When I was in the school of Remedial studies, ABU Funtua, I shared a room for nine months with a fellow student who was a Christian!
In the morning, I prayed my Subh prayers at one end of the room mentioning 'Allahu Akbar' almost a million times, while he knelt at other end of the room praying in the name of Jesus. I prayed in Arabic, he prayed in tongue!
Back then, my trousers stopped at my ankle, and I kept bears and took pride in it. My friend wore jeans and shirts and was happy.
I hardly shook hands with the opposite sex, but my friend could shake hands with the entire women in Africa.
I only played Islamic songs, while he played Christian songs.
But we respect each other. We knew our boundaries.
Each time he swept the room, even in my absence, he treated my Quran with the same level of respect he did his Bible.
We had mutual respect for each other, and knew our limits.
He's many things I'm not, and I'm many things he's not.
We did not hide our faiths and beliefs from each other.
5 years after leaving Funtua, we still keep in touch.
We were only together for few months, but he won my affection. We became great friends!
It is not our religious difference that make us fight one another. It is our lack of understanding and negative attitude.
LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOURSELF.
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