For many Baltimoreans, Imam Mohamad Bashar Arafat is the public face of Islam.
The bearded, thoughtful Syrian native was the first Muslim leader many local political, civic and religious leaders turned to as they scrambled to fathom the intricacies of Islam after the terrorist attacks in September last year.
During the past year, Arafat has been in demand, praying next to cardinals, ministers and rabbis, and speaking at dozens of mosques, churches and synagogues.
His message: Islam, Judaism and Christianity share ideals of peace, love, mercy and cooperation. And the three religions, so often at war, must learn to listen.
Arafat often preaches to fellow Muslims of their responsibility to reach out to other faiths, particularly during Ramadan, the month of fasting that begins today.
"It is your duty as a Muslim living in this country, which celebrates democracy, which celebrates religious freedom, to show the beauty and the true meaning of Islam," the white-robed Arafat told worshippers at Friday's prayers at the Muslim Community Center in Silver Spring. "I think it is the duty of every mosque in America to hold dinners, to hold banquets and invite people -- tell them about Ramadan, what Muslims do at Ramadan and why they fast."
Although such interfaith gatherings have become fashionable in the past year, Arafat has been reaching out to Christians and Jews for more than a decade at a time when few imams were willing to emerge from their mosques.
"He was more than willing to begin a dialogue, which is something that for the most part was unprecedented in most parts of the United States vis-a-vis the Jewish and Muslim communities," said Arthur C. Abramson, executive director of the Baltimore Jewish Council.
That is why it is to Arafat that Baltimore's religious leaders often turn when seeking a representative of the Muslim community.
"When 9/11 occurred, I called him," said Cardinal William H. Keeler, archbishop of Baltimore, who quickly organized an interfaith prayer service after the terrorist attacks. "He said, 'I was just about to call you.'"
"'I think he's a mensch," said Rabbi Rex D. Perlmeter of Baltimore Hebrew Congregation, where Arafat spoke at a one-year commemoration of the terrorist attacks. "I think that there is a true and deep connection to Allah in his work and that he experiences Allah as truly being the God of all humanity, and as having a covenant of love with all humanity."
Arafat wears many hats. He is the Muslim chaplain for the Johns Hopkins University, Johns Hopkins Hospital and the Baltimore Police Department. He teaches Islamic studies and started his own think tank, Civilizations Exchange & Cooperation Foundation.
And seeing the need after the attacks for an umbrella organization for the state's disparate Muslim groups, he founded the Islamic Affairs Council of Maryland.
Arafat, 40, was born in Damascus, Syria. (He is no relation to Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat.) If his parents had had their way, he would have become a businessman like his father and brothers. But he was inspired to take another path by the sermons he heard delivered by the Grand Mufti of Syria, Sheikh Ahmad Kuftaro, a Muslim pioneer in building bridges to other faiths.
"Hearing the Grand Mufti of Syria talking about the beauty of Islam and the peaceful aspects of Islam, I had to ask, 'Why doesn't the West know about this?'" Arafat said.
He became a student and disciple of Kuftaro. He came to Baltimore in 1989 as imam for the Islamic Society of Baltimore, which has a mosque in Catonsville. He served there until 1993.
"The Islamic Society of Baltimore offered me a wonderful platform for me to start my Islamic work, by allowing me to organize events, inviting Christians and Jews," he said.
His work has caused some controversy. Some in the Islamic community questioned the need to reach out to others. Today, he prefers to pursue his work as an independent imam, without a congregation, although he has a regular schedule leading jumah, the Friday communal prayer, at the Silver Spring mosque, and at Johns Hopkins Hospital and university.
Arafat's latest passion is his foundation. He conceived the idea several years ago but accelerated its creation after Sept. 11 last year.
Among its tasks will be to organize seminars for clergy and study tours to the Middle East to educate American students and others about Muslim culture and history.
"I have realized the need for people to travel to experience the life and history of the Muslim world," Arafat said. "Sit with people, eat with people, live with them. Listen to them. I believe this will alleviate a lot of misunderstanding."
Such exchanges, he believes, will benefit Muslims as well. "People in the Middle East are receiving certain perceptions of the U.S. through the media," he said. "They also need to meet with people from the United States so they will recognize not all American people agree with the foreign policy of the U.S."
Arafat hopes that through such exchanges, and through studying the history of the three great religions of Islam, Judaism and Christianity, sectarian prejudices and hatred can be overcome.
"That will help to bring to light that Islam denounces violence and the killing of people, as does Christianity and Judaism," he said. "And that what is going on now is prompted by one of two things: either by political goals or religious extremism."