Interstate 40 travels along the top of the Blue Ridge Mountains. Leaving the urban life behind, we were travelling into the most visited National Park in America, the Great Smoky Mountains. As we were driving along the erupted ridge upon ridge of forests in Smoky, our minds were also climbing to the crest of our understandings.

Due to this ethereal appeal, perhaps, mountains loom large in the history of mankind. Moses received his divine commandment in Mount Sinai. Jesus gave his sermon on the top of Mount. Prophet Muhammad (s) received his first revelation in the cave of Hera, on the mountain of Noor. Thus mountains have inspired best minds of the history. William Blake’s adage expresses it aptly, “Great things are done when men and mountains meet.”

I continued driving and savoring the profoundness of the nature. The darkness was deepening. Earlier, the anxiety to make Magrib prayer tempted me to drive faster, but I was slowed down frequently by the curves on that deadly mountainous highway. Zafry took over driving at the Tennessee Welcome Center. Moored by the mountains, the newly built Welcome Center indeed welcomed us with a quick introduction to the state of Tennessee, which is rightly proud of its great music ancestry.

In less than an hour, we left the mountain roads behind. Illuminated high-rise buildings and busy traffic of Knoxville greeted us ahead. It was one of the top ten Bible Belt city, a region in the southeastern and south-central United States that is socially and politically dominated by conservative, evangelical Protestants. The prevalence of this ardent Christianity was so dominant that it was manifested even at the gas station where we fueled up: There was a ten-foot tall, roadside cross prominently displayed that bore the words, “Jesus Paid It All.”

Being aware of the Muslim ancestry somewhat, it came to me as an irony. This part of Tennessee is also well known for Mulengeon, a tribe who has deep root with Islam. In Spain and surrounding regions, Muslims were also known as Mudajjan during Inquisition, when many Muslims flee Spain to cross Atlantic Ocean. Even Nancy Hanks, mother of Abraham Lincoln was believed to be a Melungeon. It thrilled me thinking one of America’s greatest president have had Muslim ancestry 150 years ago.

In Tennessee we visited three mosques in three different cities:
1) Muslim Community in Knoxville (MCK)
2) Islamic Center of Nashville (ICN)
3) Muslim Society in Memphis (MSM)