n his downtown Grass Valley gallery, artist Bryan Damewood sits among hand-carved wooden puzzles, a record collection and a painting of the prophet Muhammad.

While Nevada County is an unlikely place to find Islam, and Damewood's black baseball cap and casual clothes give him the mien of any other 34-year-old, Damewood's greatest passion is his Sufi Muslim faith.

Nominally Christian during his younger years, Damewood was intrigued by the mystical tradition of Islam after his devout friend Miles Shelton, also from Grass Valley, introduced him to the religion.

“I told myself, ‘He so believes in his religion, and I'm not religious at all,'” Damewood recalls. “I didn't think I'd ever be religious, but something inside me knew there was something real about it.”

Sufis hold to the teachings of Islam but emphasize the spirituality of the religion; radical, fundamentalist branches of Islam have tried to outlaw Sufism, Shelton said.

Being in a constant state of thinking about and remembering God is an important element of Sufism. As Damewood puts it, “Every upright Muslim will see God, but Sufis get to see him before that.”

His pursuit of Allah, or God, began humbly enough.

“I said a little prayer: ‘God, I'm willing to believe you. I'm going to try to be Muslim,'” he said.

While he acknowledges he's not always consistent in his prayers, he tries to wake up at 3:30 in the morning for 2 1/2 hours of chanting to Allah.

The goal is to push aside selfish desires; when he's faithful to the practice, he said, he feels “a shift in perception.”

“I feel so happy. I feel like I'm in love,” he said.

Some of Damewood's family is on board with the religion. His mother, sister and wife call themselves Muslims though they don't pray much.

His father and stepmom, who are devout, “born-again” Christians, are uneasy about it.

“They don't speak out against me or my belief,” Damewood says. “But (my stepmom) lets me know she's praying for me and wants to see me in heaven. She worries.”

Though his practice of Sufi Islam drew him away from the Christianity he was raised in, Damewood said he thinks he's going in the right direction.

“Why would (God) forsake me if I chose a good path?” he said. “I can feel good about it.”

To contact Staff Writer Michelle Rindels, e-mail mrindels@theunion.com or call (530) 477-4247.