about the Islamic golden age. They’re the chatty members of this tight-knit Persian family.
Both Bashir and Fehmeeda are initiated members of Sufism—or, as the mystical sect is often thought of, the hippies of Islam. Azar chose to be initiated into the order as a young adult, though they’re hesitant to label their upbringing as religious. “I identify as a Muslim. I identify as someone who has a religion and believes in that religion,” they acknowledge. “But Sufism is not as strict of a sect. It’s more spiritual.”
