I've been spending my summer in rather diverse company at a mediation clinic that focuses on assisting immigrant communities in resolving disputes without resorting to the court system. At one of our first training seminars I made an instant bond with someone from the northern coast of Africa when we simultaneously realized that the role-play practice sessions gave us the opportunity to chew up the scenery like Captain Kirk on an episode of Maury Povich facing all his green-skinned baby mommas.
Another person at the training, however, did not have a similar bonding experience. Knowing the North African to be a follower of Islam, Señora Fuzzypickles (not actual name), chose to begin their interactions by posing uninvited challenging questions about that most heart-warming of ice-breaker topics: religion. Fuzzypickles even went so far as to print out a few pages from an anti-Islam website and hand them to the unsuspecting foreigner saying, "There are some things you should know about your prophet." For, truly, five minutes of viewing the very first page to appear in a negatively worded Google search are enough to debunk an entire lifetime of cultural heritage.
Don't get me wrong, I'm as skeptical as any aspiring Vulcan should be, especially regarding religion. I do not, however, approve of singling out the only member of a particular religious group in a room and insulting her beliefs with poorly researched blasphemy. The sources cited in the website, as it turns out, are not only non-cannon but also about as respected among Muslim scholars as the Shattnerverse is to, well, probably anyone but William Shattner (if you don't get the reference, good for you). Imagine a Christian from Tennessee moving to Egypt only to have a local shove a paper in his face and say, "You don't know the real Jesus! This anonymous person who read the Gospel of Thomas knows the real Jesus!"
I know what it's like to be singled out and ridiculed (rap plug!) , and I wish to dispel such nonsense for others. The North African did not push her own beliefs on anyone or even ask to begin debating religion. I could sense some real pain when she described the situation to me, so I decided to act. The next week at training, I arrived with a slightly edited print-out from the same website and said, "Now, here are some real truths about your prophet!" My truths were much more well received.
My edited truths are below, but they will make more sense when compared with the original text which can be found here: pfffft.
