Well... as a graphic designer in one of my many professional endeavors, I have become very good friends, for many, many years with about 25 guys in Pakistan that I outsource to... My brother-from-another-mother is my good friend, Malik... yes, I know that the name "Malik" is actually his caste, but he goes by this name (his actual name is Ahmed), and the Malik clan/caste are predominantly Sunni, at least that is my understanding, of which Shaykh al-Badawī as he is affectionately remembered, is considered quite a revered saint... As a very devout Christian myself, Malik & I have had such amazing conversations over the years, about our respective faiths, both him & his team. I have long standing friendships with at least 20 other guys in Islamabad, Lahore, Multan, etc...
Early in my interaction with Malik, my nephew, who is a pretty seriously sought after videographer around the globe, was spending a lot of time in several nations in the middle east. He made a video to reveal to other Americans, just how identical the average American family is to any Muslim family... not in their outer world, maybe, but their inner one... we ALL want safety, security, we want to feed our families, see our children laugh, we want to see them grow up to become individuals of merit & meaning, we'd like to work ourselves at something that contributes to the greater good of others & ourselves, we want to experience passionate, life altering love with a woman we trust implicitly, we want to have a really cool dog... you know what I mean? It may just be random "stuff" but it is the substance, the warp & woof on the tapestry of life.
Janssen's film caused me to begin to evaluate, not only MY attitude towards the faith of Allah, but the predominant American mindset & worldview of the Muslim family of various national alliances. And two guys, Ravi Zacharias & Vishal Mangalwadi, both Indian, I discovered in my voyage of discovery; they changed my life & my worldview, they are primary voices in my philosophy, although Ravi died last year... But I discovered some very disturbing realities in both the broader culture here in America, but more importantly, in my own heart, & not based on truth, not in alignment with those things most assuredly believed by myself. And this stupidity has been formed apart from knowledge & the truth - the Muslim faith has been portrayed 99.999% of the time by the example one sees acted out by extremist's; it's not a true Muslim's faith. They do the same thing within the Christian faith, with Christianity all the time & it is anything but an accurate depiction of what I believe, so I know the harm that is done by just accepting what we are presented with visually in entertainment & politically... I become very... impatient with MOST forms of extremism & I do not apologize for that, I don't like it in my own Baptist faith or any other... so much harm comes from ignoring our sacred texts & following them as we are given the ability to so do... Shaykh al-Badawī is revered by Sunni' who honor saints... and isn't he Egypt's #1 saint? There is even a resort, on the Nile, in the Giza district that bears his name...
Anyway, sorry, I DO go on sometimes, LOL... I make it a point to seek out my brothers of a differing faith as often as I can, because so much harm has & continues to be done because of the actions of a very minuscule portion of all those others that are simply amazing & beautiful human beings, very, very much the same as I am & who I would love to have in my community, working on things to make the world a place of wonder & beauty...
I think it's against the rules, but I am going to post the link to that video my nephew did & I hope anyone who reads this novel takes the moments to watch it... there is no dialogue, it is just random footage of people, but it still, every time I watch it, blows me away... It causes me to wonder, what other lies might I be buying into that are not serving me or my Creator? Sorry, guys, if this kind of meditation is not considered good form here, I am 50+ years old, my life has been mostly bad choices but God has been good to me & I am still walking around & breathing, against all expectations, LMAO... and so I try to share the things I know to be true ^ that will make a difference... somebody once said, "He who has ears to hear, let him hear..."