Who is Dee's boyfriend in "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker?

In 's
"," Dee's boyfriend is "a short, stocky man...." with hair that is
"...all over his head a foot long and hanging from his chin like a kinky mule tail." 
He greets the mother and Maggie with a Muslim salutation--"Asalamalakim"--that means
"Peace be with you," according to the notes in the text I'm reading from.  He is
"all grinning" as he does so.  He tries to shake hands with Maggie but Maggie's hand
is all limp and he looks like he is trying to shake hands in a fancy way, or like he doesn't
really know how to shake hands, according to the mother/narrator.

His name
contains numerous syllables and the mother has trouble pronouncing it, so he tells her to just
call him "Hakim-a-barber."  He doesn't eat pork.  This, together with the greeting he
uses suggests he is Muslim.

What's most important about the boyfriend,
though, is that he is a part of the new outlook that Dee has embraced.  Her previous existence
with her family was quaint, looking back on...