The Jew in the Mosque

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There was a very interesting corollary to my time at Al Safa. We encouraged imams and other community leaders to visit us, and in fact, over the years, many of the major North American imams, scholars, and heads of Islamic organizations came to visit. I became close personal friends with many of these leaders. From spending so much time with Muslims, I came to see how similar Judaism was to Islam, and also how different both of those religions were from Christianity.

Very often, I gave speeches in mosques and at Islamic meetings and conventions throughout North America. In addition to talking about Al Safa Halal, I often spoke about my view that Islam and Judaism were similar in so many ways.

Here is part of the text of the speech that I would give at such events:

One visitor to Al Safa Halal was a prominent imam from Washington, D.C., named Imam Johari Abdul-Malik. After his tour of our facilities, he came into my office, sat down, and said to me, “David, you and I are going to change the world.” I responded, “Imam, how are we going to change the world? There is so much fighting, so much hatred.” He continued, “David, forget about the fact that all over the world people say they hate America. Actually, people want to emulate what is being done in America, whether it is wearing Levi’s or drinking Pepsi – whatever is done in America is considered to be cool. When people around the world see people like you and I embracing one another in public forums, speaking from the same platform, and working in public toward common goals – people will start to say to themselves, ‘If Muslims and Jews are getting along with one another in America, then there must be something to this.’ It is not that all hatred and fighting in the world will suddenly disappear, but it will have an impact, both initially and even more so as such behavior becomes more widespread and in the open. And long term, the impact will be large.”

The words of the imam rang loudly for me, and when I went home that night, I said to Joyce, “Perhaps G-d put me on earth for more than to just sell chicken nuggets.”

Although I cannot prove it, there is probably no Jew in America who has been in more mosques than I have – no Jew who has been in more imams’ homes than I have. I have also attended dozens of Islamic conferences and conventions, and even spoken at some. And because of this unique opportunity I have had, there are probably few Jews who have had a chance to get as close a view of Islam in North America as I have. And what have I seen?

At a typical Islamic conference, one can attend seminars with such titles as “The Problem of Intermarriage and How to Confront It,”“The Dangers of the Internet and Network Television,” “The Need for More Day Schools,” and “Family Purity Issues.” I have also attended conferences of Jewish groups such as the Orthodox Union. There I have attended seminars with such titles as, “The Problem of Intermarriage and How to Confront It,” “The Dangers of the Internet and Network Television,” “The Need for More Day Schools,” and “Family Purity Issues.”

In fact, I have found that Islam as it is practiced in North America is strikingly similar in so many ways to the way that Orthodox Jews practice their religion in North America. And it is specifically these two groups that are so similar. For example, if in the middle of this radio show, I were to say to the host, “I must leave for a few minutes now because the time has arrived for my afternoon prayers,” the Muslim host would say to himself, “That makes sense – I also have specific times that I have to say my prayers.” But a non-Muslim host might say to himself, “That is such strange behavior – why can he not wait until the show is over?” Similarly, if someone sees a Muslim woman walking in the streets of Toronto in hijab, they might think to themselves that the Muslim woman is forced to dress this way as part of her religion and they might feel sorry for her that she belongs to a religion that oppresses women this way. An Orthodox Jewish woman, however, upon seeing a woman in hijab, says to herself, “Oh, I understand that – I cover my hair as well – it’s a part of who I am, and I am proud of it.” Similarly, the Muslim woman can identify with many of the family purity laws observed by the Jewish woman, a lifestyle that would seem totally foreign to others, who have no such guidelines to live by. I could give you a hundred other similar examples.

So if in fact the two communities have so much in common, what is the extent of their interaction? Let me tell you two stories to illustrate the answer.

The first [the story I told in the preface to this book] is about the woman who I had never met before, but after hearing a speech I gave at a mosque, said to me, “Mr. Muller – I really like you. I hate Jews, but I really like you. And by the way, you’re the first Jew I have ever met.” Later, I told my wife that I had a very successful day. She asked me why, and I responded, “Well, there is now at least one Muslim in the Greater Toronto Area (GTA) who likes 100% of the Jews that she has ever met.”

