I was born Christian and raised accordingly. I was baptized, had my first communion (with horrible photos of me when I was losing my baby teeth), I went to mass every Sunday and I fasted during lent. I went to a Catholic school and had to attend religion classes. The only thing that I recall from these sessions though was the long debate about sex before marriage, that usually ended with the father telling us that it was not a sin if the two people are doing it out of love (that probably explains why I turned out this way, but anyway, this is not the subject of this note). My friends at school were Christians too. So the conversation about religions never occurred. I lived in an homogeneous region where I never heard of sectarianism (probably because we were all Christians there??!) At home, our conversations about religion were very limited. We referred to all those who were not Christians as “Islem” (Muslims) regardless of whether they were Sunni, Shia, Druze or even Buddhists. Whenever we wanted to describe a tacky thing, we used "ktir metweleh" (very Muslim). And when we bounced into a veiled woman we'd either call her "mlaflafeh"(wrapped) or "ninja" (with reference to the Niqab). Islam was a religion where believers and practicing Muslims do not drink alcohol and do not eat pork. Ah… and one last thing, Islam was all about polygamy and men who can marry four women at the same time.

 

I know that I am writing this at a time when Islam has become synonym for extremism and has a worse reputation than the one I’ve just described, but that's exactly the purpose.

 

When I started my professional career, I stepped out of my cocoon and my network of friends widened naturally. I started meeting people from other sectarian backgrounds. I remember that I was so excited to plan my first Iftar with my Muslim friends and I reserved a table at a fancy restaurant for the occasion. When I shared the invite, I received a reply from one of them drawing my attention to the time… I actually booked the table at the wrong time, past the Iftar time. No one ever told me that Muslims break their fast at sunset and that Iftar is not just a buffet dinner! We only talked about sex before marriage at school for God’s sake!

 

I continued meeting people, Sunni and Shia… interesting characters, cultivated (most of them don’t speak French… but they still count as cultivated right?), open-minded, cool, caring, ambitious, loyal, hard workers, frank, always ready to lend ahand, elegant, and smart…  Some of them wouldn’t drink alcohol or eat pork, but they were still fun and outgoing (and trust me on that, I’ve met Christians who drink and eat pork, but they still remained uninteresting).

 

The more people I met, the more I refuted stereotyping. How is it possible that people still judge each other based on their sects? I was born Christian by chance, but I’ve chosen to be tolerant and open because others, like me, were also born Sunni or Shiaa or Druze by pure chance. I read the Quran, Nahj El Balagha, and other books about Islam. I found similarities between both religions more than I ever imagined. But these similarities are never highlighted anywhere, simply because they are always overshadowed by the sectarian propaganda. While I still clung to my Christian origins, I finally started to reject discrimination and prejudice against others. I know that no matter how many “nice” Muslims I encounter in life, in Lebanon, sectarianism will always have the upper hand. The media, political and religious leaders are making the battle against sectarianism hopeless. So I’ve decided to start a battle of my own: changing the mindsets of people around me. My first guinea pig will be my dad. Why him? Because every time I mention someone, he shows more interest in knowing his sect than in the story itself… but again, did I mention that my father is 82?