thoughts and expressions

It’s quite fascinating that I pick up a book and start a TV show relevant to the current political landscape and current events. Namely, the 2024 US elections and the continuous stream and spread of hate, especially toward minority populations.

The former is Love Thy Neighbor by Dr. Ayaz Virji and Alan Eisenstock.
The latter is The Pradeeps of Pittsburgh; however, lets disregard this show as I’m disgusted by the depiction of Indians accustoming to the US lifestyle.

I don’t remember the exact date but I definitely picked up Love Thy Neighbor within the past 4 years because while Biden was president, I was not thinking about Trump. I thought he was long gone after January 6 2021, at least from the political environment. Yet here we are. So when I initially looked at this book, I wasn’t thinking about any specific time period in which a Muslim man would be experiecing racism in rural America – it would be quite common, no? Quite the shock I received as I read the inside cover: Trump. The subtitle of this book is literally A Muslim Doctor’s Struggle for Home in Rural America, so obviously it could be from any period of time, right?

Not quite, this book was only released just a bit over 5 years ago and Dr. Virji’s talks have been going on for a bit more than that.

Pardon my dark (terrible) humor for a moment — this book was written a few years after Trump was elected so I imagine Dr. Virji must’ve felt a huge sense of relief when Biden got elected in 2020. Low and behold, we’re now in 2024 and Trump is back in office. Hence the latter part of title of this blog post: “part 2, 2024“

Ironic.

Sad, really.

Imagining scenarios and settings is one thing but being able to relate and see it for myself brings a whole new sense of understanding when reading. It’s simply amazing to read and actually be able to understand the emotions of others during the real-world events happening at the time and find locations on Google Maps and enter street-view when locations are described.

Tears welled up in my eyes at the end of the Sharia Law chapter. To have grasped the audience’s attention so powerfully and to receive such an applause, followed by a 9-year old’s strong message “God bless everyone”.

There is no “your God”, “my God”, “that God”, it’s all one.

By this point, I have learned so much about Islam. I was truly ignorant to these concepts so I’m glad to have briefly learned about them. Especially about Sharia Law.

Love Thy Neighbor should be a part of the mandatory reading list for elementary school students. It is such a powerful work and can be used as a powerful weapon to dispel misconceptions and misguided remarks toward Muslims.