With appreciation  to my dear friend Imam Bilal Saleem and his wife, of Jacksonville, who invited us to join them for the weekend, my wife and I enjoyed our most beautiful U.S. Independence Day in memory. Imam Saleem, whose deceased father was from New Providence island, home of the Bahama islands’ capital and commercial center, Nassau, provided a reminder of how much more one can enjoy a new and different place with someone who knows it intimately, as he showed us all around.

From the Friday congregational prayer, or Salatul Jummah, at the Jamaa’ Ahlus Sunnah Bahamas Mosque; to the Atlantis resort, an engineering marvel; to the fresh seafood and other local specialties; to the distinctive architechture, particularly the church architecture; to the warm, multi-talented and resourceful Bahamian people, including his relatives, I’m grateful for the visit. It was a feast for body, mind and spirit. Here are more scenes:

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