Yasir Qadhi – Muslims & Evangelicals Bridging the Chasm (A Dialogue Between Dr. Yasir and Pastor Roberts)

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			Smilla Rahmanir Rahim Al hamdu Lillahi Rabbil Alameen wa Salatu was Salam ala Sayyidina Muhammad wa
ala alihi wa sahbihi. Germaine about. So we are here today with a very, very special and unique
guests. And someone who is long overdue as a guest of our East Plano Islamic center, because he is
one of the most prominent pastors and evangelical preachers in all of America. And he's also our
neighbor here in Dallas. He's somebody who's lived here for so many years. So we have long been
wanting to invite posture pastor, Bob Roberts. So we're very honored that he's come here and spent
some of his gracious evening to come and spend some time with us. Pastor Bob does not really need a
		

			long introduction. If you Google his name, you'll find many, many web pages. But he started a church
here in the Dallas area called northward church in the Keller district. And it's grown to be many
different branches. He has an entire international resume working with so many countries since the
early 90s. He was involved with the Vietnamese government and you know, humanitarian effort over
there. And then in a Vonda, son as well, he was cooperating with humanitarian aid and got to know
some of the warlords he might tell us some of the stories over there with that. So over the course
of the last 3040 years, he's lived a very, very interesting life. And he's founded a organization
		

			called multi multi faith neighbors network, which he will tell you more about. But Pastor Bob,
welcome to our east Plano Islamic Center. Thank you. Yes, sir. I'm excited to be here. Thanks for
having me. It's our pleasure. And we wanted to keep it short, because it is a week day I know. But
he's promised to come again, and hopefully, maybe even all visit his community as well. So it's the
beginning of something far more fruitful. But I wanted to begin with some very frank questions,
Pastor Bob, first question. For a lot of us in this audience.
		

			We don't know much about evangelicals. And to be very honest, and I'm being very blunt with you. The
term sometimes is a bit frightful for us because of the experiences we've had. So can you explain
who the evangelicals are? And what makes them different from other branches of Christianity? Well,
first of all, I want to apologize to you that the word evangelical frightens you, I'm sorry about
it, it scares me to insert and so one of the things that I would say is, the evangelical is the most
conservative Christian. Now what that means is, they should be the most loving. Sadly, for whatever
reason, the more conservative some people are, the angrier they get the harsher they are, we have
		

			that problem in Christianity. So you've got your Catholics, which the Pope is the leader of the
Catholics, I've met him have high regard for him. And then you've got your Protestants. And we don't
believe there should be a pope, we go straight to God when we pray, no priest like that. In your
Protestants, you have two groups of Protestants. First is what's called your mainline denominations.
This is going to be very confusing for you. So the mainline are the old historic denominations that
are more traditional. And over the years, they became more liberal. And then you've got your
evangelicals. Your evangelicals are the conservatives. They've also been around a long time. But
		

			instead of becoming liberal, they stayed conservative. So there are four things that we evangelical
rally around. Number one is the Bible. So I've read the Quran multiple times. As Muslims, you
believe the Quran is inspired. It is the word of God. We also believe that our Bible is also
inspired. Now, we wouldn't describe it as the word of God like you would. There's some differences
there. But the reality is that we believe the Bible is authoritative. The second thing we believe,
Alright, hold your breath. I can't believe I want to say this in a mock. Don't get angry with me. We
believe Jesus is God.
		

			We don't believe he was just a prophet or good man. We believe he was all of that. I work with Mr.
Mahajan. If he was were here with me, I would say so Majid, do you believe Jesus was born of a
virgin? Say, Yes. Do you believe that he lived a sinless life? Yes. Do you believe that he worked
miracles? Yes. Do you believe that he's the Messiah? Yes. Do you believe he's coming back again?
Yes. Do you believe that He died on the cross for our sins so that we can have eternal life with
Him? No. You believe that he's God? No. So we disagree there.
		

