American-Islamic Friendship Project: Message from the Muslim World

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.

Monday, February 28, 2011

Message from the Muslim World

We all should know and understand that religions are only for God; therefore, no one has the right to judge anybody. The message of all religions is peace, tranquility, and prosperity. That is what we all should focus on. Let us think about peace and how to approach it for the sake and the benefit of humanity. We should also understand that terrorism does not have a faith. Violence, injustice, and sometimes unfair politics promote the bizarre thinking. We as people should all stand up and say no for hatred and unfair judgments for the sake of our world and for better life for the new generations.

Sincerely,
Abdulaziz
The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
9/11/2010

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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!

Monday, February 28, 2011

Message from the Muslim World

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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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