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
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