Matt Lucas sits in

Last week I got on a late-night flight – I’d spent five days (yes five days!) attending my dear friend’s traditional Hindu wedding. One of my hands was decorated with henna. As I settled into my seat, the young woman next to me noticed it and asked if I’d been at a wedding. Then she pulled out her similarly ‘hennaed’ hand and said with a smile ‘mine’s almost faded away from Eid’.

I was instantly curious. She didn’t visually fit my expectation of a Muslim woman. I’m sure I didn’t fit her expectation of a Hindu either. We got chatting. I learned her name was Al, from Ohio. She’s a nurse and has been looking after COVID patients throughout the pandemic. Her ancestors come from Armenia and the Romany people of Hungary. 

After the pretzels and water got passed out, we got to the story of how she came to practise Islam. She said that her school was predominantly white - there was only one Muslim student, a boy called Mustafa. After the 9/11 attacks, he started to get bullied. One day in the cafeteria she noticed the other children harassing him and pouring milk over his head. She told me: ‘By the way, I’m also a professional boxer, been training since I was young,’ then described how she punched the lead bully. The kids still wouldn’t leave Mustafa alone, mocking him because he was fasting for Ramadan. “So I started sitting with him every lunchtime,” she said. “From seventh grade until the end of high school I fasted for Ramadan with him so he wouldn’t have to be alone.”

Her explanation took me by surprise. Years later, after some tragic events, Al finally decided to visit a mosque, eventually finding a deep connection to her spirituality through the path of Islam. 

It’s human nature to cast someone as ‘the other’… but Al’s story reminded me of something I believe: that divine grace flows like an underground river, filling wells in different villages. Each well may look different, the water might even taste a bit different, but the source is the same. Water is water. Love is love. God is God.

So thank you Al… I’m keeping your act of rare love and friendship in my heart.