The Sharaka Story

Last month I discovered the cure for Muslim hatred of Jews.

I attended a seminar hosted by the Jewish Community Relations Council of Greater Washington and the American Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists at a law firm in downtown Washington, D.C. The guest speakers were Arab professionals from the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain. They work for a non-profit corporation called Sharaka (Arabic for partnership), which helps implement the 2020 Abraham Accords. The purpose of the Accords is to improve trade relations and other ties between Israel and the Arab states.

One of the Sharaka representatives was a young woman named Fatima, who was born and raised in Bahrain. During the Q&A session, someone in the pro-Israel audience asked Fatima if her work for Sharaka provoked any resentment from her friends or family in Bahrain. Her answer to the question left me speechless.

Fatima described a certain neighbor and classmate who was her oldest and closest friend. The friend was not a fast-track professional like Fatima. But like most people from Bahrain, she was an observant Muslim. And like most Muslims, she was taught nothing about Judaism except that Jews are evil. Any attempt at “normalization” with Israel, she believed, would be immoral. When Fatima joined Sharaka, the friend terminated their friendship.

Fatima was depressed about losing her best friend. But she had an idea. She called the friend and invited her to a conference. At first, the friend refused.

“There’s no way I’m going to Tel Aviv.”

“The conference is not in Tel Aviv. It’s in Cairo.”

“But there’ll be Jews there, right?”

“Yes, there’ll be Jews. Listen. Sharaka needs you to spy on them. No one will suspect you. We want you to introduce yourself to the Jews, get to know them, and determine their real motives. Will they agree to fair deals with Arabs or try to cheat us?”

That gave the friend an idea. She said, “OK, I’ll attend the conference.”

Late one day at the Cairo conference, Fatima got a call from the friend. The friend was crying and screaming hysterically.

“What’s wrong?” Fatima asked.

“I talked to the Jews!”

“What happened?”

“I spoke with them for four hours!”

“OK, so what did you find out?”

The friend screamed, “THEY’RE JUST LIKE US!”

Fatima’s friend planned to conduct her spying mission by gathering evidence of Jewish wickedness and then presenting her findings to Fatima, thus saving Fatima from the peril of associating with Jews. To accomplish the mission, the friend asked the Israeli delegation in Cairo a series of theological questions. That’s how the friend discovered how much Judaism and Islam have in common.

Israelis are generally familiar with both religions. They know that both Jews and Muslims believe in one god without the complications of third-party figures like Jesus. Both faiths revere the same forefathers: Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Both religions are rules-based, with the instructions gleaned from holy texts. In Judaism, the rules are called “Halakhah” (the path), and they’re derived from the Torah. In Islam, the rules are called “Sharia” (the path to the watering place), and they come from the Quran. Both Muslims and Jews teach the importance of welcoming the stranger into the home, helping the poor, and other acts of charity. Muslims call the policy “Sadaqah.” Jews pronounce it “Tzedakah.” Both groups of worshipers reject idol worship. Thus, you will never see depictions of Moses in a synagogue or Muhammed in a mosque. Both groups pray a prescribed number of times per day: five times for Muslims; three times for Jews. Both pray in a certain direction: Mecca for Muslims; Jerusalem for Jews. Both consider Jerusalem a holy city. Both faiths honor a day of rest each week: Friday for Muslims; Saturday for Jews. Both schedule holidays on the lunar calendar. Both observe an annual holiday of fasting and spiritual cleansing: Ramadan and Yom Kippur. In both societies, the men wear skullcaps to show humility before god. The two sets of dietary laws are nearly the same. These inter-faith similarities are no coincidence. The precepts of Islam incorporate elements of Judaism.

The Cairo conference was transformative for Fatima’s friend. When she returned to Bahrain, she trumpeted her discovery far and wide. She’s now known for her message: “They’re just like us.”

When Fatima finished her story, I scanned the law firm conference room for reactions among the pro-Israel audience. It seemed we were all deeply moved. Suddenly, I could imagine a future of affinity between Muslims and Jews.