Before Sabir Rahman emigrated from Pakistan more than 40 years ago, his mother gave him three days of instructions, ending with the warning that to touch a non-Muslim would bring hellfire. His father spent 10 minutes cautioning him against pork and alcohol, but otherwise said the world was open to him.
"I listened to my father," Rahman, now the interfaith committee chair at Silver Spring's Muslim Community Center, said wryly Sunday as he stood in a Damascus synagogue after the monthly meeting of the Jewish-Islamic Dialogue Society.
The society, which began in February, aims to open a dialogue between Muslims and Jews, which cofounder Daniel Spiro of Bethesda calls "cousin faiths."
Topics of discussion include prophets, divisions within the religion and core beliefs.
Even in an area known for multiculturalism such as Montgomery County, such interactions are needed to break down walls, participants said.
Several said the first two gatherings, which focused on the nature of God, were rather heated.
"All the Jews probably thought all the Muslims were fundamentalist and all the Muslims thought all the Jews were atheists," Spiro said.
But now a comfort level has developed among the core members, said Stephanie Weishaar, president of Congregation Or Chadash, Sunday's host synagogue.
About 25 people, predominantly Jewish, attended Sunday's meeting. Previous meetings have been both larger and more evenly split between the religions, members said.
The group is hoping to add charitable and political projects to its educational gatherings in the near future. Members will be volunteering at Capital Area Food Bank in the District on Saturday, Spiro said, which will be the first time they have acted as a group in the community.
Spiro, who like Rahman is a member of other groups promoting Middle East peace and interfaith communication, started the group after a speaking tour to publicize his latest book, a philosophical novel called "Moses the Heretic."
In the book, set in the modern day, the title character's "heresies include a respect for Islam and the rights of Palestinians," Spiro said. "In a sort of life imitates art … I decided it would be hypocritical not to try and emulate the character, at least in his better attributes."
Spiro was also motivated by seeing firsthand the mistrust between the two faiths.
He recalled a visit to a synagogue soon after the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, when he was followed around by an anxious woman.
Spiro believes that because of his dark complexion, he was mistaken for a Muslim.
"She was concerned I might harm the synagogue," he said.
Rahman said there are still some in his community who feel like his late mother, who imposed many restrictions on contact with other faiths during the 25 years she lived with his family in the United States. Many others, however, are more open.
"The main thing is people who are at the highest level of consciousness … they want to build bridges, bring peace and harmony in the community," said Kamal Mustafa of Gaithersburg. "Right now there are a lot of misunderstandings and fears from one community to the other community and if we open the lines of communication most of those misunderstandings would disappear."
