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Summary of Question:	Muslim Friends
Category:	General Sikhism
Date Posted:	Thursday, 7/12/2001 6:13 AM MDT

Waheguru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Keh Fateh

I have many muslim friends..some very close ones. My parents have always resented this and are suspicious of them. Moreover, when my family talk about muslims they always refer to stereotypes..i.e all muslims are out there to convert other people etc. This makes me sad because my friends are not like that at all. They adhere to their faith with such devotion that I really admire them. Whenever i meet new people, i find it difficult to judge them on religion,caste or anything. I can only see fellow human beings. Am I wrong? Does the bani tell us not to associate with muslims?
Whenever I speak to my muslims friends about God we usually discuss the similarities between the foundations of both our religions..which are fundamentally the same, and this helps me to feel a stronger devotion to sikhi.
Sometimes, the way my family or other sikhs talk, makes me feel as though they are trying to lay a 'guilt trip' on me..as if I am going against the Gurus by associating with muslims. But the Gurus never told us to hate muslims did they? I'm really confused..please help

WaheGuru Ji Ka Khalsa Waheguru Ji Keh Fateh

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Waheguru ji Ka Khalsa, Waheguru Ji Kee Fateh.
Dear One,

Bless you bless you for seeing God in all! If you cannot see God in all, you cannot see God at all.

Yes, whatever your family or other Sikhs experience of Muslims was, perhaps it was not a good one. There has been so much bad blood between Sikh and Islam that one's mistrust is understandable. Your family was probably raised to mistrust Muslims but thankfully you have not bought into that. Stereotypes are just that, stereotypes. They are generic and usually only partly right and refer to "all _____ (fill inthe blank for the type of people involved)".

The one who laid the first foundation stone of our Golden Temple was a Muslim. Muslims fought alongside Guru Gobind Singh, a conveniently forgotten fact. Kabeer was not a Sikh, he was a Sufi, which is a mystical offshoot of Islam. Your family is reacting, and perhaps they are concerned for you that you might be hurt by your association with Muslims.

All faiths lead to the same God, so looking for the similarities of our philosophies is a great way to foster understanding and tolerance of other paths and points of view. This is such an important tenet of our faith, to respect other's faiths. You might remind your family that this is a 2-way street: the more they understand Sikhi through you the less likely they will be to hurt Sikhs in the future.

I recommend you indicate to your family by your actions your continued dedication to Sikhi but maintain your friendships. In your life and in response to this post there will be Sikhs who will protest that because of our history and political experience of Islam, we should NEVER have anything to do with them, but this is not how peace -- community,national, or world-- peace is fostered. There have been more wars fought in the name of religion than any other cause. So understanding another's faith by knowing people of that faith is how we can come, first individually and then collectively, to stop the drums of war.

Guru rakha,
-DKK