Mainly in the west, people are taught through the media and certain biases that the Muslim community is one to be feared and one to stay away from. I am ashamed to say that as we took off for Malaysia, some of these biases had found themselves very tightly wedged in to my brain. I wasn’t afraid of violence or abuse but I was intimidated to be going to a country where Islam is the predominant religion, Christianity isn’t exactly encouraged, and the cultural customs were as different from America as a potato is from an avocado.
This month’s ministry was particularly sticky as we were going in to Malaysia to do ATL (Ask the Lord). An integral part of ATL is evangelism but evangelizing to Malay Muslims is illegal. How are you supposed to know who is a Malay Muslim and who’s a Chinese Muslim, or an Indian Muslim, or a Syrian Muslim, or any other variation of person who could proclaim Islam as their religion? All we could see exteriorly were women wearing hijabs or burkas and the men that accompanied them. But what about the men who didn’t have their wife in tow? See the issue?
But then one day on our regular walk we met a man who worked at a perfume shop. He stopped one of my teammates and said, “Don’t stop smiling, you’ve got a beautiful smile!” Normally, we’d say thank you and walk on but there was something different about this man, a kindness that radiated out of him. Over the next few days we became friends with this man, his name is Nick, and found it to be a great joy and encouragement to pass him. It wasn’t long before we had made plans to go to a nearby town with him and his brother to visit the national Mosque and other tourist spots in the area.
On that day, Nick and his brother, Ali, showed us more kindness and generosity than most people I’ve encountered on the Race. We got to learn more about them and how they came to live in Malaysia. They’re both Iraqi Muslims who came to Malaysia as refugees with their mother and Ali’s young daughter. Nick worked with the US Army in Baghdad as a translator using his skills he learned while obtaining a degree in English. We also learned that they are both Muslims, as is the rest of their family.
As our time in Malaysia began to come to a close, we spent more and more time with Nick and Ali. They became a part of our family. The last Sunday we were in Kuala Lumpur, Nick, Ali, and Ali’s daughter came to church with us and to lunch with our church friends after. They even liked us so much they took us out to an amazing Iraqi dinner the night before we left.
They were easily the hardest goodbye I’ve had to say on the Race to date.
Do you know why? My end goal wasn’t to convert them, my end goal was to love them and love them deeply. So, I did.
I can’t imagine a less likely friendship to form than one between an Iraqi Muslim man and an American Christian woman. The media teaches us to fear these people but in reality, they are exactly the same as we are. We are all God’s children, we are all created in His image, and He loves them just as much as He loves you and me.
I learned more about unconditional love from two Muslims than I’ve ever learned anywhere else. They had no reason or responsibility to be so kind to us, yet they were anyway. They knew we were Christians and they loved us anyway. We’re as different as potatoes and avocados but they chose to pour in to our lives anyway.
What would it be like if the church did this?
No matter someone’s ethnicity, religious belief, or sexual orientation, the Bible calls us to love. To make anyone less than yourself for whatever reason is to discredit God’s creation and that breaks His heart.
I’ve learned a lot this month in Malaysia but mainly I’ve learned that fear is for cowards. God doesn’t call us to have a spirit of fear or to hate His creation. He doesn’t call us to look down on Muslims, Hindus, Buddhists, or any other religious person. He calls us to love, so that’s what I’m going to do.
“Let love and faithfulness never leave you; bind them around your neck, write them on the tablet of your heart.” Proverbs 3:3
Write love on the tablet of your heart and watch how God transforms your life. I promise you won’t regret it.
All the love from Malaysia!
Katie Mere
(From left to right: Ali, Ali’s daughter, Jordie, Caitlyn, Jenny, Sarah, Gracie, myself, Marisa, Nick, Pastor Albert, and a church volunteer)
