Table of Contents
Dedication vii
Prologue and Introduction
Prologue: The Challenge Facing Us 3
Those Mohammedans 9
I Might As Well Have Been Blind 9
A Sheltered College Experience 10
Traveling with Blinders On 11
Can You Coach Soccer? 13
A Green Professor with Little to Profess 14
Running Toward the Fire 16
A Friendship Long Delayed 23
My First Lesson In Islam 27
Ihram and the Season of Lent 28
Part I Marwan Wafa
America Is My Home 33
Our First Meeting 35
The Boston Marathon Bombers and the Power of Faith 37
Taste the Fruit 41
The Pursuit Of God-Consciousness 43
The Frequency and Consequences of Unbelief 44
The Nearness of Forgiveness 44
The Wisdom of Submission 45
Taqwa, God-consciousness 46
What God Has Joined Together, Let No One Put Asunder 48
Lord, Teach Us to Pray 53
Rolling the Credits 55
Part II The Shapiro Gang
A Dream Unexpectedly Fulfilled 59
Common Men, Uncommon Group 60
Rethinking Sports 62
Honoring Women 63
Where's the Barking Dog? 64
Muslims and Christians on an Adventure With God 67
The Most Difficult "Simple" Challenge in the World 69
Hope Trumps Zeal 71
Recovering the Penance in Penitentiary 71
John Welch 72
Mikal Saahir 76
Joe Masters 80
David Shaheed 80
Part III Omaha
The Future is Upon Us 85
A Winning Recipe 91
From Ground Zero to Omaha 91
Vision and Reality in Omaha 93
The Right Time, the Right Place 94
The Right People, the Right Initial Decisions 96
The Right Ingredients 97
Rabbi Azriel 98
Dr. Syed Mohuiddin 102
Nuzhat Mahmood 104
D.C. "Woody" Bradford 106
The Dance of Hope and Fear 109
The Threat from Outside: Going Undercover in Omaha 109
Facing Organized Fearmongers 112
The Ongoing Wound of 9/11 114
The Threat from Within: The Persistence of Doubt 115
How the Tri-Faith Initiative Overcame International Tension 117
Like a Bridge Over Troubled Waters 119
Omaha, Omaha 121
Conclusion
Perhaps a Miracle 123
Appendix: Will the Trinity Ever Make Sense to Muslims? 129
Acknowledgements 135
Endnotes 137
