How many muslims do you know personally?

[SheilaT]

55. Several.

Back about 15 years ago I was in a carpool and one of the young ladies I was driving was Muslim. As a consequence I always knew when their religious holidays were, and I got to see how really lovely that religion can be.

One thing I learned, is that during Ramadan, they are supposed to give to charity at least some of the money they might otherwise have spent on food. What a lovely tradition!

The family in question was very secular. Didn't dress any differently from anyone else.

At that time, in the Kansas City area, because my husband was very involved in peace in the Middle East groups (he's Jewish by the way), we were well acquainted with other Muslim families, and once were privileged to be invited to someone's home for Eid, the celebration that marks the end of Ramadan.

While I am not myself at all religious in a conventional sense, I have a great respect for those who do believe and who quietly practice their faith. Some years back, while visiting a friend in Australia, it became fairly clear that his mother would in this country be a fundamentalist Christian. But there, there wasn't the same sort of organized fundamentalism, so instead she simply had this very strong Bible-based faith, and while she was willing to talk about it, I did not get the sense that she thought any less of me because I didn't share her beliefs And that's the way it should be for all of us, wherever we are in terms of religiosity or belief.

Added on edit: Many people get their knowledge of all sorts of things from TV and movies, which is dangerous because all too often those nice people making TV shows and movies get things wrong.