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GREENSBORO -- Patients don't need an appointment or medical insurance to seek treatment at the Al-Aqsa health clinic.

They simply show up and sign in.

This free medical clinic is entirely run by Muslim women and their children. The doctors volunteer their time, including one who travels from Statesville. Although the clinic has been operating just six months, word has spread about it. Attendance has increased from about 35 patients in the first months to 100 in June.

Amal Khdour, the woman who founded the clinic, is called a teacher and leader in her community. She is a 39-year-old Palestinian who wears long, loose clothing and covers her head with a hijab, or head scarf. She is tall and fair-skinned. She's a mother of four -- two sons and two daughters. And she's a cancer survivor.

Although she's now insured under her husband's medical plan, she wasn't always. When she was without health insurance, she wouldn't seek medical treatment. She preferred to spend the money on her children, she says. It's a major reason why she wanted to open this clinic: because she knows there are many uninsured parents who ignore their own health for their children's needs.

Khdour also dispels the stereotype of Muslim women as subservient. In addition to her work with the health clinic, she leads a women's committee at her mosque and teaches an intensive course on Islam and Arabic language. Service is an important tenet of Islam, and one that Khdour reinforces with her own children, all of whom volunteer at the clinic. Many of the women who volunteer with her also bring their children.

"After 9/11, so many people have an idea about Muslims," Khdour says. "We want all the world to see us. We are not terrorists. We are helping people."

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At the Islamic Center of the Triad, each woman is embraced and called "sister."

They are from Palestine, Morocco, Egypt and India. Most of them speak Arabic. They greet each other with an embrace and a kiss on each cheek. They help each other clean tables, sweep the floor and move chairs for the weekly women's study at this Mary Street mosque in Greensboro.

The women bring food prepared in their homes -- a variety of Middle Eastern pastries and side dishes. Khdour brings a large sheet cake with mint green and pink icing with the message "I love you all" written in delicate script across the top of the cake. Khdour, who started treatment for ovarian cancer two years ago, had her third surgery in March. The cake is an expression of thanks for the support she received from the women during her recovery.

Khdour, who has a degree in Arabic, leads their weekly study. Each woman reads a passage from the Quran, or Holy Book. Some women read hesitantly. Others are more confident, their recitations sounding like a song, the Arabic words rolling together, with variations in pitch and tone. Khdour makes occasional, discreet corrections.

After the reading, she talks about the day's lesson: judging others. She tells them not to judge people on their actions alone. You don't always know another person's struggles. Be patient. Be kind.

In the summer, Khdour teaches a more intense course, a weekly, three-hour class on the Quran and Arabic language. Although most of the women speak Arabic, their reading and writing skills aren't as strong. Students are allowed just two unexcused absences and receive a certificate upon completion.

Khdour enjoys teaching and tries to make her class as enjoyable for her students. She designed one lesson like a television game show. The women were divided into groups and competed against one another to answer questions correctly.

What is the purest love?

When you love someone with no expectation in return.

Who is the father of all the prophets?

Abraham.

What is the oldest language in the world?

Chinese.

Rashida Khalifa, who is from India, reads but doesn't speak Arabic. Khdour is a good teacher, she says, because of her knowledge and dedication. Even when she was ill, Khdour remained active with the committee and at the mosque.

"Anytime you call her ... she will help you," Khalifa says.

Last year, the women's committee launched a refugee assistance program. They now serve about 55 Muslim and non-Muslim families in Greensboro and High Point. The women collected clothing, food and household items for the refugees from Iraq, Somalia, Burma and Malaysia. But Khdour saw the need for health care, too.

"You can help them with the food and rent, but I'm not a doctor, so I can't do that much for them," she says.

This prompted her to move forward with the clinic. She knows many Muslim doctors through her roles as both a patient and Arabic language teacher. And she had experience as a health clinic volunteer while attending Community Mosque of Winston-Salem. That volunteer-run clinic was established in the early '80s and is offered monthly at the mosque. The imam there, Khalid Griggs, calls Khdour an excellent organizer.

"She's an extremely selfless woman who uses her skill sets to serve the community," he says.

His wife, Safiya, admires Khdour's dedication in the face of hardship.

"She could be ill, and you'd never know it because she never complains. She's been very ill, but she keeps on going, like the Energizer Bunny," Safiya Griggs says. "She's doing good ... for Allah."

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There's nothing distinguishable about the Al-Aqsa health clinic, named after an important mosque in Jerusalem.

It's located on a small side street near Greensboro's FantaCity International Mall. On the days of the clinic, volunteers place a small sign in the parking lot to indicate the clinic's location. Like any other doctor's office waiting room, there are magazines and health brochures on the tables. But unlike most waiting rooms, it has a copy of the Quran on the table. Male patients are often treated on one side of the office by a male doctor and female patients by a female doctor on the other side of the office.

Tariq Qazi, who is from Pakistan, says it's a cultural preference: Many women feel more comfortable with female doctors and men with male physicians.

Qazi recently brought his father, aunt and mother-in-law to the clinic. They are regular patients of Fozia Khan, one of the volunteer physicians that day. Khan advised them to see her there for follow-up care.

