Neighboring Muslims

An article appeared in Sunday’s San Francisco Chronicle called "Muslims in Marin." Marin is where I live and readers may recall other posts about Marin Interfaith Council activities. I think MIC is one of the oldest interfaith groups, and I know it's one of the most diverse, tolerant and progressive.

I first encountered Imam Mehdi Khorasani about 10 years ago when he served on an interfaith panel discussing a right-to-die measure than in the California legislature. I was unhappy with the composition of the panel -- all male, all Abrahamic. In addition to Iman Khorasani, there were a rabbi, a Presbyterian minister, a Roman Catholic priest, and a Jewish medical doctor. They all came down solidly on the side of forbidding physician-assisted suicide.

I am also a proud member of Compassion & Choices, an organization "working to improve care and expand choice at the end of life." I won't try to get into a long discussion about that topic here and now; suffice it to say I found the panel unbalanced. Assembly Bill 654, the California Compassionate Choices Act, is still alive. Fortunately, there is a large group of California religious leaders who have taken a public stand in favor of AB 654.

A year ago April Imam Khorisani was the host of the invitational interfaith gathering with the Dalai Lama in SF to which Don Frew, Patrick McCollum and I were invited. Here he is speaking as His Holiness listens:


Another Marin Muslim mentioned in the article is Ebrahim Nana; he spoke at the Marin Interfaith Prayer Breakfast earlier this month.

With the exception of the above-mentioned disappointing panel on the Compassionate Choices Act, which I attended before I ever even considered joining MIC, I've felt welcome, respect, friendliness, openness, a quest for commonalities.