(no subject)
A friend of mine is a member of a number of Buddhist groups and communities and shared this post from buddhists. It represents the sort of dialogue I'd like to see between major religious factions (and left me with a positive feeling, which happens seldom enough when reading about the clash of ideologies).
Friday morning, I walked into the neighborhood Starbucks cafe and saw a very attractive young lady. I ordered a large cup of cappuccino and proceeded to sit at the table next to hers. After about a couple of minutes of trying to think of something to say without appearing to be too forward, she surprisingly asked,"Do you have the time, Sir?". As I gaze at my watch, I asked her if she was in a hurry. She said that she just wanted to make sure that she wasn't going to miss her bus to the university.
So the conversation continued. We talked about so many things from a certain homosexual republican congressman from Florida, to corruption in government, to the Osama Bin Ladin, to the Iraq/Afghanistan Wars, to Islamic terrorism. We both talked quite negatively about Islam. We talked about how the ATS should continue to do profilng on passengers from the east, especially if they're known to be Muslims. We talked about how stupid a person has to be in order to strap a bomb to themselves just to murder innocent people who most likely have nothing to do with your political cause. We continued to speak abusively concerning Islamic countries that deny women equal rights and openly discriminate against gays by beating or jailing them without any recourse. After about half an hour, we began to talk about the backwards Islamic country of Sudan and how it is responsible for the genocide of so many indigenous Sudanese blacks of Darfur.
At this point, a very dark-skinned young man, who had been sitting across from us (absolutely expressionless the entire time), turned towards us and said, "These people are not Muslims, they have nothing to do with Allah!". I noticed immediately that he possibly had a slight African accent and that he had a false eye. As he continued to defend Islam, I observed how articulate and fluent he was in english. He began to talk about how Allah was a just God and how Muslims are people who want peace and justice. He continued on about how the terrorists are just murderers, they're not genuine Muslims, he kept referring to them as hypocrites. He then told us that his name was Yusef and that he was a Muslim from Chad and that all of his life, he lived to please Allah, and to represent God in an honorable fashion. He seemed proud of the fact that he had been a member of the African Union Army. He was proud of the fact that he had been selected for the Army of the African Union as a soldier from Chad to assist and protect the people of Darfur. He felt as though he did not just go to represent his country but that he went to represent Allah, as his hand in justice, to stop the murderous Janjaweed arm of the Sudanese government. He then became very exuberant and said, "Do you see this!". He held up his right hand, it was slightly mangled with two fingers missing. He claimed that he lost those two fingers and the use of his right eye when he attempted to return a Janjaweed tossed hand grenade into a crowd of villagers while serving in Darfur for the African Union. He said that Allah told him to respond quickly. He did and consequently he was certain that he had saved some lives upon that day. He then stated very proudly, that he would gladly lose all of his fingers, all of his limbs, and his life if need be, to defend the innocent in the name of Allah. He added, that it did not have to be the innocent in Africa either. He said that anywhere Allah would send him to defend the innocent, he would do it gladly.
I then asked him, "Where do you think Allah would send you next?" He then said," I am now physically disabled, therefore, there is little I can do for places like Darfur and Iraq, however, I can speak well, I now will defend Islam right here in the U.S. where people don't understand Islam... by speaking."
Linda (my coffee partner) and I were both stunned by this young man's eloquence, his determination, his sense of humanity, and his overall demeanor. We just sat there in awe of his presence. We all began to talk about peace and how much people needed to stop building walls, but bridges instead. We realized that somehow our meeting in Starbucks was indeed a fortunate one. As we concluded our conversation, I extended my hand to Yusef, he grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him (with just the few strong fingers remaining) and he hugged me and call me his brother. I felt honored. Linda then hugged him and then I hugged Linda. We exchanged phone numbers and I now have two new friends. How fortunate we all were to have a perchance meeting at Starbucks. Our paths not only intersected physically, but somehow we had a meeting of both our hearts and our minds.
How about that, a Buddhist, a Christian, and a Muslim together in total union and agreement in a spirit of compassion.
NAMASTE
PS. I have now completely changed my philosophy of condemning the Abrahamic religions because I've met Yusef.
