American-Islamic Friendship Project: March 2009

Introduction

The American-Islamic Friendship Project (AIFP) was started by an American seeking to build better relations between the people of America and the Muslim world. The Project collects messages of peace and friendship from Americans to people in the Muslim world and from people in the Muslim world to Americans. We want to publish the messages in a book to be distributed in America and various Muslim countries. The goal is to build greater understanding and friendship between our countries by allowing the voices of “ordinary” people to be heard, dispelling the perception that Americans and people in the Muslim world are hostile to each other, and connecting Americans and people from diverse Muslim countries in promoting our common desire for a more peaceful world.

Get Involved!

Here are some much-needed ways to get involved in the American-Islamic Friendship Project:

1. Contribute a message to the book. Any message is welcome as long as it promotes peace, friendship, and understanding (messages that do not will not be accepted). It can be as short as a sentence or as long as a page. Anonymous messages are also welcome, but please identify your country. Messages can be posted in the blog-posting space below. (Go to the bottom of any of my posts and click on "comments" to post a message. Until I figure out how to automatically display the comments on the main page, I will re-post the comments on the main page so that they can be seen easily.) Messages can also be emailed to: rebecca.cataldi@gmail.com (please put "American-Islamic Friendship Project" in the subject line). For information on sending hard-copy messages via postal mail, please write to the above email address.

2. Share a copy of the pre-published book with people in your community. Messages gathered so far have been compiled in a pre-published book. Please contact rebecca.cataldi@gmail.com about the possibiliy of receiving a copy.

3. Connect us with organizations or people who may like to receive a copy of the book or contribute messages. The book has so far been sent to various places in Egypt, Pakistan, Jordan, Iraq, Afghanistan, and elsewhere. We are always looking for new places to send the book and for places where we can gather new messages for the final published version. Contacts at schools are particularly appreciated.

4. Help us find a publisher/distributor for the final book.

5. Make a donation. Please contact rebecca.cataldi@gmail.com for more information.

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Messages received from the Muslim World

Here are some messages I have received from the Muslim world...There are also some beautiful peace drawings from Egypt and some messages in Urdu from Pakistan that I need to get translated...Hope to have those added soon.

Beside being Muslim, Christian, Jewish, Hindu, Buddhist and other we all are humans and have been created by one God, who asks us to live in peace and love each other. So let's love each other and live in peace.

Farima
(Afghanistan)

Letter of love and appreciation

From: Sheikh Mahmoud
To: American Delegation

First of all I would like to thank you for the opportunity to be together for the first time in the USA Feb-06 and in your second home Egypt Feb-07.

I would like to emphasize on the important part of keeping in touch, communicate through current technology, exchange our experience. Learn from each other. We do believe that not all American people are George Bush—you are kind, friendly people.

Wish that you enjoyed your time with us—hope to see you soon.

Sheikh Mahmoud Feb. 15, 07
(Egypt)

Dear American Friends,

I am not a terrorist. I am a journalist, mother, and good Egyptian.

I love you as people so love me too.

Amina
Journalist

Cairo, Egypt

Bis millahi Rahmani Rahim

First of all, we love American people very much, we hope for a good future to our children, without war.

We want the Americans to accept the other.

We request America as the superpower to stop the double standards regarding the Arab-Israeli conflict.

Islam is the religion of tolerance and peace and love.

Aida

Coptic Evangelical Organization for Social Service

(Egypt)

Dear friends,

In my opinion the most important thing to promote peace & justice between our both societies is first to recognize the difference between us in terms of culture and neutrality and goals in life; and second to accept this difference, because it is the product of both history & geography of both societies & which is different from one another.

Diversity of culture contributes to richness of culture, & will make the world stronger and healthier.

We invite you to visit our countries without previous ideas or previously set judgment. We will be very happy to welcome you.

Laila

(Egypt)

In the Name of Allah the most Beneficent
The most Merciful

First of all very much thanks to Americans, rest of the world and specially 6 year-old Kate, and Rebecca Cataldi.

I pray to Allah (God) to see the whole world, as a peaceful place for all.

My name is Saif. I live in Karachi, the biggest & most important city in Pakistan.

I’m very glad, by the moment, when I read deeply, your valuable gift in the form of your lovely comments for (the) Muslim world specially for Pakistan. It maximized the same feelings in my heart for all of you, as you expressed for us.

As I agree, that, there are a lot of misperceptions, among us. Your messages led me (to be) encouraged & opened a door to share our feelings to each other. As a believer in Islam I never left hope, and I’m sure, this attempt is an opportunity to get peace by dialogues. These dialogues, exchange of ideas through mails or workshop, etc., could (be) much helpful and could play a vital role to resolve all misperceptions.

By this great opportunity, I just like to start, to exchange the actual & mankind friendly interpretation about JIHAD (The Holy War). It is a misperception in (the) west, that it means, destroy all things in (the) west and all people should be killed without any reason. Actually the word means STRUGGLE. The Holy Prophet (Sallal-la-ho-Allahe-Wa Sal-lam) interprets us that.

“Struggle to provide justice, food, & health for all, and without priority of religion or tribe.” It was highly appreciated by the people, wherever, the followers of Islam reached and informed (aware) about it.

Therefore, this is a historical truth that all human beings get rest, when this great interpretation applied by the Holy Prophet (SAW) Hazrat Mohommad and his every follower. And this is also an alive truth that all constitution of warfare countries are based on it. Even in the Norwegian Constitution this clause is named by Umer’s Law. He, Hazrat Umer Farooq (RA), the 2nd immigrant leader, elected by Democratic Roles, after 2 years and (a) few months of the Holy Prophet Hazrat Mohommad (SAW).

