My Muslim friend is in the NY Times today

A Muslim friend of mine was in the NY Times today.

One of the blessings of living on Long Island for five years, just outside of New York City was getting exposed to the great diversity of nationalities and religious beliefs. Following September 11, there was a great effort, especially among Muslims on the island to reach out to different faiths and make themselves known as the peace-loving people they are rather than the ugly stereotypes that predominate in the media.

I got to know Dr. Faroque Khan a leader at the Islamic Center of Long Island when he came and spoke at our church--a faith community that had two members die on September 11. Dr. Khan explained to us that they also had members die on September 11 and a bridge of understanding began to be built. He is a pulmonologist originally from India who helped found the Islamic Center of Long Island. He is an unassuming man who has worked exceedingly hard to build bridges between people of different faiths.

The mosque Dr. Khan helped to found has an annual dinner with Jews from a synagogue in Great Neck (a heavily Jewish area) where together they break the Ramadan fast and have the Jewish dinner of Sukkot during the Festival of Booths. Also, they sponsored a group of young people from Muslim, Jewish and Christian backgrounds who travelled in the Holy Land doing interfaith dialogue. I attended several interfaith events at the mosque and always felt deeply gratified and blessed for being there. The hospitality I received was amazing and I always grew in my understandings of not just other faiths but my own as well.

When I saw today's headline about a mosque from Long Island comprised mainly of South Asian immigrants and a mosque from Harlem comprised of African Americans trying to build a relationship with one another, I was not surprised to see Dr. Khan in the picture. The article is a good one, but I would criticize if for not giving enough credit to the work Dr. Khan and his mosque have done over the years in interfaith dialogue. It mentions an attack made by congressman Peter King, who represents a big chunk of Long Island, made against Dr. Khan and the mosque for remarks made after September 11. The background there is that King's comments and campaign attacks earned him support and money, not to mention that his vitriolic attacks against the Muslim minority in his district were not only way over the top but a cheap way to gain political power. I would have liked to see the Times take on King a bit, but that wasn't the focus of the story.

Anyway, why this matters to me is that I came to consider Dr. Khan a friend and kindred spirit. I firmly believe that if the human race is going to avoid some awful bloodshed this century people of different faith groups are going to have to put aside prejudice and religiously-justified violence (whether that be suicide bombers or Christians in America blindly backing preemptive war). In order for this to happen, ordinary people on the ground, in grass roots locations around the world have to start talking to each other and learning from each other.

As a Christian, I believe learning from someone different from me rather than believing a stereotype is a way for me to love my neighbor as myself.

Grace and Peace,

Chase