Sydney Siege & Peshawar school attack

Pray for the victims of these tragedies. Hope that the aggressors will be punished harshly. Brace yourself for the week long discussion of Islam by people that have never known a Muslim. Weep because the worst of us will always occupy the headlines while the best of us will be shouting at the top of our lungs only to be ignored.

The Inspiration: Eid.Pray.Love

Starting this initiative was much more than a sporadic thought for me, it is much bigger than that.

About 5 years ago I took an assignment in a small town on the Texas & Louisiana border called Port Arthur. It is no secret what perception these smaller towns hold of Muslims. Many work colleagues advised me to hold back from sharing my personal faith. As I started my work assignment, this stayed in the back of my mind. As time passed by I started to develop a stronger bond with my co-workers and slowly made new friendships.

It wasn't until my first Ramadan in Port Arthur that my coworkers began to notice that I wasn't eating lunch or treating myself to the occasional bag of sour cream and onion chips, by occasional I mean every day.....This led to the obvious question, "how come you're not eating?" It had been many months since I arrived in this new town and this would be the first time I would open up about my faith. I explained that much like Lent, Muslims observe 30 days of Ramadan where we abstain from food and drink.

Time slowly went on from here and I noticed in conversation people started asking me general questions about my beliefs or current topics like "Islamic" terrorist. I would do my best to explain the similarities between the values preached in our faith and how vocal Muslim global communities are in rejecting extremism. This was the first time I brought Eid to Work, and it started something larger: an interfaith dialogue.

You never truly know how your actions and words can effect people. Several months later my coworkers on the project had a big pot luck style lunch. As we were setting the table to eat one of my coworkers came to me and pointed me in the direction of a gumbo she had made especially for me with beef sausage (instead of pork.) It was a simple act of kindness that meant the world to me.

I like to think that my time there I was able to help open their hearts and minds by putting a face to Islam. I discovered that any misconception about Islam didn't come from a place of hate, it came from not knowing. Once they did though, they proved to be among the kindest, most thoughtful, and selfless people I have ever met.

I realize looking back that we can't change the perception of Islam by demanding it or being aggressive in the face of bigotry. We change the perception by being ourselves, by being good neighbors, good friends and being good to our brothers and sisters in humanity. By being ourselves, showing kindness and respect to others and taking steps like #BringEidtoWork I believe that people will begin to question the negative coverage we receive and on their own will connect the love we share with the beauty of Islam.

"A person is either your brother in faith or your equal in humanity"

InshAllah the year to come is full of blessings and happiness for all of us. I hope to make this a tradition, see you all for the next #BringEidtoWork.

With Love and Salam

Bassel

First Annual #BringEidToWork2014

"I couldn't take a pic but I took donuts, cookies, iced tea and choc milk to work and sent an email with a little explanation about Eid. A lot of people came to my desk and was mesmerized by my henna and the whole festival. Alhamudillah!" -Risham Shabbir Chhapra

"Hot commodity at work atm." - Kashish Sheikh

"Walked into my meeting with a big tray of baklawa! 

I explained why and it was soo appreciated!" - Syed Moizullah

Delicious Bhaklava brought to you by: Annie Khan

Wonderful homemade sweets by: Sarah Baba

"Made these personalized treats and everyone loved them! - Jaserah Asadullah

"Going into work on Eid means bringing in chocolate ganache and nutella cupcakes to make it go by sweeter." - Hera Hashmi

"I brought banana loaf bread from costco to work....sent an email to everyone with a little article on eid, and the feedback was that it was very informative". :))) - Maheen MK from Toronto, Canada

"Brought do-nuts to help spread knowledge" - Nazia Chowdhury

"Eid favor boxes for my coworkers #candycrave." - Zainab Shahid

Cookies & Muffins by: Waseem Riche

"People asked me how to say Eid-al-Fitr, and a few people read the sign Thanks for creating this FB event and encouraging all of us! JazakAllah khayr" - Sabina Rocks

"Coconut date cookies and baklava for the office." - Aysha HS

"Eid Mubarak - to Impact Media Group - Dallas, TX and to the world" - Nadeen Barghouthi

"Took all of 10 min for these to be decimated! LOL" - Ahmir Butt

"Forgot to take a "before" picture... The heaping plate of baklava was gone in 10 minutes!"

"Little goodie bags for my fellow co-workers at TXU Energy for Eid!" - Zonera Javed

Eid themed cookies by: Nour Hussein

"Fruittarts never fail" - Zahra Arshad

"I took Donuts to work.. My co-workers were extremely happy to see donuts on a Monday lol... and yes they asked me typical question of how much weight I have lost? They all got very surprised when I told them that I actually have gained weight. Don't they know that when you gotta a desi mom then you are eating fried food the whole month... in result gaining weight lol. 

It was fun  Forgot to take pictures." - Sadaf Amin

A table full of sweets By:  Noor Aslam

Eid @ UTMB by: Annie Jan-Barakzai

"One of my Christian co-workers participated in Ramadan with me this year and we teamed up to bring Middle Eastern pastries, cookies, hummus, pita bread and kobebeh (aka "kibbeh"). Everyone loved it! Great idea!" Yasmeen Belal

"All my co-workers were aware that I was fasting for the month so I thought to include them all in our celebration for EID with Homemade Strawberry Cheese Cake, Chocolate covered Strawberries, and some Desi Snacks. I really enjoyed answering all their curiosity questions

 regarding Islamic Culture and traditions. 

They all learned to say 

"Eid Mubarak" and can't wait for the second Eid!" - Maha Ahmed Farooqi

"I brought Eid to work today! Fruit tart and parfaits." - Sarah Zeidat

"Brought Eid to work and celebrated it with cupcakes! Kids made lanterns and mosaic patterns and learned about fasting!" - Faiza Raza from Spring, TX

Happy Eid from Camiella Esaklul 

"Now that the end of Ramadan is here, grab a treat that will make your sweet tooth cheer! Homemade cheesecakes! 

Strawberry, Nutella snickers and plain cheesecakes!" - Saba G. Is-haq

"I brought Eid to work! Made the banners and cards last night, picked up some mixed baklava, and celebrated w/my coworkers today!" - Nida Qureshi

Brought a tray of baklava to work - Sarah Elkadiri-Khayal

By: Huda Jabri

By: Mohamed Abdelhak

Bring Eid to Work....the inspiration.

"Last year for Eid I chose to celebrate by bringing sweets to my office for all my colleagues. This year I would like to ask our community to join me! To shift the narrative, we must all be ambassadors for Islam. This is a great opportunity to open ourselves up for questions about Islam and hopefully find a common ground by discussing how Islam is similar to other religions."