Clinic volunteer Karam Alsayyed, a UNCG student who wants to be a pharmacist, says many of the Muslim patients feel more comfortable coming to Al-Aqsa because they can communicate better with the doctors there.

That's why Qazi's family sees Khan. They don't speak English at all.

"To us, it's better because she speaks our language and she knows us," Qazi says.

The clinic couldn't exist without its volunteers and benefactors. For some clinic volunteers, it's an opportunity to sharpen their skills while serving their community. Alsayyed and Khdour's sons Bilal and Moneeb play video games on handheld devices while waiting to weigh patients and check their blood pressure. Bilal, 17, wants to be a pharmacist. Linda Humaidan, who goes to GTCC, wants to be a surgical technician. And Khdour's 16-year-old daughter, Sommayah, wants to be a dentist.

Maria Said, a seasoned EMT, started volunteering after her son told her about the clinic. Salwa Zarrouk was a pharmacist in her native Egypt and is working toward earning her U.S. license. For now, she manages the small pharmacy at the clinic, with her daughter nearby.

Syrian physician Jamal Kalala travels from Statesville to volunteer at the clinic. Kalala commutes because he knows Khdour and believes that doctors should volunteer their skills and time. It saves money, he says. If one patient goes to the emergency room, it could cost about $1,000, plus more for lab work.

"If every county has a clinic like this, and has a doctor volunteer a few hours on a Saturday, it will save a tremendous amount of money on the government," Kalala says.

That's because most people who go to the emergency rooms on weekends are uninsured and treated for minor illnesses, he says.

"When people come (to the emergency room) in tremendous numbers ... we are burdening the system with major costs," he says.

Kalala, who also is a Muslim, tries to show his children the importance of volunteerism through his own actions. "People listen more with their eyes than their ears," he says.

Imam Badi Ali, of the Islamic Center of the Triad, commended the clinic staff and volunteers on their caring attitude toward patients.

"I'm really impressed with the effort and community support that's been offered there," he says. "It is a place for everyone -- for those in need of care and those who care."

Humaidan's father, Jaffar, rents some space in the building where the clinic is held. He helped Khdour find the space for the clinic and pays the electric bill -- about $300. Jaffar Humaidan runs a wholesale business, catering mostly to convenience store owners. Although Saturdays are his busiest days, and his customers sometimes can't find a space to park, it pleases him that more people are coming to the clinic.

"A lot of people don't have insurance ... it helps a lot," he says.

The building's owner, James Ray, doesn't charge Khdour to use the space.

"It sounded like something very fine ... and the space is just sitting there," he says.

Imam Ali says it's important that Muslims show non-Muslims, like Ray, the true nature of Islam: "Serving the community is a form of worship."

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Khdour and others like her have changed Todd Drake's perception of Muslim women.

"I no longer look at the clothing that Muslim women wear as a sign of subjugation," he said. "Most of the women I talk to are fully realized and focused on what they want to do."

Safiya Griggs, who converted to Islam around 1980, says she feels empowered as a Muslim. She says, to her, the hijab symbolizes freedom.

"People think that we're all covered up and all pitiful and oppressed, but the hijab actually frees us up. It takes (attention) away from what a person is wearing, the color of her hair, the makeup you have -- to deal with that person," she says.

Drake, an artist and college art professor, started a project on Muslims in North Carolina two years ago. Until then, he didn't know any Muslims and had many misconceptions. His interviews include insight from Muslim men and women of all ages.

Madhavi Sunder, a law professor at the University of California, Davis, said mainstream Americans don't see enough images of Muslim women that aren't stereotypical. Sunder is writing a book about female reformers in the Muslim world. She just attended a Muslim women's leadership conference in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, where she saw more than 200 women from 40 countries, both veiled and unveiled.

"They were courageous, powerful ... debating, sharing information about their own work and accomplishments in their own country. It was anything but the silent Muslim woman who is downtrodden and who accepts her situation," Sunder says.

But the published press photos she saw showed women fully covered and wearing veils, praying toward Mecca.

Samaiyah Faison, an administrator at the Mariam Clinic in Raleigh, said many Muslim women don't want to attract attention to their accomplishments. But it doesn't mean they aren't leading projects.

"It's not that we're not doing it, we're not being seen as doing it," she says.

Like Al-Aqsa, Mariam clinic was started by a Muslim woman and, with the exception of Faison, is completely volunteer run. Sumera Hayat, a Duke University hospital doctor, saw a need in her community for a free health clinic, run by doctors who understood cultural customs and beliefs of Muslims.

And like Al-Aqsa, Mariam Clinic strives to include the entire community by recruiting board members of all religious faiths. Khalifa hopes more non-Muslims will volunteer at Al-Aqsa too.

"Whatever we are doing, it's not only for the Muslim community. It's for all the people," she says.

Imam Ali commends the women's committee at his mosque for their leadership, drive and effectiveness. He said this generation of Muslim American women want more community involvement.

"You can see the driving force behind them to work so that they can enrich and enhance the projects they're working on," he said. "They want to be engaged and also to let the public know they are a part of this community ... you can see it in their hearts."

Contact Tina Firesheets at 373-3498 or tina.firesheets@news-record.com