Christians loving Muslims
After spending the last two years with Muslim friends, I felt like I wanted to start this blog.
First of all, I would like to tell you how I met these great friends.
When I was younger, I used to love playing tennis, then about three years ago, I asked my two sons if they would like to learn the sport.
We had lots of fun. My youngest son continued to play, but every now and then, he didn't want to play.
I thought to myself, I need some other people to play tennis with. I then advertised on a Canadian buy and sell site called Kijiji in the personal column looking for other guys to play tennis.
I had quite a few responses. One of them was a guy called T.J.
Being kind of leary, I asked him what does T.J. stand for? He wrote back and said Tahir Javed. I thought, maybe I should check this name out on Facebook just to see who this person is. I did this and found one person in Edmonton under this name. After checking Facebook, I noticed that he was a singer, singing Urdu. Of course, I didn't know this at the time. He had a couple of You Tube videos, I thought, this can't be the guy who wants to play tennis. Anyway, I'm curious now and I wrote back and told him that I would meet him at the tennis courts. As I arrived early, I was practicing, I then saw this guy waving to me through the fence, sure enough, it was this singer guy. I mentioned it to him and he confirmed that he was a singer.
This isn't his day to day job, he is actually a Project Engineer, but does sing at various functions in his spare time.
We played tennis that day in 2015 and we've been friends ever since. As we got to talking about things, I explained to T.J., that I also liked to sing, though not professionally. I told T.J. that I wrote music and that I was a lyricist and poet. After a little while, he would come over to my home and listen to some of my songs. I would also listen to him singing Urdu, what a beautiful voice he has.
After a short time, he asked me if he could come over and exercise in my home gym, I said sure. During our exercise time, we would talk a lot about the Quran and the Bible. He would share about his beliefs and I would share about my beliefs. It's just over two years now and we have a great friendship. At Christmas time, I invited T.J. and his Brother Kashif over for Christmas dinner and prior to that, thanksgiving.
By the way, both Kashif and T.J. are avid ping pong players, and very good too. We have had good family times together, having dinner and then playing ping pong.
I eventually found out, that they could only eat Halal meat or fish. So at Christmas dinner, I went out and bought a turkey for my family and other friends and some salmon for T.J. and his brother Kashif. Though last Christmas, I bought a Halal turkey.
Last year, I had the opportunity to meet Kashif's wife Sameera and their three year old daughter Minsa who just came over from Pakistan. His wife is such a beautiful cook and very nice to talk to. Their daughter Minsa is adorable, lively and lots of fun. T.J. told me, that Minsa calls me Chris Uncle. I know, we would say it the other way around. So, Chris Uncle it is. I'm cool with that.
Even though T.J. and I have great conversations about the Quran and the Bible. Kashif is very knowledgeable in the stories of the Quran and a great story teller.
Kashif is currently taking his PHD at the local University.
Currently, T.J. is waiting for his wife and son Abrahim to come over from Pakistan. Sadly, T.J. and Kashif lost their mum last year. They spoke of her fondly and she seemed such a beautiful and remarkable lady. At times, T.J. would tell me how his mum would be praying for me and my family. I felt like I knew her and looked forward to meeting her as she was going to come over to Canada. Sadly though, she passed away before I had the opportunity in meeting her.
During the past two years, I have gotten to know T.J and Kashif very well, we've had some great times together, conversation, fun, good laughs and times of devotion. I tell them that I pray for them, they tell me that they pray for me. I also ask them to pray for me and they ask me to pray for them. We talk about God, Allah, Jesus and Mohamed.
They appreciate my faith and beliefs and I appreciate their faith and beliefs. As important as that is to all of us, we are great friends.
If you had asked me over two years ago if I would be friends with Muslims, my answer would have been no. Not because of Islamophobia, but because of our different beliefs. I love the family completely and think they are great to be around.
So here I was, looking for someone to play tennis with. I truly believe though, that God orchestrated our friendship. I truly believe, that God used something that I was interested in (tennis) and used it, so that I would become friends within the Muslim community.
Not only have I met T.J. Kashif and his family, but I've also met some of their friends. Some who are business owners, some that I've also played tennis with. They are friendly, hospitable, love people and care very much for everyone's well being. Most of all, they love God (Allah). Also, they talk about Jesus in the most beautiful and reverent way, never disrespecting Jesus who is my savior and Lord.
This blog is going to be about, bringing Christians and Muslims together. To help both faiths get to know one another. To bring them together for dinners and social times. That we would understand each others, beliefs, customs and who we really are as God's people.
If you have anything to advertise, an event within the Mosque or a Church, let me know. Please bear with me as I work on this blog. I want it to be informative as possible, so as to bring both faiths together, in unity, and in the love that God and Allah would expect from all of us.
