“We Are Mortal Enemies”

Dear Iranian Men Who I Met In Penang:

You probably do not remember me, and that is perfectly fine. We met in Penang, Malaysia, when we were feeding my teammate weird street food a little more than a month ago. You approached my teammates and myself to ask about Iranian subtitles in movies. Having never seen any movies with Iranian subtitles nor knowing Iranian in the first place made us unable to answer your survey questions. You stuck around to watch my friend’s reactions to the food and made polite conversation in the meantime. We got to talking about what country we are from. As soon as we mentioned America, you said a statement that broke my heart. I wasn’t able to discuss it with you that night in person, but I could not let this statement go without sharing my heart.

“You’re From America? We’re from Iran. We are mortal enemies.”

I am not like the majority of Americans that our media portrays.  As I’ve traveled around the world, I’ve seen a lot of different viewpoints on America and American culture/beliefs. Contrary to some high profile Americans, I do not perceive all Muslims as terrorists. None of the Muslims whom I have met in my life are terrorists, nor are they wanting to become a terrorist.  

“Yeah, but how many Muslims do you actually know to be able to say that?”

More than you realize. Before I embarked on this trip, I only knew a handful of Muslims. I’ve been traveling the world for nine months, and in these nine months I have met many, many Muslims. After all, we did meet in Malaysia, a Muslim nation!

“But you don’t understand the differences between us,”  you might say. “You’re an American, you know nothing what our culture is like. Our culture is not like the countries that you have visited. Our culture is quite different even from Malaysia, so how can you compare the two?”

While I have never been to Iran, I know more about your culture than you realize. I have had to change the way that I dress, the foods that I eat,  and the words that I speak to honor the culture around me, in Muslim areas and nations outside of Malaysia.  Aside from those things, what I’ve realized  living with and among Muslims is something that I’ve already known.

Muslim lives are just as important as any other life on this planet.

Muslims and I believe different things, but our difference in beliefs does not separate our humanity.

I know, I know. This might be the first time that an AMERICAN has told you that they value your life, despite the fact that our nations aren’t the best of friends.

But it’s true.

Your life has value.

Your past, your present, your future has extreme value because God created you and LOVES you.

Even though you don’t follow Jesus, He still loves you.

Even if you hate Him, He still loves you.

Even if you never acknowledge Him or His love, His love for you still exists.

He still loves you so much that He died on your behalf so that you could be free from sin and live with God in Heaven forever.

That night in Malaysia, it didn’t matter which of us were which religion. We all were people who crave love and respect; people who want to be known and seen; people with hopes and dreams; people with families, friends, and inside jokes; people with cravings for really good street food in Penang.

Our religious beliefs are different, yes, but that does not make any Muslim–or anyone else of any other belief system, for that matter–my mortal enemy.

The phrase “mortal enemy” means an enemy who wants to kill you. As we talked in Penang, the desire to kill each other was the farthest thing from any of our minds. I don’t want to kill you because you are a Muslim. I don’t want to ever even think of killing you–or anyone–because you are a human being just like I am and I see the value in your life.  Even though you may never read this, I want this letter to be the opposite of killing you–I want this letter to give you life.

We have some major differences in beliefs when it comes to Jesus, but I’ll let you in on a secret–all over the world, people who are not Muslims also have different beliefs than I do when it comes to Jesus.

I’m going to make some assumptions here. If these assumptions are not true for you, they very well might be true of someone else who is reading this.

I’m assuming that you grew up in Iran, having learned Islam from a very young age.

I’m assuming that you learned that Jesus was just one of many prophets.

What I believe influences my life, as I’m sure that what you believe influences your life.

I believe that Jesus is who He said He is–the Son of God.

I believe that Jesus came to Earth, lived a perfect life, and died on a cross. I believe that His death on the cross erased sin and the power of sin from our lives; I believe that because Jesus died for our sins and then rose from the dead that we are forgiven, fully, and forever.

The thing is, even if you treated me horribly, even to the point of persecuting me for my faith (which was far from your mind as we stood joking in Penang), I would still treat you with love and respect. I would still pray for you to see Jesus for who He truly is. I would still honor you. You see, as followers of Jesus, we strive to be like Him. We know that not everyone will welcome our faith in Jesus with open arms. When Jesus was persecuted before His death, He didn’t retaliate with violence or evil. We’re taught as Christians to feed our enemy if he is hungry and give him something to drink if he is thirsty. We’re taught to love our enemies and pray for those who persecute us. We’re taught to overcome evil with good.

Let’s use some logic here. If I see someone as a mortal enemy, how can I be consumed with the thoughts of both killing them and loving them? Loving a person means valuing a person’s life, not choosing to end it for selfish reasons. My purpose in life is to love others the way that Jesus loves me. I don’t love others the way that Jesus loves me by making enemies with people of the world who are different from me. Never once as Jesus was being persecuted to the point of death on a cross did He refer to the people who were opposed to Him as His enemies.  As a result, I have no enemies, let alone mortal enemies. I simply have opportunities before me to love people well.

My friends, I hope that this letter brought you life and loved you well.

Sincerely,

A follower of Jesus who loves Penang street food.