Lest anyone attribute this to me, the poster was zendroit.
Friday morning, I walked into the neighborhood Starbucks cafe and saw a very attractive young lady. I ordered a large cup of cappuccino and proceeded to sit at the table next to hers. After about a couple of minutes of trying to think of something to say without appearing to be too forward, she surprisingly asked,"Do you have the time, Sir?". As I gaze at my watch, I asked her if she was in a hurry. She said that she just wanted to make sure that she wasn't going to miss her bus to the university.
So the conversation continued. We talked about so many things from a certain homosexual republican congressman from Florida, to corruption in government, to the Osama Bin Ladin, to the Iraq/Afghanistan Wars, to Islamic terrorism. We both talked quite negatively about Islam. We talked about how the ATS should continue to do profilng on passengers from the east, especially if they're known to be Muslims. We talked about how stupid a person has to be in order to strap a bomb to themselves just to murder innocent people who most likely have nothing to do with your political cause. We continued to speak abusively concerning Islamic countries that deny women equal rights and openly discriminate against gays by beating or jailing them without any recourse. After about half an hour, we began to talk about the backwards Islamic country of Sudan and how it is responsible for the genocide of so many indigenous Sudanese blacks of Darfur.
At this point, a very dark-skinned young man, who had been sitting across from us (absolutely expressionless the entire time), turned towards us and said, "These people are not Muslims, they have nothing to do with Allah!". I noticed immediately that he possibly had a slight African accent and that he had a false eye. As he continued to defend Islam, I observed how articulate and fluent he was in english. He began to talk about how Allah was a just God and how Muslims are people who want peace and justice. He continued on about how the terrorists are just murderers, they're not genuine Muslims, he kept referring to them as hypocrites. He then told us that his name was Yusef and that he was a Muslim from Chad and that all of his life, he lived to please Allah, and to represent God in an honorable fashion. He seemed proud of the fact that he had been a member of the African Union Army. He was proud of the fact that he had been selected for the Army of the African Union as a soldier from Chad to assist and protect the people of Darfur. He felt as though he did not just go to represent his country but that he went to represent Allah, as his hand in justice, to stop the murderous Janjaweed arm of the Sudanese government. He then became very exuberant and said, "Do you see this!". He held up his right hand, it was slightly mangled with two fingers missing. He claimed that he lost those two fingers and the use of his right eye when he attempted to return a Janjaweed tossed hand grenade into a crowd of villagers while serving in Darfur for the African Union. He said that Allah told him to respond quickly. He did and consequently he was certain that he had saved some lives upon that day. He then stated very proudly, that he would gladly lose all of his fingers, all of his limbs, and his life if need be, to defend the innocent in the name of Allah. He added, that it did not have to be the innocent in Africa either. He said that anywhere Allah would send him to defend the innocent, he would do it gladly.
I then asked him, "Where do you think Allah would send you next?" He then said," I am now physically disabled, therefore, there is little I can do for places like Darfur and Iraq, however, I can speak well, I now will defend Islam right here in the U.S. where people don't understand Islam... by speaking."
Linda (my coffee partner) and I were both stunned by this young man's eloquence, his determination, his sense of humanity, and his overall demeanor. We just sat there in awe of his presence. We all began to talk about peace and how much people needed to stop building walls, but bridges instead. We realized that somehow our meeting in Starbucks was indeed a fortunate one. As we concluded our conversation, I extended my hand to Yusef, he grabbed my hand and pulled me toward him (with just the few strong fingers remaining) and he hugged me and call me his brother. I felt honored. Linda then hugged him and then I hugged Linda. We exchanged phone numbers and I now have two new friends. How fortunate we all were to have a perchance meeting at Starbucks. Our paths not only intersected physically, but somehow we had a meeting of both our hearts and our minds.
How about that, a Buddhist, a Christian, and a Muslim together in total union and agreement in a spirit of compassion.
NAMASTE
PS. I have now completely changed my philosophy of condemning the Abrahamic religions because I've met Yusef.
Lest anyone attribute this to me, the poster was zendroit.