海角大神

Laziza Dalil had butterflies before she took the stage at the Museum of Jewish Heritage in lower Manhattan last week.

Standing in front of a mostly Jewish audience in New York鈥檚 , the political activist from Morocco opened hesitantly, but soon posed the question she often hears about her work: 鈥淲hy would a group of Muslims be interested in working on Jewish history?鈥�

The answer has many dimensions, said Ms. Dalil, a leader in the , a coalition of Muslim students who have taken on the task of highlighting the deep Jewish roots woven into Moroccan culture. But tonight, part of her point was clear: such an interest seems startling, and somehow odd, given the past and current histories of enmity and violence between the two faiths.

The same could be said the night鈥檚 event:听a听conference of major American Jewish organizations gathered to honor Muslims who protected Jews during the Holocaust, along with activists like Dalil. The keynote speaker this evening was a major Sunni theologian, Mohammed Al-Issa, the secretary general of the in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. He came to publicly condemn Muslims who deny the Holocaust or use Islam to justify acts of violence and terror.

Events promoting tolerance and interreligious dialogue have long been a part of America鈥檚 religious landscape, especially among liberal-leaning groups. But there鈥檚 been a growing sense of civic earnestness in such discussions recently, many religious leaders say.

Indeed, as in the United States, and as public, unabashed anti-Semitism begins to stalk Europe and the US once more, religious leaders in all three Abrahamic faiths have been trying to get beyond ideas of simple 鈥渢olerance鈥� and uphold a deeper commitment to the civic ideals of a life shared together, each invested in the mutual dignity and equality of the other.

鈥淣ow we鈥檙e really realizing that we鈥檙e seeing some real fractures taking place in our society, and the alternatives are, let鈥檚 get along, or violence,鈥� says the evangelical pastor Bob Roberts, head of the 3,000-member , in Keller, Texas.

For the past few years, the Rev. Dr. Roberts has worked closely with Imam Mohamed Magid, head of the All Dulles Area Muslim Society (ADAMS), one of the largest Muslim communities in the Washington, D.C. area. Both have been working together to plant a nationwide grassroots network called which tries to build 鈥渞elational bridges鈥� and community ties to strengthen 鈥渘eighborhoods and cities that are more interconnected and resilient to hate and violence.鈥�

At the Museum of Jewish Heritage last week, organizers were upholding models of such interconnected resilience, including both the past and present.

鈥淭he Holocaust鈥檚 impact on Sephardic north Africa and Middle Eastern Jewish communities remains a hidden history,鈥� says Jason Guberman, head of the . 鈥淓ven less well known is the role of righteous individuals, Muslims from Albania to Morocco to Iraq, who protected their Jewish neighbors.鈥�

But it has been Muslim activists like Dalil who have been working 鈥渢o ensure that this and future generations would preserve its Jewish history,鈥� Mr. Guberman says.

In answering her own question 鈥� why Muslims would care about defending Jewish heritage 鈥� Dalil told the mostly Jewish audience in Manhattan that the young Moroccans in Association Mimouna 鈥渋dentify with a pluralistic, inclusive identity that is proud of its Jewish component,鈥� she said. 鈥淎nd the most important thing that gathers us as a group are the values we share, such as understanding, respect, dignity ... and empathy.鈥�

But the deeper dimension of her motives are personal, she said. 鈥淚n my own perception of the world, I have thought this coexistence between Jews and Muslims 鈥� it was not only living side-by-side, but sharing crucial parts of their life 鈥� was a regular phenomenon,鈥� Dalil said. 鈥淚 was wrong.鈥�

It was only when she moved to France to pursue graduate studies, in fact, that she really encountered flagrant anti-Semitism. 鈥淚 was living in a Jewish neighborhood, and one day a very mature lady came up to me on the streets, and said the most horrific sentence I ever heard in my entire life: 鈥楶aris was cleaner when the Germans were here,鈥� 鈥� she said.

The experience so shook her that she soon left France and went back home to Morocco. But it also piqued her interest, and she began to see how much of ancient Jewish life had been woven into the fabric of Moroccan Berber culture, from its cuisine to its art and music.听听

A Muslim scholar's work on the Holocaust

Mehnaz Afridi often gets the same kind of startled reactions from people who hear about her work. As the head of the at Manhattan College, she notes how jarring it can be to encounter a Muslim scholar working at Catholic institution and heading a center focused on the Holocaust and the Jewish experience.

