Community leaders responded to the researcher’s entreaties with personal warmth rather than suspicion.

Evidence

One Friday after prayer, for example, an imam invited me to his office upstairs, sat me down, and pulled out his little book. Instead of reading off problems or lecturing me about how I should represent the community, he began telling me about a Muslim woman he knows. “She’s Egyptian, with a master’s degree from Denmark,” he told me. “Do you want to meet her?” He was trying to marry me off. — Moustafa Bayoumi, How Does It Feel to Be a Problem? Being…, 55

Categorization

• CANDY: An imam responding to a researcher’s request by trying to matchmake him is a delightful, self-contained anecdote.