I was at the Coldplay concert last night in San Jose when the inevitable happened, it was Maghrib time. My sister and I wandered around the HP Pavilion for a while trying to find a nice, quiet place to do Maghrib.  Problem: We were there for a concert. Thousands of people were milling around, trying to buy some snacks and drinks before settling in so you can imagine finding a quiet spot was proving to be quite an issue.

A concierge counter became visible as we made our way through the crowd. "Let's ask information," I told my sister. "What would you even say?" she asked. "Just tell her how it is and ask if there's a quiet place we can use for prayer," I told her.

The lady didn't know of a specific place but then as we thanked her and turned to leave, she told us to try an area downstairs that could maybe work out. We went to where she directed us and it did, in fact, work out. We came back up, thanked her and went back to our seats to enjoy the show.

This isn't the first time I've been to an information desk in a crowded place to ask about a place to do prayer. Because it worked out well for me before, I figured it would work again. And it did. She didn't have to help us. She could have just said 'sorry, I don't know of a place' and left it at that.

We always hear about anti-Muslim sentiments and how there are a lot of people who don't really care about us as a people but even then, there are plenty of other people who will help you out. Just as we expect others to be open-minded, we need to be open-minded as well and give people a chance. You'll be surprised.