First and third. North and South. East and West. We use these terms whenever we talk about different parts of the world. ‘First’ refers to developed nations. ‘Third’ to non-developed ones. North is more about the same (rich) and so is South (poor). East is often related to Arabic=Muslim countries and West=European/American=mainly Christian countries. Why do we always have to separate everything into different ‘boxes’? Why do we have to point out those differences through these terms? There is just ONE world and its inhabitants are of the same kind, the human ‘kind’.

The reason why I’m talking about these terms is because I have returned from a trip that taken me to a different, yet equal, place of this planet. I’m of curious nature and with every visit I’ve made to different parts of the world, I’ve tried to learn something. So far, I’d always been to what we call ‘Western’ countries. European/American nations, like I said, predominantly Christian. For the last couple of years, I’d been feeling this restlessness inside of me that made me want to visit a Muslim country.

A lot has been said about Islam and the Muslims since September 11th, 2001. Whenever we watch the news concerning the Middle East, they’re usually related to conflicts. Bombs exploding in Baghdad, Palestinians dying in the middle of the street, attacks in Afghanistan… nothing good seems to be coming from these countries. Unconciously, people start looking and targeting every single Muslim person as a possible vandalist. We know it’s not true… but that’s what tv shows every day.

I knew it wasn’t true. I come from a small region that, unfortunately, appears much more than it should on tv and most of the times it does, it’s not for good reasons. So, I know about prejudices and stereotypes. I’ve heard many senseless comments over the years concerning the place I call home. Comments that are disappointing and often, hurtful.

It was in 2005, after I returned home from California, that I decided to take a class in college called ‘The Great Religions of The World’. I wanted to learn more about religions in general and about the Islamic belief in particular. The good thing about this class is that I became more interested in learning about religions; the downside on the other hand, is that the class was taught from a Jesuit’s point of view. Classes were not objective. After graduating from college, I kept reading books related to religions. I focused on Hinduism because, at the time, I was seeing -though not religious- a hindu born guy and I wanted to learn more about his faith, his culture, etc. But I still kept reading about Islam.

That restless feeling inside did not seem to fade and it only increased after Queen Rania of Jordan opened up a channel on Youtube. The goal of this microsite is to build bridges between East & West. I’m a frequent visitor of her channel. And it was partly because of this site that I finally decided to visit a Muslim country.

It was a friend’s idea really and it all happened so suddenly, but visiting Turkey has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. Part of it is located in Europe, but most of the country belongs to Asia. 99% of the population follows the Islamic belief and Istanbul is a city of reference for Muslims. It is not Mecca, but millions of people from Middle Eastern countries go on a ‘pilmigrage’ trip to this beautiful city sorrounded by some of the most beautiful mosques in the world.

And it is then when you realize how insignificant those ‘differences’ (to say something) can be and how similar we all really are. But we still focus on those external differences rather than on the similarities… it’s sad. I keep many images from that trip in my mind, moments that the Turkish and people from other Middle Eastern countries shared with me. And I learned that love is love no matter where, friendship is friendship no matter where, motherhood is motherhood no matter where, fear is fear no matter where… and I also learned that there is misleading information everywhere in the world. Westerns mislead information concerning the East and Easterns mislead information concerning the West.

If inside of Hagia Sofia’s building the image of Virgin Mary can ‘live peacefully’ with the writings of the names of Allah and Muhammad on each side of the image, why can’t Christians and Muslims seem to understand each other? After all, both religions are Abrahamic. Both, along with Judaism, share the same roots. They’re the blossoming branches of the same tree.

We’re human and as such, we’re the same. That’s what this trip has taught me.

This year I’ve had the opportunity to visit a Buddhist temple and Muslim mosques… hopefully, I’ll get to visit Hindu temples sometime in the near future and learn more about Hinduism.