Faith and patience: More dialogue please!

>I’ve never been called a “whore” before, nor have I been told to “die”. I have also never said that to anyone else, so it was hard for me to wrap my head around why they could do something like that.

Ahmadiyya Times | News Staff | Opinion
Source & Credit: 'attianasar’s posterous' blog | Cross-post
By Attia Nasar | April 12, 2010

In my last blog I wrote about the benefit of educational exchanges.  In this post I want to tell why I believe in establishing greater dialogue with the U.S. and the world.

This past Sunday, I was traveling home to Syracuse, NY, from Rochester, on the I-90 thruway.  As I was driving, I passed a golden-colored Nissan Versa.  When I looked over at the car to my right, as I often do, I was greeted with a lovely middle finger.  I was confused, was I driving recklessly?  There was construction going on so I kept slowing down then speeding up, so maybe that action was warranted.  I didn’t think much more of it so I kept driving.


Maybe a few miles further I noticed that car kept speeding up and slowing down, I felt like the driver was playing car tag with me.  The guy came into the right lane and slowed down.  I went into the left lane to pass him.  As I passed, I looked over again, only this time to be greeted with a message.  Within the time from him flicking me off to now, the other passenger, a girl, had written something on a piece of paper and the guy held it up against the window for me to see.  It read:

“MUSLIM WHORE DIE”

They laughed as I passed them by.  I am a firm believer that you cannot put out a fire with fire, so at first reaction, I smiled and waved.  Maybe that was stupid of me and you may not agree, but I was not going to, nor could I, do anything else. I just looked forward, said a prayer and kept driving; trying my best to hold back the tears, but I could not.  I felt like someone had just punched me in the stomach and it hurt really bad.  I took the next exit off the thruway to get away from them.

I’ve never been called a “whore” before, nor have I been told to “die”.  I have also never said that to anyone else, so it was hard for me to wrap my head around why they could do something like that.

But then again, at the end of the day, this only reaffirms my faith in what it is that I am studying and doing.  I want to help establish greater dialogue within the U.S. and abroad.  This incident reminds me why, even nine years later, there is an incredible need for cross-cultural dialogue, especially religious dialogue, even right here in Syracuse, NY.

What do you think are some better ways in which greater dialogue can be established?  I understand that it is impossible to reach every single person, but how can we minimize or stop incidents like this from occurring?

I do not have any ill will against those two individuals.  I only hope that one day they can understand how frivolous their actions were.

Read the original blog post here: More dialogue please!





Attia Nasar is a graduate student in the Public Diplomacy program at Syracuse University where she is a candidate for an M.S. in Public Relations from the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications and an M.A. in International Relations from the Maxwell School of Citizenship and Public Affairs. She is currently the Web Chair for the Association of Public Diplomacy Scholars and Public Diplomats for Human Rights. She may be reached at anasar@syr.edu, or via twitter @duniya_ki_beti.