Dream Land

Here is my (glancing) 9/11 piece on Hakeem Olajuwon and moderate Islam, which I wrote for Tablet.

We spent humid afternoons in our driveways imitating Hakeem the Dream’s signature move. Called the Dream Shake, the maneuver was famous for freezing countless opponents like David Robinson, Patrick Ewing, and Shaquille O’Neal in their shoes. Holding the ball in the post, Olajuwon’s Dream Shake began with a sudden pivot. His back to his opponent, Olajuwon could turn left and shoot, turn right and shoot, fake one way and shoot the other, or suddenly drive in, the defender reeling, the ball rolling off his hand and effortlessly through the net.

Those days, little was known about the tenets of Muslim faith. Fans in Houston and elsewhere—including me—became familiar with events like the hajj and Ramadan through Olajuwon. His piety, an aspect of his life that grew in lockstep with his ascent as a star player, seemed widely received as an admirable, relatable trait during the early-to-late ’90s, years in which he was a cherished figure in Texas. When Olajuwon changed the spelling of his first name from Akeem to Hakeem in 1991—or “corrected it,” in his words—I considered it to be part of what made him both incomprehensible and great.

Here was one comment on the piece that was especially meaningful:

I’m a knicks fan, so while it hurt when Hakeem destroyed my knicks,…as a muslim american he was always a hero of mine so seeing him become a champion was bitter sweet.