I’m A Muslim, And I Love You

Dear Christians, Jews, Atheists, Asians, people of Colour and anyone else who lives on this beautiful world of ours. I love you. Sincerely so.

The outpouring of love on Medium towards Muslims from brave souls like Thomas Mauchline and David Swan has been nothing short of breathtaking.

Your courage to spread kindness and peace is what the world really needs at a time when fear and hatred is dividing groups of people who are way more similar to each other than they realise. We need more people like you.

I know that there are millions of people out there who share your sentiments but are afraid to speak out, and I highly encourage they do so.

Because it makes a difference.

It brings us together and makes us feel more connected as a global community. It makes us less afraid. It gives us more reasons to love one another. It simply lets us know that not everyone out there is against us.

A problem that is all too common.

Muslims think that the entire west hates them.

And the west thinks that the entire Muslims hate them.

But this is not true.

It is our (regular people) responsibility to stand up to extremism and discrimination of all sorts and to fight for what we all want.

Peace and love.

Peace, love and unity.

And today, as a grateful Muslim, I want to play my part.

I encourage all Muslims to play their part as well, because I know all too well that the majority of us share the exact same beliefs that I do.

And I also know that every Christian, Jew, Atheist, Black, White, Asian person that I have ever met has been nothing short of incredible and kind and deeply compassionate towards me and my beliefs as a Muslim. You’ve always understood when I had to fast during Ramadan, even if it meant I would’t be as productive at work. You’ve always supported my decision to not drink alcohol, and you’ve constantly respected my five daily prayers.

You cared for my mother when she was sick and in the hospital, you made her smile and let her know that everything will be alright and you’ve protected my sisters when they were discriminated against in public.

And for that, I am eternally grateful.

To the Christians, I love you.

We believe in Jesus too, and are taught to love him like our own father.

We believe in the same God that you do, and I want to hang out at the park and just talk about how awesome our God is. He is truly awesome, isn’t he?

To the Jews, I love you.

Our people were both descended from Abraham. The Jews from his son Isaac, and the Muslims from his son Ishmael. This basically makes us cousins. And as a cousin to me, you can bet that I will do everything in my power to protect you in any way that I can. To dispel the myths & lies & the propaganda that is being created throughout parts of the world about you.

Your people are incredibly smart and hard working, I look up to you.

You have offered so much to this world, and I hope that some day, I can too.

To the atheists, I love you too.

We might not see eye to eye on everything, but the true teachings of my religion teach me to respect and love every human being regardless or race or religion. I want to extend that love to you and to let you know that I’ve got your back through thick and thin no matter what the situation.

I want you to know that you can count on me whenever you need me.

To all of humanity, I love you and I will never lose hope.

Because I understand that in every religion, culture or race, that there are a few people who ruin things for the rest of us. I know for a fact that most people just want to be able to pay the bills and live a peaceful & happy life.

It is easy to take teachings from the Bible or the Quran out of context and to use this as ammunition to spread fear, hatred and lies. It is hard to love one another and to put in the effort to get to know the true teachings of each others beliefs. So let’s start there. Let’s start by speaking to one another.

By sharing the best of what our religions and cultures have to offer.

Let’s start by inviting each other to dinner and just having a damn good time. Let’s be the ones to turn this negative situation into a beautiful one.

One that will define the world that we live in for generations to come.

The more divided we are, the more they can conquer.

But united, we stand. We are undefeatable.

I believe that we can do this.

I believe that we are the generation that can bring about this change.

And I believe that here, and right now is the best place to start.

Your brother in faith and humanity,

Karim.