鈥淚n a city so wildly diverse, we鈥檝e put together the most unfamiliar people you can imagine into a room to work on issues of genocide and the Holocaust,鈥� says Dr. Afridi, author of 鈥淪hoah through Muslim Eyes,鈥� noting how the rise of white nationalism and the so-called alt-right has only galvanized interest in her research center recently. 鈥淎nd my goal is to eradicate anti-Semitism in the Muslim community,鈥� she says.

While Muslims and Jews in New York have been forging ties with a greater sense of civic earnestness, Roberts, the pastor of the evangelical megachurch in Texas, says that conservative 海角大神s and Muslims who adhere to traditional teachings often face deeper obstacles.

Creating a space of deeper civic trust and understanding, he says, isn鈥檛 always easy for faith traditions that emphasize their exclusive claims to truth, or a belief that their sacred book alone reveals a singular pathway to God.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 a big deal,鈥� Roberts says. 鈥淎nd being exclusivists, what that does is, it makes us tribal. And the impact of being tribal is, we see each other as objects to be won rather than people to be in relationship with.鈥�

Among American 海角大神s, Evangelicals report being the most suspicious of Muslims, and nearly three-quarters of white Evangelicals say Islam is inherently in conflict with democratic principles, according to . And in many Muslim-majority nations, residents often express a similar suspicion toward minority 海角大神s and Jews, with .

Roberts and Imam Magid, the head ADAMS, have been trying to push through these obstacles, however: first, by bringing together groups of imams, rabbis, and evangelical pastors for a three-day retreat, to get acquainted in an environment of openness and transparency.

But participants must also make a commitment to forge ties between their congregations, by having their members work together, side by side, on neighborhood projects or other civic concerns.

'Do you think I'm going to hell?'

鈥淭he first time I met an imam in my neighborhood, we鈥檙e five minutes into the conversation, and he said: 鈥楧o you think I鈥檓 going to hell?鈥� 鈥� Steve Bezner, senior pastor of the Houston Northwest Church, a Southern Baptist megachurch, after attending a three-day Alliance of Virtue conference in Washington. 鈥淚 said: 鈥楾hat鈥檚 what my tradition teaches, yes.鈥� He said: 鈥楪ood, I think you鈥檙e going to hell, too, so now we can have an honest conversation.鈥� 鈥�

Rabbi M. Bruce Lustig, who heads the , a 160-year-old Reform synagogue in the nation鈥檚 capital, runs a similar interfaith effort called 鈥淪arah and Abraham鈥檚 Tent,鈥� bringing congregations together to socialize and work to address various civic concerns.

鈥淲e don鈥檛 agree on [everything], nor do we intend to, since we come from different faiths,鈥� Rabbi Lustig says of the Evangelicals he鈥檚 met during collaborations with Roberts. 鈥淏ut the intellectual exchange, the spiritual levels that we鈥檙e able to connect to by coming together with 鈥榯he other,鈥� the things we talk about 鈥� how do we serve God? How do we serve humanity? 鈥� they鈥檝e been phenomenal.鈥澨�

And both Lustig and Roberts say that despite the faith traditions鈥� exclusive claims to truth and revelation, each also maintain a fundamental doctrine that human beings are created in the image of God.

鈥淎s Evangelicals, yes, we want everyone to know what we believe about Jesus, and the freedom to be able to talk about our faith, and have a conversation,鈥� Roberts says. 鈥淚 would say Muslims want to have that same conversation.鈥�

鈥淏ut we don鈥檛 have to let our relationship stop if, well, OK, I鈥檓 not going to follow your religion, and you鈥檙e not going to follow my religion,鈥� he adds. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 different is, we don鈥檛 see each other as combatants; we respect each other as created in the image of God.鈥�

Afridi, the director of the Holocaust center at Manhattan College, has experienced her own moments of anti-Muslim violence, including being spat upon. 鈥淲hen people think of Islam, when my students think about it, they think of ISIS, the oppression of women, the Taliban, Al Qaeda, and that has been very disabling for us.鈥澨�听

鈥淏ut if there is a place in the world where we can do something different about this, it鈥檚 got to be the United States,鈥� she continues. 鈥淚鈥檝e lived everywhere in the world, and I always just get so much solace here, because so many people are doing such good work, investing so much in each other in so many unexpected ways. It鈥檚 important for people to hear, to reach out and show them what we鈥檙e doing.鈥