It is a common belief of all believers, in any religion, that every next prophet, (who?) purified all perceptions, & orders of Allah, those became impure. It happened because of dishonest people, when they entered, & became religious personalities. All Prophets (Allah-him-us-Salam), informed the same about Allah (God), and preached the people to love the whole mankind, & respect the ideology and religion, to each other.

Please accept our heart feelings. I hope it will be continued and also hope, we’ll get all misperceptions about (the) east & Islam, through emails, workshops, etc. It will help us to get actual interpretations, to stop its harmfulness.

May Allah (God) bless all of you and your families,
May all family members of Allah (God) get rid of all fears,
May Allah make this world (a) happier places like heaven.

Deeply heart blessings & Love, for all.

Saif
(Pakistan)

We need to understand…each other in cultural and religious states of (the) other as partners.

Nahil
(Egypt)

What inspired this initiative?

Events such as 9/11 and the Iraq War made me want to do something to promote friendship and greater understanding between Americans and people in the Muslim world. I believe that cultural exchange and personal relationships between “ordinary” people can play a powerful role in creating social change and improving relations between their nations. So I began to visit Muslim-majority countries so that I could meet people and learn about their culture firsthand. At first, I was a little apprehensive. I wasn’t sure how people would treat me as an American. Many Americans have the perception that people in Muslim countries don’t like them or would be hostile to them if they came to their countries. Before I went to Egypt, for example, people in America told me to be careful and worried that something might happen to me.

When I got there, however, I was overwhelmed by the kindness and hospitality of the Egyptian people. Instead of the hostility or anti-American prejudice I was afraid I might find, I found that people were curious about Americans and were happy that someone from America wanted to learn about their country. In talking about political and cultural issues, we found we had much more in common than we had expected. Yet I was surprised to see that many Egyptians seemed to have a similar perception that Americans don’t like Arabs or Muslims or would be hostile to them if they came to America. I had a similar experience when I went to Pakistan on a project to visit women’s madrasas. People there were incredibly kind, hospitable, and welcoming to me. They didn’t seem to dislike Americans, yet many of them seemed to believe that Americans dislike them.

In my opinion, the majority of people in America and in the Muslim world don’t have any hostility toward each other and want to have greater friendship and understanding between our countries, yet we tend to believe that the other has hostility toward us. I wanted to dispel this misperception by finding a way for Americans and people in the Muslim world to be able to communicate their real feelings to each other. One Egyptian university student did some beautiful drawings symbolizing peace and friendship between Muslims and non-Muslims, and she asked me to take them back to my country and share them with Americans. I was touched by her desire to reach out to us, and when I shared them with Americans, they were so happy to receive a message of peace and friendship from someone in the Muslim world.

I started the American-Islamic Friendship Project for two reasons—first, because I wanted to return the kindness I had been shown in Muslim countries with the gift of messages of kindness and peace from my own country, and second, because I wanted to enable people in America and the Muslim world to hear the real feelings of each other, the feelings of ordinary people beyond what we hear in the media.

How does this project hope to improve the relationship between America and the Islamic world?

“Ordinary” people have such a powerful role to play in building better relations between our countries, because it is ordinary people who collectively shape the social consciousness of a nation, and the social consciousness affects the nation’s attitude toward other cultures and international problems. Difficult issues like the conflicts in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria, and Israel/Palestine can only be resolved if America and the Islamic world can work together as partners in problem-solving, and not as enemies or rivals. In order to be able to collaborate as partners, we need to believe that the other wants to work with us, to know that the other doesn’t hate us, and to trust that the other shares goals in common with us—such as an end to violence and a government that protects the rights of its people—even when we have different ideas about how to reach those goals. So it is so important for us to be able to say to each other, and to hear from each other, “We don’t hate you. We want to work with you to solve these problems. We want friendship and peace.” This is a simple but powerful message, which is often drowned out in the fog of war and terrorism. Perceptions can create reality by shaping thoughts and actions. I believe that initiatives that connect people with each other at the human level can play a powerful role in building better relations by affecting our perceptions of each other.

In the News: The American-Islamic Friendship Project in the Media

Changing Up Pakistan
The American-Islamic Friendship Project has been featured on Changing Up Pakistan (CHUP), a website devoted to raising awareness of issues affecting Pakistan. Visit http://www.changinguppakistan.com/ for more information or http://changinguppakistan.wordpress.com/category/interviews/ to read an interview with Rebecca Cataldi.

Common Ground News
Check out my article on US-Muslim relations for Common Ground News (an initiative of Search for Common Ground) which mentions AIFP. "Working against the problem, not each other" can be found at:
http://www.commongroundnews.org/article.php?id=22535&lan=en&sid=1&sp=0&isNew=1 .

Voices of Tomorrow
AIFP was mentioned in my recent article on "Madrassas: Resources for Peacemaking" for Voices of Tomorrow Magazine: http://www.voicesoftomorrow.org/473/international/madrassas-resources-for-peacemaking.php .

American-Islamic Friendship Project

Introduction

Get Involved!

Saturday, March 7, 2009

Messages received from the Muslim World

About Me

What inspired this initiative?

How does this project hope to improve the relationship between America and the Islamic world?

In the News: The American-Islamic Friendship Project in the Media

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