I met Fahim (Afghani Muslim) about 13 years ago when I was a regular customer at Starbucks where he was Manager.
I'd go every morning and sit at a large table where people from all walks of life would gather to chat, argue and pound the table.
It was fun and I got to know people from many different countries.
Fast forward....
I use to go to the Dallas Fort Worth Chess Club on Tuesdays and one evening I saw Fahim come in.
He walked up to me and said, "You look familiar--do I know you?"
I said, "Do you ever go to the Post Office? Maybe my photo was on the Most Wanted list they have on the bulletin board there!"
We ended up playing chess and I beat him the very first game! He was stunned. He is a great player.
(Of course, 500 games later I've yet to beat him again!! But, I won't mention that because it is embarassing.)
Fahim is from Afghanistan and so is his family. They are all Muslim. My wife (at the time) was Jewish and so (by birth) were my 3 kids.
So, naturally I was eager to get our families together! My wife was sweating it, too! But, I had been to Fahim's house several times and
I knew him to be a Prince of a fellow with great intelligence and a wonderful family man. We had long fun-filled conversations about everything.
The food provided was a feast by any standard. The hospitality is legendary, too!
I told him about my previous life as a Jehovah's Witness and told him how completely disenchanted I was with ALL formal religion. He listened and understood.
He had Muslim prayers on his wall in Arabic (from the Koran) and he explained their meaning to me. We talked about Islam.
Fast Forward...
9/11 came and within 6 months Fahim was out of a job at Starbucks.
It was a pretext, to be sure! So, my Muslim friend sought other employment and ended up as a restaurant Manager for Taco Cabana.
He worked long hours and made pretty good money but he never failed to make time for me and my family.
We had many discussions about God, religion, politics and fanaticism.
Fahim was fortunate in that his father was a peace-loving man who would not even swat a fly if he could find a way to remove it from his house otherwise.
He taught Fahim that "unless you can create life you should be very reluctant to end it---even for the tiniest insect!"
Fast Forward....
Fahim's job took him out of Texas all the way to Oklahoma. We lost touch.
I divorced from my wife and started a new job within a year after he had left.
By 2010 I completely retired.
Meanwhile, Fahim had seen an opportunity to go to Afghanistan and become a high-paying translator of Pharsee for the U.S. Army.
He remained for 2 years and moved back at the end of last year.
He tried to renew contact but I had moved and my phone number had changed. He never stopped trying, however.
About a week ago I got a "friend request" on FACEBOOK from Fahim!
We PM'd and exhanged phone numbers and spoke for hours renewing acquaintance.
He had earned quite a bit of money working in Afghanistan and he had saved most of it. He bought a used car dealership in Ft.Worth
when he returned and has been in business for about 3 months. He invited me to come by and visit him.
Well, he looks healthy, tanned and trim and his sense of humor is in top form.
One thing changed, however. Fahim now describes himself as an atheist an an infidel to Islam!
Being there in his former home city and talking to the locals and dealing with the outrageous fanaticism rampant among his former fellows turned
him sour on the whole idea of True Islam. He told me all the moderate people have fled for their lives. Only the crazies remain. His home town is completely gone--vanished like a dream that never was.
He explained to me that he had never actually read the Koran, but, had grown up with it everywhere naturally accepted as the spoken true word of Allah.
His arguments with the radical Islamists in his native language made him wonder how they could have so warped the teachings of Muhammed.
So, he read every word over the two year period!
His conclusions are very interesting to me. I thought I'd share them with you.
He told me he realized what the problem with Islam is. It is the moderates who are totally confused! The Koran is not teaching peace and love at all. It is the fanatics who are correctly representing what the teachings of Muhammed are: violent and bloody extermination of the NON-believers in every OTHER religion! And he suddenly knew he could not have any connection with it--OR a God who displayed such a mindset!
It was an awakening. It parallels much of my own experience with Jehovah's Witnesses, of course. The feelings of betrayal and having been taught lies...I could understand very well what he had gone through!
His family refers to him as "The Infidel." He argues with them and shows them in the Koran that if they REALLY believed the words of the prophet they would have to KILL HIM. And by not doing so--they too are infidel!
Well, all this is quite fascinating.
We ex-JW's think WE have it tough:)
Fahim understands that the True Believers in any religion are the ones causing most of the misery on the planet. He is now an advocate for NO religion at all and believes the only chance for peace on Earth is for people to wake up and make their own decisions based on common sense!
He offered me a job at his car dealership, too. I haven't been employed in about a year and a half--so, it will be great to have an opportunity to spend time with him in conversation and perhaps earn some money trying to sell used cars.
Anyway.....
I thought I'd share this with you for what it is worth!