			We believe that Jesus is literally God, we believe in a concept called the Trinity. One essence,
three persons, Father, Son, Holy Spirit. Here's the next thing we believe, is that Jesus died on the
cross for the sins of the world. So we do not believe Jesus died for Christians. We like believing
God for everyone. Well, Bob, what about those people who don't accept it? We believe that He created
all people, because he's the father, God created all people. And so as a result of that, He died for
all of our sins so that we could be forgiven. All right. And the fourth and final thing is what we
would say activism that our faith should be active in two ways. Number one, in telling other people
		

			about Jesus, and number two, in serving other people. So in both of those ways, so obviously, while
we all agree with the first point that in my module, whatever, as well, but obviously, as we all
know, we believe that God is perfect and one, and neither did he take a son, nor is there any God
besides Him. So we're gonna have to agree to disagree. But it's important that we create these
parameters and demarcate our differences, because there's a lot in common, but our constituents need
to know that, yes, there's some also disagreement. So we have to work around those disagreements,
and we have to work together for the greater good. So I'm going to go go to the next question. And I
		

			want to say I like that. Okay. So do I reason I like that is everybody says, Well, I don't want to
say anything to offend the other person. Well, that's just foolish. How many of you may have
offended your wife at least once today already? Because you disagree, but you still love your wife.
So I think it's important that we demarcate the different I have Christians tell me, don't tell
Muslims all up at front, you believe that Jesus is God, and He died on the cross for our sins. And I
tell those Christians why it's the core of our faith. It's what we believe. So I would rather get
the hard stuff out of the way first, and say, Okay, we disagree about that, then how can we work
		

			together? And by the way, I'll be a guest at his church, and I'm going to talk about Islam in front
of his constituents, so it's going to work. So that's what we do. Okay. So
		

			I'm going to again, ask a very frank question. So I kind of hinted that during the first question,
out of all the groups of Christianity's evangelicals are the ones that we kind of sort of tense
about when we hear about why, in particular, do the Evangelicals seem to have so many
misconceptions? Why do we sense from them such animosity? And I'm being very honest here. It's true.
It's true. So I would say a couple of things. Number one, you're right. Did you know as
evangelicals, we actually research ourselves, and you don't we found out, we found out that we
create more tension with the Muslim community than any other religious group. So it's not our
		

			imagination. It's not your imagination. My own research says it's now listen to this. Here's the
only difference. Here's the only difference. The group that's worse than evangelicals, evangelical
pastors.
		

			So please don't be offended by this. I'm all over the Muslim world all the time. I actually speak in
moss around the world. Did you know that I've been to places where sometimes the mom will actually
say harsh things about America harsh things about Christians. It's the same way in America. We just
reversed it.
		

			So we Christian pastors, when you hear some pastor on television in Dallas, say horrible things
about Islam. He's just like the mom back in the Middle East, who's being harsh towards Christians.
It's a problem with being the majority. That's the problem. Is there space for one another? And
there has to be? So here's what I would say to you. Here's why. There's several reasons. Number one,
we don't know Muslims. We don't. The only thing we knew about Muslims was Muhammad Ali. And we liked
him. We all like him. Yeah. And then came the Iranian Revolution. And then came the 90s, where the
bombings of the Tao of the towers first took place, and then came 911. And so in our news, keep in
		

			mind, you have three minute bites of news. The only thing we hear about a Muslim, is they're they're
terrorists. They're extremist, and they want to kill us. The second thing is, how many of you
Muslims would like the whole world to follow the path of Islam? Can I see your hands?
		

			Did you know if we were going to church? And I would ask that same question and say, How many
Christians would love for you to follow Jesus? They would all raise their hands just to like, what
does that mean? It means that we have a different ideology. And so as a result, we disagree and we
compete with one another.
		

			I don't think that's bad.
		

			I think what's bad is when we vilify one another of something I teach young pastors never, never
never trash another religion.
		

			If the only way your religion can be strong is to destroy another religion, or to stay isolated from
other religions, because they'll infect you, you must have an awful weak faith.
		

			Some of my pastor friends got upset that I would let Muslims come to our church, that I would let my
children be with Muslims. My kids are close to Muslims, their adult kids now they go to Ramadan,
everything a little grandkids love Ramadan.
		

