Story of an angry mullah

My friend and I spent the evening strolling about Islamic Cairo, admiring the medieval architecture while trying not to get hassled too much in the bazaar (which to my surprise actually had some decent stuff). We passed by a bunch of amazing looking mosques, some of which you can check out below. We stopped at one that still had a group of people praying the isha'a (night) prayer. I peered inside for a minute as the row of worshippers prostrated themselves in unison.

"Take off your shoes, let's go inside," my friend said.

"What? Seriously?" Being a Baha'i, I was afraid of stepping foot inside a mosque being "used".

"Yeah, it's fine. Just don't look at the doorman." Clutching my shoes in one hand, I hurried in after him. Even though I tried my best not to make eye contact, the doorman noticed us anyway. He started getting frantic as we kept walking towards the row of worshippers.

"Ustaaz! Ustaaz!" (mister! mister!) he shouted after us. I tried not to look back.

"Just keep walking," my friend said.

"USTAAZ!" I heard him call out something to the mullah-on-duty. Oh, crap. This bearded guy dressed in white managed to intercept us before we got to the main prayer area.

"HEY! YOU! STOP! Where do you think you're going?"

"I just wanted to show my friend the mosque," my friend said insistently.

"No, absolutely not! This is prayer time! This place is not a tourist attraction!"

"Yes, but it's a house of God. Why can't we go in?"

"Absolutely not! Leave! Get out!" The mullah's face was red. Seriously pissed. My friend stood his ground, completely composed. I was quite impressed.

"Sir... don't you, as a good Muslim, think it would be better to give an outsider a good impression of Islam? Instead of kicking him out like this?"

The mullah looked like he was about to yell something else but my friend's sound reasoning literally stopped him in his tracks. He went dead silent and then waved us off, storming away still visibly fuming from the exchange.

I couldn't believe what had just happened. I had this image in my head of the argument getting more and more intense until the mullah was forced to get the Muslim Brothers on the horn and we would have had to fight our way out (I guess I watch too many movies). But all it took was a calmly delivered point of reason that sent the angry mullah packing. Great stuff. If only U.S. foreign policy were so effective...