Sajjad Shah - Muslims of the World: Portraits and Stories of Hope, Survival, Loss, and Love

To the ones beneath whose feet paradise lies.

To the ones who always listen to our cries.

To Samina Shah and Malika Mahoui, our beloved mothers,
The ones who took care of us before all others.

To Ballal Shah and Abdelaziz Mahoui, our heroes from the start,
our fathers, our inspirations, the ones who stole our hearts.

To Asmaa and Ilhaam Mahoui, my sisters and my best friends,
I promise our love is like time, it never ends.

To Hasan, Humza, Jamal, and Adil Shah, my brothers for life,
youve been with me through it all, through the turmoil and the strife.

To Our Creator we just want to say,
Forgive us for the mistakes we have made and dont ever let us stray.
Any good that comes about is only from You,
And any mistake is from us and came only from what we do.

And to our beloved readers we present a request:
Pray for us and our families, and we hope that we honor you by having done our very best.

A few months ago, I reconnected with my former principal. Ten years after I taught at his school, I had the chance to sit down with him and catch up. He was an older gentleman in his final year before retirement. Although I had only worked with him for a year, and a decade had passed since wed last seen each other, I had never forgotten his kind soul.

As we spoke, I came to learn that the last few years were full of tragedy for Dr. Jitmoud. He told me about the death of his wife, may God have mercy on her soul, after a long battle with cancer. But it was the story of his son that became etched in my mind. Dr. Jitmoud told me of the horrible night his son was delivering pizzas, and at 3 A.M ., Dr. Jitmoud received a call informing him that his son had been murdered on the job.

In that moment, this dear old friend taught me that life is only partially what happens to us. The rest is how we react. He told me that what followed for him was a period of grieving and pain. But something else was born out of his grief. When we are pushed to the edge of our emotions, we can either collapse, or we can expand. This man expanded. He soon requested to meet with the killer of his son. The killer was on death row, but Dr. Jitmoud pleaded for two years to get one chance to face him in person. I asked him why he was so eager to meet his sons killer, and his response floored me. He said simply, I want to meet him so I can forgive him. I want him to end up in the same place as my son.

A few months after our meeting, Dr. Jitmoud met his sons killer in court. He hugged him, and on behalf of his late wife and himself, he forgave the man who slaughtered his son.

Dr. Jitmoud is a Muslim. His story is exceptional, but it is also part of a larger legacy of untold Muslim narratives. A book like this could not have come at a better time. With widespread Islamophobia and new legislation targeting Muslims, our nations fabric is being threatened by the disease of racism and bigotry.

French author Antoine de Saint-Exupry writes, Only the unknown frightens men. When something is distant or not fully understood, it can easily look threatening. Outside of politicized sensationalism, the real lives of everyday Muslims have been obscured by the media. Therefore, too many of those outside the faith have failed to see Muslim people as human. This book tells the stories of Muslims from all over the world, living the same human experience as everyone else, going through the same kinds of pain and triumphs. It tells stories of humans who have loved and lost, struggled and fallen, but who have found the courage and resolve to get back up and keep moving. This book is a collage of testimonies to the resilience of the human spirit, when it refuses to let death and hate win. These are souls who have found the strength in their faith to keep going. These are people who have found hope in the most hopeless of places. These are people who have stood up and said that they will not let that hope go.

The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) says, The community is like one body. When a part of that body is in pain, the whole body reacts with fever.

To see is to know. And to know is to finally understand and accept. The more of the lives of Muslims we all see, the more we can start to appreciate one another less as foreign pieces and more as integral parts of a single human body, living a shared human experience.

Yasmin Mogahed

We were born Muslim, in Muslim homes. Most of our lives we have known Muslims, loved Muslims. We learned the meaning of unconditional love from our mothers and fathers, some of whom were American born and some of whom were immigrants. Growing up, we never viewed the people in our livesour friends and mentorsthrough a filter of religion or race. Each individual had intrinsic value, something to teach us, a new perspective to show us. But when we came of age we realized that the rest of the world did not necessarily view usMuslimsthe same way. We were seen as one dimensional, not capable of love or compassion. Misconceptions about who we are broke our hearts. But sadness is a funny thing. It can take us to dark places, but it can also help us bring more light and more love into the world. In this way, our sadness and frustration are what inspired us to start this project.

Muslims of the World was created as a platform for those of us who felt like their faith and identities were slowly being taken away by the few who choose to commit acts of violence. This project started small, as an Instagram account that featured stories of users who believed that their own struggles and successes, as well as those of their mothers, fathers, brothers, sisters, and friends, had the potential to inspire others. Muslims, Christians, atheists, Buddhists, and people of other faiths have come together on @muslimsoftheworld1, bonding over their shared humanity. Comments on photos sometimes spawned heated debates about philosophy, politics, and even fashion, allowing users to forge friendships and relationships that could last for a lifetime. The stories about love, forgiveness, faith, and social injustice alike have garnered widespread support, sometimes going viralall due to our amazing and engaged community.

We started Muslims of the World because we wanted to share stories that would drive people to love one another. This feels especially important today, in a world in which it often seems easier to hate than to love. The goal of Muslims of the World is not to portray Muslims in any specific light; instead, it is to share stories about who we are. Islamophobia is unique in that Muslims are not only judged by the color of our skin or the way that we dress but also for our religious beliefs. The level of racism and prejudice toward Muslims has only increased since the beginning of the twenty-first century, and the hateful rhetoric and misconceptions propagated by politicians and media outlets have served to legitimize the opinions and actions of those who seek to harm us. Muslims are human beings struggling with the same challenges that everyone faces, forging through successes and failures, hardships and comfort. This is the mission of this project: to alleviate the suffering and oppression of others; to share stories of compassion that have no boundaries; to show how charity, clarity, and forgiveness create a path that allows us to see past our differences.

We believe that to truly understand another human being is to fall in love with them. The Prophet Muhammad (PBUH) once said: You will not enter paradise until you have faith, and you will never complete your faith until you love one another. Without a genuine appreciation and love for one another, there can never be genuine understanding between neighbors and families, colleagues and classmates. And it is in gaining an understanding of others that we gain an understanding of ourselves. This common movement toward tolerance, justice, and equality is what makes