What others see as an urban disaster zone, Nafa Khalaf views as a land of opportunity. The Motor City, he says, gave him chances that would have been inconceivable in his native Iraq.

"You want to know if Detroit has a future? Ask us Arabs," Khalaf says. "We believe in this place."

Their community is growing and prospering alongside Detroit's decay as one of the largest concentrations of Arabs outside the Middle East.

Khalaf went to Detroit's Wayne State University in 1986 to study engineering and was so impressed with the city that he never returned to his homeland.

(READ the story from Time magazine)