an encounter of conflicting faiths

I had a conversation today with a couple of my friends, both Egyptian, both Muslim, both fasting for Ramadan...conveniently we were seated at Hardy's while I grabbed lunch between work and class, but now I just sound like a jerk. I'm not, I swear.

"He is the King of Kings" said M about Allah, describing the reasoning behind the bowing of the head during Muslim prayer. "When people used to want to show their respect for the king, they would bow...when we think about who Allah is, we can't help but bow to him" (I paraphrase a bit). He and Ayah explained to me a few things about Ramadan, and prayer, including the fact that Allah draws closest to people during a certain time of day, namely between the hours of midnight and four am, that's when he hears and answers prayers most. Also, during Ramadan there is a day during the last 10 days of fasting where Allah will answer any of your prayers, but you don't know which day it is, so a persistent person would seek answers to their prayer on each of the 10 days in order not to miss the one day when Allah will listen.

They talked about Him like he was their King, their God, not like a father, but it wasn't the same distant sort of relationship that I have associated with the Muslim faith. "If I made this mobile phone, then I am the one that knows it best..." M explained. I thought to myself, "indeed, the very hairs of your head are all numbered..." "He made you, he is the one that knows you best" said Ayah. "My God knows me like that," I thought, "are they confused about the attributes of their god Allah? or am I seeing the meeting point of our two faiths?" I mean, they came from one and the same place, their history meets in the Old Testament, and it's humbling to see the remnants of that time carried through to present day.

They told me more about their feelings for Ramadan. That many muslims have it wrong, they are angry and impatient during the daylight hours, waiting anxiously for iftar to gorge themselves and make up for a full days worth of abstinence. Ayah emphasized that they are missing the point, that it's to teach us patience, to identify with the poor, to sacrifice for Allah, that it doesn't end with the call to prayer at 6, it's a fast that continues even when you come together in the evening to share a meal with your family. Again I felt a strange identification with her words, and a new respect for the ramadan fast, for the whole point of it.

How can our faith be so similar, so intertwined, and yet the points we differ on make the difference between heaven and hell.... It just seems like my two friends really know God, or genuinely want to know Him and love Him and follow Him...and there's where I draw a complete blank, or want to cry, because I just can't reconcile that with the other truth that I know, Jesus Christ is the only way to get to God. He is the way, the truth, the life.