‘Ted says if Zahir hadn’t been so kind, his life would look very different.
“None of my attitude would have changed,” Ted says. “I would still have the same beliefs I always did. The way they responded to this is what changed me.”‘
Via Lisa Cohen.
Originally shared by Chris Kim A
“They actually were doing more against extremism than I was,” Ted says. “I just realized all the misconceptions I had about Islam were wrong, because I didn’t know any actual Muslims.”
The next week, the congregation’s leader invited Ted to visit the mosque. In the prayer hall still marked by his bullets Ted apologized, and in front of everyone the leaders hugged him. When it came time for prayer, Ted turned to Zahir.
“He just said, ‘I want to pray with you,'” Zahir says. “I said, ‘Follow me,’ and then we bowed down. That’s when he became my brother.”
Mike Reeves-McMillan lives in Auckland, New Zealand, the setting of his Auckland Allies contemporary urban fantasy series; and also in his head, where the weather is more reliable, and there are a lot more wizards. He also writes the Gryphon Clerks series (steampunk/magepunk), the Hand of the Trickster series (sword-and-sorcery heist capers), and short stories which have appeared in venues such as Compelling Science Fiction and Cosmic Roots and Eldritch Shores.
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