			They don't understand they can eat all day, the Christian part of them starts early in the morning,
but when they go to the Ramadan it kicks in. But here's what I want you to understand in the
differences that we face. We have to realize that when we work together, and those differences are
there, we can live together. I'm not worried about my kids, because I feel like I've done a good job
training them to tell one funny story. So I'm at a mosque. And I'm listening to the mom preach. He
didn't know I was there. Well, it was a good friend was there and he was absent. He said, going in
anyhow, just stand by this particular person. So I did I go to mosque frequently. Alright, y'all
		

			mind? I'm curious. I go, I always tell the mom, I'm there. You're always welcome to come visit our
church. And so he stood up and he started talking. He's preaching a heart. So you need to be
righteous, you need to be holy, you need to act good. Because if you don't your kids are going to
get on drugs. They're going to become Christians. And you're going to ask, where did I fail? And I
wanted to laugh, but I could not. You know, because? Because I could not. I've heard that same
sermon, except your kids are going to become Muslims.
		

			All right. Do you understand? So I think the fear I think the anger of Islam is real. But let me
tell you what changes it immediately. Here's what changes it immediately. When a Christian gets to
know a Muslim, they change their mind. I do these retreats with pastors, moms and rabbis all over
the world. With some of the harshest pastors and harshest moms in the world. They don't even want to
be together, the moms will stay separate from the pastor's they're angry. By the third day, they're
laughing with one another. What changed? Did they find a new verse in the Quran? Or New verse in the
Bible? No, they discovered one another. That's it. So so what I would say is it's real, it's
		

			present. But you can change it by being a friend with some See, that's what happened to me. Listen,
I'm what you call a fundamentalist from DPS, Texas, very conservative, very strict. The only thing I
cared about non Christians was converting them. And if I couldn't convert them, then I don't have
any time for you. That is so wrong. But in my mind, that's how I grew up seeing people, as projects
instead of people as Christians, we believe the Hebrew Scriptures when it says, created in the image
of God, so we believe there's this spark of divinity that God has placed inside of everyone. So can
you elaborate a little bit on that? I'm interested to hear about your own story, like you yourself,
		

			said that evangelical pastors are really, you know, amongst the most difficult to deal with the
Muslim community, they're the ones building walls, and yet here you are building bridges. So what
what triggered you because I know, you told me that when you were growing up, you had the same fear
the same notion, what what happened in your own trajectory, so that we can benefit when we interact
with with other evangelicals to help them as well just toned down. I mean, of course, we want
everybody to convert, but as at least don't hate us don't stereotype as even if you're going to
remain Christian. I'd much rather a faithful Christian who loves and cares about me, then somebody
		

			of whatever faith who hates me and wants to kill me, right? So we just want to get along in this
society and live and let live. How do we get to that stage? What was your story? So I got to know a
Muslim.
		

			And he was a warlord from Afghanistan. And he wasn't a refugee here. I got to know him in
Afghanistan. And so what happened is, it's kind of really a funny story. I did something really bad.
I was visiting with the governor of a particular province, I'd gone to do humanitarian work. I did
not want to go to Afghanistan. I was afraid of Muslims. At this point. I believe all Muslims hated
me. They wanted to kill me. I was scared to death. So I'm going to Afghanistan and I meet all these
Muslims. And these are supposed to be the toughest of the tough, the baddest of the bad. But I like
them. We're laughing. We're having fun. These are the moms. These are people that are supposed to
		

			kill me. No, they're laughing. We're laughing. We're having fun. And so I asked the governor, what
do you need? And he said, I need a children's hospital. Well, I'm a Baptist pastor, not not not an
Episcopalian or a Presbyterian, they've got money. If your neighbor is Episcopalian or Presbyterian,
very important about denominations. If you're, if your neighbor is a Presbyterian or Episcopalian,
be grateful, they have money, be nice to them. If they're Baptist, good luck. I'm a Baptist, but I
thought Who in the world could I get to build a children's hospital so I tell him instead
		

