He spoke in a low voice as he stood hovering over Sela, Mina and me in the restaurant where he worked, and thus my friends and I were finally able to engage Rasheed in a conversation about being an Arab-Muslim immigrant to Granada. Getting him to open up had not been easy. Of the men working in that kabob house, Rasheed appeared to be the most reclusive. He was professional but shy. Naturally, I wanted to talk to him first.

Rasheed initially skirted away from questions. Elusive but remaining professional, he proceeded to serve us. Understanding his unease, we started again. This time we broke the ice speaking some poor Arabic. Unlike the Spaniards who pretended not to understand me because of my American-laced accent, Rasheed good naturedly praised Sela’s attempt at Arabic. Switching back to Spanish, however, we explained ourselves, our backgrounds and the importance of talking to an average immigrant like him.

Sitting in the kabob house, sipping our tea and awaiting what would turn out to be an excellent meal, the girls and I continued talking to Rasheed. Like most Muslims in Andalusia who came as either foreign students or economic immigrants, Rasheed arrived from Morocco three years ago in search of a better life.

Coming from a poor family who needed him to work, Rasheed did not receive a formal education but still learned to read and write. Respectful of self-learners, I asked Rasheed who taught him. “Life taught me,” he answered. “The necessities of life taught me to become literate. … And from life I learned to read.”

Interestingly, Spain now needs immigrants. With fertility rates dropping to 1.12 births per female (the lowest in the world), every Spanish worker would be supporting one pensioner by 2050, which means the system will be bankrupt. An additional 5 million immigrants are needed to help save the system.

As Rasheed moved about the quaint restaurant, switching from Arabic with his colleagues to Spanish with his customers, I talked to Sela and Mina about the different Muslim communities in Spain. Although immigrant Muslims appear to be the most numerous, Spain has been an amalgam of not only North African Muslims, but also of an elitist class of Muslims. From the mid to late 1970s, a trickle of converts from socialist, communist and Catholic backgrounds became attracted to Islam’s perceived neutral meeting point – Sufism, a natural post-1960s sanctuary from sex, drugs and rock ‘n’ roll. As a result, the renewal of Islam in southern Spain appears to be a mixture of these Sufi groups with students and traders and their connections to North Africa and Turkey. While strong traditional ties are to Morocco, Algeria, Libya, Tunisia and Syria, segments of Senegal, Pakistan, India and the former Soviet states have begun to forge ties. Similarly, as the nascent Muslim community evolves and intermingles with other members of its community, the Sufi tariqas (particularly of Morocco, Algeria and Turkey) that initially remained insular from other Muslim groups and the surrounding Spanish society, seem more engaged in trade and even intermarriage.

Seeing a ring on Rasheed’s left index finger, I asked if he was married. Somewhere between surprise and wonder, he responded “no.” Although I’ve worn a ring on the same finger on occasion, I decided not to ask why he wore the ring or if doing so carried the same significance. Rasheed went on to explain that at the moment, he wasn’t ready to marry but looked forward to marriage. When I asked him about the national origin of a potential partner, he waved it off. Moroccan would be nice, not necessary.

I knew more lay underneath the answer, but decided not to continue. I was half happy and half disappointed with Rasheed’s answers; he did not seem to fit the characteristics of the Murabituns about whom I had heard so much. The Murabitun Movement – founded by a Scottish actor named Ian Dallas who converted to Islam in the mid 1960s – initially garnered European and American converts. Unlike other post-hippie spiritual movements, the group now consists of members from almost every ethnic background and has communities not only in Spain, Germany, Switzerland, Denmark and England, but also in South Africa, Malaysia, Indonesia, Turkey and, notably, Mexico.

The Murabitun Movement – a part of the Darqawi order, which arose from the Shadhili tariqa and was founded in Morocco at the end of the 18th century – also set itself apart from other groups by working for the abolishment of paper currency since the 1980s. Claiming to have studied ancient Islamic texts, Dallas (now known as Sheikh Abdalqadir) and his follower Umar Vadillo found that not only does the Bible condemn usury, but so does Islam and more firmly. While many Muslims find maintaining money in banks difficult, the Murabituns go beyond the traditional orthodoxy by arguing that paper money is merely a symbol underpinned not by reality but by man-made law. Rather than attempt to exist in the system, the Murabituns seek to destroy the “imperialistic and capitalistic monetary system” in favor of a return to commodity-based transactions with gold, silver or the e-dinar (digital gold currency) method.