A difference in identity has long been a significant contribution to perpetuating hatred. The “us vs. them” mentality establishes a schism between people rather than uniting them. Growing up in America – a post-9/11 America at that – I have been exposed to the media’s portrayal of Islam as an incredibly violent religion. However, with a true understanding of Islam and its motivations, one gains an entirely different perspective to Islam as a religion – and Muslims as humans just like you and me.

In chapter 1 of his book entitled Infidel of Love, Professor Asani presents the distinction between being a Muslim and being a muslim. There is no capitalization in Arabic, so these two words mean the same; however, Asani explains how everyone who believes in devotion to God is a muslim. A Muslim is used as a “marker of socio-religious identity” for those who follow the religion of Islam (p. 22). In contrast, a muslim literally means “one who submits” to God (p. 28). Jews, Christians and Muslims are all muslims – we are united by our submission to one God.

For this week’s response, I chose to create a cartoon of a symbolically brief conversation between a child and his father. I used www.toondoo.com to create the animation. Children are incredibly immature, and they mature as they are conditioned to learn based on their exposure to different life experiences. I chose to make the boy and the father white to reflect my experience growing up. For a white Christian child growing up in America, Muslims appeared to be radically different. However, when I was exposed to the Qur’an, I understood the unity of Islam with Christianity and Judaism.

Chapter 3 verses 113 and 114 of the Qur’an, which symbolically frame the cartoon, explains the concept of the ahl al-kitab, “People of the Book.” The notion that all of these 3 major religions have received their inspiration from the umm al-kitab, “the mother of scripture.” While the Qur’an is different from the Old and New Testament, their inspirations are Divinely linked to the same God. The power and beauty of this unity helps destroy the boundaries between religious identities, because at the end of the day – we are all God’s creations.