Isma...the most capable driver in all of Uganda
So, let me introduce you to my friend Isma, our program driver. He and I talk a great deal about all manner of things and indeed he has been a terrific resource in better interpreting and understanding everyday Ugandan life in and around Kampala. He is Muslim and a fan of American Country Music..I kid you not - he LOVES Kenny Rogers.
Muslims and Christians in Uganda seem to get along very well - certainly better than in the Middle East. No one enjoys more legal rights or social freedoms than another and, as Isma tells me, the craziness of the Islamists has not found fertile ground here. Fr. Peter tells me that their Parish sometimes will have join events with the Mosque next door - and they will often help one another. In a real way they see themselves united in dealing with issues we American cannot fathom. To that degree I give rightful accusations of ecumenism some grace.
Anyway, I made a CD for Isma of some of the country music I like, he is very excited to listen to it.
Just one of the many people I am meeting here, and like so many Ugandans, Isma has experienced his share of suffering and tragedy. His father was killed when he was perhaps 10 during one of the civil wars and he is able to recall all manner of atrocities he witnessed while growing up. Paradoxically, like so many Ugandans, he is very quick to smile. How many lessons do I need, Lord?
I'll miss him when I leave.
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Comments
I am glad you met Isma. The Islamic world is FULL of Ismas. Beautiful people, loving people. As you know I have often felt hurt by some of the posts you have made on your blog which I feel are anti-Islamic. I do not often feel the love of God in many posting I have seen on Orthodox blogs in general regarding our Islamic brothers and sisters. And I was downright pissed off after hearing Frank Schaeffer speak in the local Orthodox church we have here. Perhaps after meeting Isma you can understand a little what it must be like for me to be a convert from Islam to Christianity. I never have felt comfortable with this assumption that just because I now am a follower of Christ I must now endorse the hatred of the Islamic world that I feel all around me in the Christian community. Perhaps you think I am being unfair but I can't count the times I have heard Christian "brothers" tell me that the USA should unleash massive violence in the Islamic world, even to the point of using nuclear weapons. I think to myself, "Is this guy so retarted that he has forgotten that I have family in the Islamic world, Muslim family,! This guy is talking about killing my grandma and he does it to my face, without hesitating!"
I have some understanding of the poverty you are seeing. I grew up with stories about the horrible poverty my dad grew up in. That is why to this day he can not bring himself to feed a dog. He says, "I have seen many people, beautiful people, starve to death . . . how can I now give food to a dog."
No mater how long I have been a Christian I will always associate Islam with the loving people I have known, and not the terrorists I have seen on CNN. I think this is how Jesus sees things as well.
I think Christians could do a lot to create world peace if they would just visit a Mosque for themselves and MEET PEOPLE AND ENCOUNTER FIRSTHAND THE REAL ISLAM. Then they would understand that Muslims are not the enemy. SATAN is the enemy, and he is at work everywhere to create hatred and misunderstanding and ignorance.
Overall it sounds like you are having a wonderful and life changing experience. I am jealous.
Much love,
Imran
I don't know that Isma has changed my opinions with regard to what I believe to be endemic problems within Islam and within the Islamic world, it would seem - as we discussed such matters - that he even agrees with me on this point. We found common ground in that we are both weary of killing.
I cannot say that Isma's Islam is the REAL Islam...however much I would like it to be so. It is up to the Islamic world to have their surah and hadith quoting debates to deal with such issues...but in the meantime, too many westerners do not know how to process it all. You are right, all they see is the blood ridden media hype.
It is, none-the-less a serious problem. Ignoring the cancer is not, however, a good way to treat it.
Anyway, suffice to say I am not a Muslim for serious reasons, just as I am not a Buddhist for different reasons. I'd like to see a world where celebrating differences means we can openly disagree, debate and discuss while not having to worry about death fatwahs and riots or some Christians who may perhaps vote to see nukes fly.
A world where people are free, whether socially or legally, to follow the religion of their choice.
Imran, you have clearly and regularly experienced an extreme of opinions in regard to this issue...and I have too, on the equally radical opposite side of the american political spectrum - surrounded by such, it tends to taint one and gear them...we, me at least, toward lashing back. So, while I have not changed most of my opinions, I have opted - recognizing the above - to tone their expression down, or to seek more acurately communicative ways to express them.
I am not, nor have I ever been one to seriously propose nuking millions of people.
Isma and I spent part of the day cruising the streets of Kampala while listening to Jason Aldean's "Amarillo Sky," Quite the pair, we are. If I ever come back, I'm going to bring him a cowboy hat.