			Okay, I'll do it. And I'm trying to figure out how am I going to raise $10 million. So I come back
and I call every Presbyterian. I know, just one. And I asked him, and believe it or not, he agrees
to do it. He's a doc cow. So we go over, we have this big groundbreaking ceremony in a particular
city. I get to I love to climb in mountains. So I'm sitting there going, Man, I'd love to see these
mountains in Afghanistan. And he looked over at me said, Bob, you want to see mountain, I show you
mountain? not linked to the guy maybe? And I said, I'm here to say, he said, Bob, you're in
Afghanistan. Nothing is safe. But do you know who he is? I said, No. He said, his father is the
		

			tribal leader for half of the country. And everybody wants to meet with him. He's, and he was
helping me the whole time. He said, he likes you, you should go with him. And so I said, Okay. And
so he grabbed my backpack and said, Good, we will have fun. We will spend night in desert. So I'm
thinking I want to die. Jesus, I want to die. Bobby's coming home to heaven tonight. And so we get
in it. He sits in the front seat has a machine gunner gunner beside him. I'm in the backseat gives a
little guy with a machine gunner by me. The back compartment is a guy rocket launcher, not from
Texas. So that's like gun heaven. I mean, machine guns, rocket launchers and a ton of stuff that I
		

			learned to shoot a rocket launcher, and it was a lot of fun, too. You've not lived you go on camel
Chase and across the desert. But anyhow, that's another story. So we're going across the desert.
We're laughing and having fun. And I got nervous because if you tell a Pashto, who you are, they'll
protect you. But you better be honest. So I'm nervous. And I'm wondering, did the governor explain
to this man who I don't want him to find out? He's with a Baptist pastor, and then he kills me or
something. So I said, did they explain he said, he said, he said, Yes. I said, so you know, I'm, I'm
humanitarian. Yes. You humanitarian. And you know, I'm a Christian. He said, Yes, you Christian, you
		

			American, you Christian, American, same thing. I said, okay, but I am. I'm a pastor, and it's my
church that gives them money. He said, Pastor, what is pastor, and I finally go, Oh, I'm a
Christian, a mom. And he starts laughing. He goes, you know, a mom, you laugh too much. I said, No,
I am really a pastor. He says, Oh, this is wonderful, Bob, very good, very good. And I'm scared to
death. And so he takes me to his family's compound. And if you're from that part of the world, you
know how it is you go in the compound or several houses in the compound, and they bring out a camel.
So John Wooden, John Wayne, and I get on the camel, and it throws me off and I start laughing.
		

			They're happy about that. He goes, come on, Bob, I'll show you more Afghanistan. I said, No, no, no,
this is enough. He says, Come with me just don't talk. I don't Afghan clothes. And I have a big
beard. And it's a lot bigger when I go to Afghanistan. So I can pass pass for Pashtu with it with a
sunburn. So we go, and he takes me into the middle of the desert. And he says I've special surprise
tonight. And so we meet in this little village. And he brings out 20 young moms. And he said, This
is my friend, Bob Roberts from America. And I said, Hello. And I said, What do you want me to do?
You said, Let them ask you questions. So I sat up until two in the morning, and they asked me
		

			questions. And then they started arguing, because I afraid it told them I was going to build a
school for the village where he grew up in, we can afford that that's only three or $4,000, not 10
million. And so all of a sudden, nosy moms are arguing. So what's wrong? They looked over at me and
said,
		

			Bob, don't worry about it. They're wanting you to build schools and their four villages. And all of
a sudden, I begin to think,
		

			Wow, this is crazy. And I thought to myself, y'all won't appreciate this. But I thought WWLP D, what
would the Apostle Paul do? And I thought, these are Imams, I'm working with non Christian pastors,
and I'm going to do work with them. And I thought, would God get upset with me?
		

			The Bible never says God gets upset when we work with other people that are non Christians to help
them even if they don't want to convert, and my conversion rate in Afghanistan was pretty much non
existent. All right. You're building schools and hospitals. That's what we did. And so I said, What
if I get a Christian pastor and I could bring him over? His Church pays for your school and your
clinic. So we built schools, clinics, but I became friends with those Muslims and I love them. The
first time I heard the call to prayer in my life was I had been driving all day long across the
desert, and I was exhausted. And I'd come straight from an airplane to I don't need to tell you
		

			where I went. But anyhow, I get to that place. And all of a sudden four in the morning, is that when
it happens, oh,
		

			man, I just jumped up. And I thought, where's our guard? You know, you got an attack here. Yeah, I
mean,
		

			it's coming out over the speaker.
		

