Karam

Our destination on Day 3 of the Kindness Walk will be the Muslim American Youth Foundation Center in Burien. I visited the Center in early May and was greeted warmly by the staff as I waited to see the director, Dr. Shayk Yahya Suufi.

This was my first time to enter into a Muslim community and to meet an imam, so I was a little bit anxious. I wanted to make sure I didn’t do anything stupid or disrespectful.

So imagine my absolute relief and joy when Shayk Yahya met me in the lobby, gave me a hug and took me by the arm to show me around the Center. There was a gymnasium surrounded by classrooms with young students. As we visited one room, the second graders ran over with hugs, even for me!

After the tour, Dr. Yahya took me into his tiny office to listen closely as I explained the Kindness Walk. He not only appreciated the spirit of the Walk, he offered ways to make it better, encouraging me to add a signup page on the website and suggesting how we might have alternatives to t-shirts for Muslim walkers wearing traditional dress.

It became clear that the Muslim American Youth Foundation Center would be our Day 3 destination. But the “karam” (hospitality) didn’t end there. Dr. Yahya then took me out for lunch and afterwards went next door to an Arabic grocery store for special dates and bottles of camel milk as gifts for my wife. And before I left to return home, he invited me to participate in a special prayer service at a local mosque. I entered through the “brothers” door.

When we now check in with each other, he calls me brother Jim and I call him brother Yahya. I am so very grateful for how he has welcomed me into his circle, and for the good and important work he and his staff are doing in the world. Step-by-step, together.