Another story: one Sunday morning after prayers in our synagogue, the man next to me, whom I didn’t know well, asked me what I was doing that day. He was simply making conversation. I responded that I was giving a speech at a local mosque. When I said that, he jumped back, startled, and exclaimed, “What? You are going into a mosque? Are you not afraid that you will be shot?” I am not relating the conversation because he was anyone in particular – he was simply an average Jewish person who lives in Thornhill, Ontario, who thinks that if David Muller enters a mosque in the GTA he incurs a risk of being shot.

It is my belief that if more people from these two groups were to spend time with one another, each would find that at the very least the others are not nearly as bad as they thought they were. Actually I believe that, more than that, members of each group would find that they actually like the others. I believe that a Muslim family who comes to my home goes home saying, “Those people are a lot like us,” and that a Jewish family going to the home of a Muslim family for an evening would go home saying, “Those people are a lot like us.”

Furthermore, having spent time with many of the imams of the GTA and having met many of the Orthodox rabbis in the GTA, it is my belief that these people would have a tremendous amount in common.

So, in conclusion, I would like to propose that we form groups to begin such interactions and I would like to volunteer to begin putting the groups together, with your help. For example, let’s form the “Council of Imams and Rabbis of the GTA.” Can you imagine if we have a photo of a group of ten imams and ten rabbis on the front page of the Toronto Star or the Globe and Mail, with a caption under it reading, “Leading Islamic and Jewish Leaders Announce Formation of a Council of Imams and Rabbis of the GTA to Discuss Common Concerns.” And let’s say that such a story gets picked up by the Associated Press and the photo and accompanying story is printed across America. These imams and rabbis are inevitably going to receive calls from imams and rabbis from all over – the rabbis asking the Toronto rabbis if it is true that they met with imams – and the imams asking the Toronto imams if it is true that they met with rabbis. And the leaders here will respond to them, “Yes, it is true, and you wouldn’t believe it, but they are just like us. And they are really good people and nice people. You ought to try the same where you are.” And then the idea will have spread across the continent and will receive attention across the globe, and who knows what good things will spring from that?

One of the questions I have been asked when presenting this idea to various leaders is, “If these people were to meet with one another, what would the agenda be? What would they talk about?” I believe that the agenda is in fact not that important, that the interaction itself would lead to the goal. Having said that, however, one of the items for an agenda could be, “Funding for Religious Day Schools in Ontario.” We know that full-time religious schooling for Catholics is 100% funded by the government, whereas there is no funding at all for other religions’ full-time schools, such as Jewish or Muslim schools. This seems really unfair, and seems like something that the Jews and Muslims ought to be working on together. I can think of several other items like this that could be agenda items, and I am sure that you can think of some as well.

This idea could spread far beyond just the religious leaders. What about a regular meeting of the Jewish and Muslim lawyers of the GTA, or the Jewish and Muslim medical doctors, and so forth? All with the purpose of fostering the inevitable goodwill that will arise from such occasions. And college campuses could be an excellent place to have such groups.

Imam Johari gave me another good idea, which is to have the two groups work together toward helping the poor and disadvantaged in Toronto, not necessarily the poor and disadvantaged of either religion. For example, Jewish and Muslim members of such a group might decide to staff a soup kitchen and feed the hungry once a month or more often. In such a circumstance, the Muslims and Jews will work together toward a common goal, and inevitably camaraderie between the two groups will result.

And slowly but surely, we will whittle away at the walls that make Jews in Toronto think that a Jew is in danger when entering a mosque, and that make Muslims hate Jews that they have never met.

Unfortunately for all of us, tensions in the Middle East are at a terrible point right now. And as such, it might be said, “This is not the right time for such an effort.” My response to this is that G-d has given us only so many days on this earth, and as so we have to get started today. There is, as the saying goes, no time like the present.

Al Safa Halal started because I was approached by Muslim leaders asking if I could fill a need in their community for true halal food products. First and foremost was always our commitment to hand-slaughtered zabiha, and we never veered from this. Secondly, were committed to giving back to the community and to that end we sponsored masjid events in mosques from coast-to-coast in the United States and Canada. There was probably no corporation in North America that has given back as much as ours did to the North American Muslim community. Thirdly, we proudly employed many Muslims on our staff who earned their living from Al Safa Halal and were proud of what our company accomplished during our short existence in building the market for true halal.

It was my intention after selling Al Safa Halal, to devote myself full time to improving the relationship between Muslims and Jews, specifically in North America, with the hope of the movement becoming worldwide. Alas, I ended up starting a new business right away, and I never did fulfill this intention.

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