			And then somebody explained to me what it means.
		

			Did you know I actually like listening to the call to prayer now.
		

			Now the problem is I tell some evangelical friends they freak out over that. I'm not going to be a
Muslim. Please don't be offended.
		

			be submitted shallow and shallow, shallow, shallow, right? I do. And I do respect the Prophet
Muhammad. I don't feel it necessary to be little, in any way I've read to biographies about him. I'm
about to read my third biography about him.
		

			I just think here's the problem, guys. 2.2 billion Christians 1.8 billion Muslims, if we don't get
along the world is in a mess. And it's up to some of us to say, Enough, enough. And why should I
have to change my religion to get along with you? Why can't I just say, Hey, you're not going to
agree with me. But I respect you. Why should you have to change your religion? Furthermore, here's
what got me in a lot of trouble. Yasser. I started standing up for religious freedom in America,
		

			for Muslims,
		

			and we lost hundreds of people from our church, Bob, why are you doing that?
		

			I mean, Christians are persecuted around the world. I said, yeah, they are.
		

			And Muslims are persecuted in America. And if we want religious freedom for ourselves, we've got to
provide it for everyone else. And furthermore, is our faith so weak, that we're afraid of another
religion being present?
		

			So Bob, you actually faced criticism from your own congregation for speaking out for Muslim rights
in America? A lot of it was very hard, is very hard. And you lost people from your church, hundreds.
Wow. Hundreds. i Yeah. And they thought that I, you know, compromised my faith. So can I can I just
be candid with you? Can I tell you what we really believe, don't get mad at me. So I told you, we
believe Jesus is God, we believe that He died for the sins of the world. And our mission is to tell
people about Jesus. They said, now you're saying that there are many ways to God no, I have not
changed my way to God. I still believe Jesus is the only way to God. I'm not going to say who's in
		

			heaven, who's out of heaven, that's up to God. It's not my place. I let God work all that out. I can
tell you with all my heart, I believe that Jesus died for the sins of the world, with all of my
heart that I believe that, but some of them were saying, No, you're just believing in interfaith and
universalism. And I didn't. But here's what I would say. I would be what you'd call Miroslav off our
forehead, he would call me an exclusivist.
		

			If I truly believe that Jesus is the way to God,
		

			why would I vilify people I disagree with should not love them instead, if I believe that's true,
		

			how to love in such an extreme way that even if they reject the gospel, I bring value to them. So
pastor again, let me ask you, again, a very clear question. And we have to be again, Frank in this
conversation, because I don't believe in in ignoring these elephants in the room, you're building
schools, you're building hospitals, you're doing it because you're a Christian. But is, are the
services in those hospitals and schools contingent on them converting? Are you? So you're building
this? Because you think that's what a good Christian would do? Yeah. And it's open for everybody.
Yeah. Because you do know that some groups they build hospitals and schools in order to in order to
		

			spread Christianity via those mechanisms, right. Do and I think that's wrong. And you do know
Muslims do that, too. So So I think about a serve, we have a saying in our church
		

			serve, not to convert,
		

			serve because you've been converted.
		

			That's a different motivation. So the good that I do, it's not because I'm twisting your arm to be
like me. Now. I want to tell you my good news. Listen, how many of you Muslims are nervous that
Christians are going to try to convert you can I see your hands? How many of you a little nervous
about that? Well, good. I'm proud of you. A lot of times Muslims are nervous. I've had Muslims try
to convert me nonstop. We're gonna try. We're gonna try as well. Do you mind if we try Oh, repeat
after me? I know Shahada. But Hamza Yusuf is always calling me Majid. I mean, I can go down the
list. I remember. Listen, this is no joke. I was in London. And I was with this very prominent, very
		

			wealthy Muslim businessman. And he came up to me and I became close friends to him, and we were
there with some Muslim leaders. And he started sobbing. He said, Bob, I cannot bear the thought of
you in *. would know don't laugh, don't laugh. He said, I love you so much. Would you please
consider Islam and would you convert? That was the greatest compliment that oh man could have given
me because you know what he was saying? I love you, Bob. And I believe that there is one way that
you go to heaven and I don't
		

			want you to be in *? Why would I not be honored by that? Why would that not be a respectful and a
con thing? It was to me, I love that man. See, this is the type of conversation we need to have.
Because again for us, as Allah says in the DNA, underline Islam we believe the way to Allah is
Islam. And we believe to believe Jesus is God is a type of blasphemy, we're going to have to be
clear here, yet, we are theologically on different paradigms. Question is, what do we do about it?
Do we just spread hatred? Do we try to build, you know, barriers between us? Or do we learn to work
together in spite of those differences? And we'll leave the judgment to God. So this is the
		

			conversation and this is what I want to talk to you about next time? Because the reality is,
		

