We moved into a new house this week. I had forgotten to call ahead and arrange internet service before moving day, and when I finally applied, I was told the earliest installation date was ten days away. Both my wife’s work and mine depend almost entirely on being online. Our phone hotspots burned through their data almost immediately, so I texted our next-door neighbor, a white American Christian whom I had spoken with only briefly. I explained the situation and asked whether we could use his Wi-Fi until ours was installed. As a thank-you, I offered to pay his internet bill for the month. He apologized and said no.
As someone who grew up as a Muslim in the Islamic world, lived in several Muslim countries, and traveled to perhaps twenty more, I can say with confidence that I would be surprised to find a Muslim who would refuse that request from a new neighbor.
When I was ten years old, I lived in Jerash, Jordan, a city filled with Roman ruins because ancient Gerasa was one of the cities of the Decapolis. We saw tourists constantly. I still remember an Italian tourist who seemed lost. I found him a cab, explained where he needed to go, and paid the entire fare out of the small allowance I had, even though no one expected me to. Hospitality was simply something we were taught to do.
I doubt many cultures can compete with Arabs and Muslims when it comes to hospitality. Knock on the door of a Muslim family and, before they ask why you have come, there is a good chance they will invite you inside, offer you food and something to drink, and only then ask what brought you there. Stop a Muslim on the street and ask for help, and he will never brush you off the way people often do in the West. He may spend an hour with you if that is what it takes to make sure you find what you need.
Last week, during the CAIR summit, several speakers talked about the need for Muslims to spend more time with Americans so that Americans could see how nice Muslims are and thereby combat what they described as “Islamophobia.” I can see why they think that strategy will work.
Last year, I was invited to speak at a synagogue about Islam. Afterward, a Jewish woman objected to what I had said because, as she explained, her daughter had a very nice Muslim friend.
This is where many people in the West become confused. They hear Muslim clerics speak about Islam’s global ambitions, they see what Muslim terrorists do around the world, they remember the beheadings, the persecution of minorities, the grooming and rape gangs, and other acts committed by Muslims. At the same time, they personally know Muslims who are kind, generous, decent people. Faced with that contradiction, many resolve it by separating the Islam of their nice Muslim friends from the actions of violent Muslims and treating the latter as a fringe phenomenon with little or nothing to do with Islam itself.
When a Muslim man stopped two ISIS terrorists in Sydney, his religion was immediately emphasized. He was not “the human who stopped the Muslim terrorists” but “the Muslim who stopped the terrorists.”