Padar was my first teacher. At dinner he would tell us stories from the Quran. When I drove with him in the car on errands, he would always tell me how we were to treat others as Muslims. “Never do anything to hurt your neighbor,” he said to me. It was the way he conducted his business, treated his tenants, and treated us. He told me often that Muslims don’t hurt other people, either in business or their bodies. He taught me to practice my religion in action—not just in thought. He was adamant that a true Muslim didn’t kill other people in order to force their religion on them or hurt other
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