			I really can't change the way you think as Muslims. But he can. And he can help you understand the
Quran and the Hadith. And how do you relate because if I'm not mistaken, the Quran is very clear.
I've read it three times. I've studied different sources. It's very clear that God didn't make us
all the same religion he could have. So if he didn't, your responsibility, if I'm not a believer, as
you are, is to love me, should practice the way so that you're a good model for Islam and care for
me guess what? Exact same thing in Christianity? I think a critical question we have to ask is this.
		

			Does a person have value if they're not in your faith?
		

			Just let that question sink in. Does a person have value if they're not in your faith? And if they
don't
		

			say that's a bad faith? Because if God is the God of the universe, and he's the God of the earth,
man, then he wants his goodness to flow.
		

			So Bob, I don't want to keep you too long. I know it's a week night. But final question.
		

			Knowing that there's so much tension between evangelicals and Muslims, and knowing where the
minority and frankly, a lot of us are worried about the type of rhetoric that we see in the
evangelical community. What practical advice can you give us about working to overcome the
stereotypes that evangelicals have about us? What do we do with our colleagues, neighbors, friends,
that are evangelical and don't want to talk with us don't have anything to do with us? Two things.
Number one, you just need to be nice to them. Evangelicals love fried chicken, just give them a box
of fried chicken and leave it at their door. So I compliments of your Muslim neighbor that may help
		

			some some more sons do they help? So some most they don't know what to do with some Moses. Now once
they eat them, they like them. But if you put them there, they're probably just gonna look at him
and go, I don't know what animal laid that. So don't do that. Instead, get something they know like
fried chicken. All right. That's the first thing I'd say. Here's the second thing I'd say.
		

			You can't do it by yourself.
		

			So let me tell you a principle of civil rights. Are you ready for this? You have to speak out. But
until the majority starts pushing the way forward, you're going to be limited in what you can do. So
the whole Civil Rights Bill happened because Lyndon Johnson became friends with Martin Luther King,
and he pushed it through do you follow me? So can I be blunt with you? The best solution you have to
dealing with Islamophobia is to become friends with evangelicals. And when they start pushing
things, you need to show up.
		

			You need to be present. So can I tell them what we're doing at our church? Go ahead. So this Sunday
night, you want to at six o'clock, I want to invite every single one of you to come to our church.
It starts at six you have to register. Now look, I know y'all won't all agree with this guy, even
though he's a Muslim. I like him. He became my friend many years ago. But Muhammad Allah Lisa is the
president of the Muslim world league. And he wrote something called the Mecca declaration. And he's
never been to an evangelical church. So he wanted to come. I said, Well, don't just come read that
declaration. And from that, we wound up inviting all these people to respond from all from all over
		

			the world. And so Christine Caine is a Christian. He deals with human trafficking.
		

			David Saperstein is going to respond the ambassador for religious freedom under Obama, Sam
Brownback, the ambassador for religious freedom under President Trump and Rashad Hussain, a very
close friend of mine my budget. Yeah, my Majid is going to come. Walter Kim, the president, National
Association of Evangelicals, here's what we're going to do. We're going to start at six, we're going
to have a fair, you can walk around to be Christian boots and Muslim boots, nobody's gonna try to
convert you. Alright. So there'll be boots, you can walk around and look. And then we're going to
have
		

			a prayer space because there's a 631 prayer, but you got to go in there and pray and don't horse
around, and then come back in the auditorium. And then we're going to start at 637. And what we're
going to do me in Majid an hour Lisa, and the rabbi who was held hostage and azer, in many of us are
going to be there.
		

