Starting another year

I got to spend almost the entire month of May at home – how wonderful!  My time was spent with my family, in our home, cooking in my kitchen, seeing my favorite places and remembering our favorite restaurants, and enjoying the green and rain! Wow, what a great month. I’ll post some trip images soon. 

Now I’m back in Saudi Arabia starting a fresh contract year. It was tough to come back this time – home is so nice! Not that this isn’t nice, but Dorothy had it right: there’s no place like home.

I’m also here just in time to witness some awful things. One is the pair of bombings – two in the past two weeks – against Shiite mosques near my location.  A man I work with lost three family members in an attack two weeks ago, and another man here was in a mosque that was attacked a few days ago.

These attacks have been claimed by ISIS, and they seem to have no purpose but to stir up discontent and trouble between Shia Muslims, and Sunni Muslims, which is the predominant practice in the Kingdom.  Sadly, this rivalry doesn’t require stirring – it’s been going on for centuries – but ISIS is in the business of brutality to cause confrontation, and they are horribly effective at it.  Even so, I applaud the Shia community here for their response, which brought tens of thousands for a peaceful funeral march to bury the 22 dead following the first attack. 

The other awful thing I’ve seen is the hatefulness and intolerance toward Islam that has been going on in the U.S. It is shameful and embarrassing, and is the result of fear mongering of the worst sort.  We are far too quick to speak and shout out based on ignorance and emotion without a shred of factual information. Yesterday I read of an Islamic couple who went to pick up their son at a friend’s house, and a woman held them at gunpoint until they could prove why they were in her neighborhood. This is a response based in fear and ignorance.

Today’s news was about an anti-Islam “rally” in Phoenix – the sole purpose was to incite conflict and trouble. Attendees were encouraged to wear shirts with inflammatory slogans, and to arm themselves in case there was trouble, which is kind of like going into a paper building carrying torches, and bringing a fire extinguisher in case there’s a fire.  This is fear and anger, stoked by irresponsible, idiotic politicians and media. Fortunately, a crowd the same size as the protagonists circled the mosque to protect and defend the people inside, and the event passed without major incident.  (The organizer, who sees himself as a patriot and went far out of his way to create this spectacle, blames his target group for the scrutiny he now finds himself under. Yep.)

Wonderfully, according to the reports I read, several members of the antagonistic group actually sat down with some of their targets, meeting Muslim people for the first time in their lives. One man was invited to join in prayers, actually did so, and came out with a new opinion – which is what can happen when you face your fears and replace them with facts. 

I work in a multi-national, multi-cultural, and multi-religion location. It is a place of mutual respect, and we do wonderfully together. I have met people who I am sure will be my friends for life, and many of them are Muslim. They are lovely, kind, friendly, generous, family oriented people and I am proud to know them.  

I’ve got a big secret to tell you America: Muslims are just like us in many aspects. They have families and bills and worries. They take care of their aging parents. They invest for the future. They try to teach their kids right and wrong. They have failures and successes and flat tires and struggles – just like we do. Some of them are among the most brilliant people I’ve ever worked with.  

Are they different from us? Of course. They live in a far different, more harsh environment, and their culture is 1400 years old. They have different traditions based on where they are, and they shouldn’t have to explain or defend that to us, any more than the French need to justify their peculiarities, or any of nationality. We all have our peccadilloes.  

Islam is a peaceful religion, and the normal Muslim is a peaceful person.  One of Islam’s main religious texts is the book we call the Old Testament, and Jesus is revered as a prophet.  The biggest difference between us is that they live and practice their faith every day through prayer, kindness, and sacrifice. 

Most Americans (and Christians) tend to ignore the part of scripture they disagree with or don’t want to think about.  Really folks, in one of the letters from someone to some group, the Bible mentions homosexuality as not a good thing, but Jesus never brought it up. At the same time, among many other things, eating pork and shellfish are specifically cited as an abomination, and divorce is explicitly forbidden. And your teenage son who talks back? If you really practiced the Bible’s instructions you’d have to stone him.  Oh yes, and there are a dozen or so “definitions” of marriage included in the Bible (including between a man and a woman).

Are there bad Muslims? Probably just as many as there are bad Christians.  And then there is this extremist group ISIS which has caused so much fear and hatred against Islam. But condemning and hating all of Islam because of the terrorist Islamic State is like condemning and hating all of Christianity because of the actions of the far-right fundamentalist Westboro Baptist Church in Kansas, which is simply a terroristic hate group.  If you are a real Christian who believes and practices the peaceful, loving, forgiving teachings of Jesus, you would likely disagree with being lumped in with them.

My Arab friends are outraged by IS – “They are not Islam,” they tell me, “they are liars.”  Then they insist on telling me the parts of the Koran that forbid everything IS has done and is about, and condemning them as heathens. 

Yes, this has been a long rant, and if you’ve made it to the end, thank you for sticking with me. What’s the point? Get about 1 mm under the skin and we are the same. Get past the local traditions and religions and, again, we are the same. Let’s stop looking for and creating divisions to cause problems. Let’s help each other and be tolerant of each other and love each other. Everyone. Everywhere. This is what Jesus taught when he said "Love one another." It's time we paid attention.

Jesus had another specific instruction that far too few Christians remember, much less practice. Some version of this is taught by every major religion in history: Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. Think about that for a minute or two. The implications of the Golden Rule are mind blowing, and if we all start doing this, really, it would change the world. Let’s start today. 

Namaste. Shalom. Salam. Peace.