			We're going to sing some different music, we're going to have a special guy to come and do
recitation. And here's what I'm trying to evangelicals are coming from all over the country. Fight
people that you see on religious television are coming. And they're not speaking, there's a lot of
famous people that are being there. They're just coming. I'm trying to say, look at Muslims. And so
they're like us, and we can, we don't have to agree with our theology, but we can be friends with
them. So that's what we're going to do from six to eight. And so at 2000, it's getting cat we're
well over halfway there now. So here's the thing. You have to register because believe it or not,
		

			people from the White House, State Department, DHS are all coming. So we're doing it the North Texas
Islamic Council is working with us, the Muslim World League is coming.
		

			So you have to register. So so if you take one of these brochures, we're going to pass them out. As
soon as it's over. It's free. But you have to register for security purposes. We want you there the
next day, if you can come back the next day, all day, it's going to be pastors, the moms and rabbis
that will be speaking. So that's what it's about. Can I close with one thing? Sure. We believe
repentance is important. I don't know all that Islam believes about repentance. I do know you
believe in repentance. Yes. So we believe that repentance, there's two parts to repentance. First,
you have to say that you're sorry. And you acknowledge that what you did is wrong.
		

			That's what I'm here tonight to do to say, I've just told you how I was wrong, how I felt about
Muslims. I've told you how evangelicals are wrong, and how they've seen that with Muslims. The
second part is not just to acknowledge the wrong that you did. But it's correcting the wrong that
was done. It's doing action. This event is action. It's saying now we no longer want to hate
Muslims, we've got to build bridges with and one of my dreams is that every mosque would have an
evangelical church that's right close to them. That would befriend them and build a relationship
with them. That's my jury, right here in Dallas, Texas, where the prejudice and the Islamophobia is
		

			harder than anywhere else. If it can be done here. It can be done anywhere. I remember I was with
with a Saudi prince that I'm very close to. I've known him for many years. And he told me said, Bob,
it's good what you're doing around the world. But what about Dallas, Texas, and I said Your Highness
will be reaching out to Muslims, there would be like you starting a Baptist Sunday school class in
Mecca, it wouldn't go over real big. But he said and Bob, that's why you need to do it at home. So
here's what I'm asking.
		

			I want our kids to love one another. I want us to be able to have legitimate Conversations. I'm
asking you to come on Sunday night, I'm begging you. I'm doing everything I can to fight
Islamophobia, but I can't do it by myself. And all I want to do I just want them to get to know you.
I want them to get to know the Muslims that I've come to know. And you know what, somebody will
probably say something stupid to you. Can I just tell you right now, they'll probably say something
stupid, they'll say something wrong. They may challenge you or something, they're not going to be
mean to you. If they are, let me know. I'll just I'll I'll take care of it. I'm from Texas. We know
		

			how to deal with stuff like that. Just let me know. But we got to get to know them. And you're from
Texas, you were born here. So we don't mess with one another. That's Texas. This is Texas. We've
heard a lot of nasty things the last 20 years. So I don't think we're going to hear anything that we
haven't already heard. Don't worry. But thank you so much, you better thank you enjoyed being with
you. Me and Majeed will be out in the for year, we'll pass these out. Hope you can come. So I want
to just conclude by saying this, this community is very, very grateful for your presence here. We're
grateful for the work that you're doing. This is consider this to be your sister mosque come
		

			anytime, as a guest, as persons just want to intermingle with us. And I'm more than happy to also
visit your church as well. And let's see if we can start building those bridges within our own
community to see what we can do. And you know what, yes, we have some serious disagreements, some
very deep theological dialogues, and I'm very happy to have them. But after we've done those
dialogues, let's also think about how we can feed the hungry, let's also come together and how we
can minimize the hatred, how we can build a better society here on Earth. And yes, those differences
will remain, but what can we do in spite of those differences? That's the question I have for your
		

			congregation. And my congregation I know as well is also interested in the same thing. So thank you
so much for coming. And let's begin our dialogue. This is the first part and Pastor Bob has promised
to come again. Correct. And hopefully always go to his church as well. So this is the very beginning
of any more conversations. Thank you very much. And God bless. Thank you.
		

			Lee
		

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