OCTOBER 10 • 2024 | 23
J
N

‘Twinning’ 
in Detroit

Several Muslim-Jewish 
events were part of 
“Weekend (later: Season) of 
Twinning” that Walter Ruby 
organized, with local lead-
ers, in the latter years of 
his career with Foundation 
for Ethnic Understanding 
(FFEU). The events took 
place in U.S. cities, includ-
ing Detroit, and Canada. 
“It was exciting to help 
coordinate ties between 
leaders of the Jewish com-
munity and the Michigan 
Muslim Community 
Council,” said Ruby, men-
tioning consultations with 
Muslims Victor Begg, now 
of Florida, and Siham 
Awada Jafaar, founder/pro-
ducer of the annual Images 
and Perceptions diversity 
conferences. 
On the Jewish side, he 
worked with Rabbi Dorit 
Edut, founding director of 
Detroit Interfaith Outreach 
Network, and Jeremy 
Salinger, Ph.D., an engineer 
and leader with the pro-
gressive Ameinu Detroit 
organization, among many 
others. 
Ruby worked with the 
latter three and “other 
folks on the ground” to 
create the Muslim-Jewish 
Solidarity Council (current-
ly on hiatus). A highlight 
for the group in 2015 
was sponsoring Detroit’s 
Muslim-Jewish Event for 
the “Season of Twinning” at 
Wayne State University in 
Detroit. The social evening 
with ethnic food specialties 
included the presentation 
of creative writing and art 
awards to teens from both 
communities.

A 

Jewish man and a Muslim 
woman living in the Northeast 
United States would like nothing 
more than for members of their respective 
faith communities to experience the balm 
of friendship — as they do. 
It’s a relationship the friends are man-
aging against the backdrop of the bloody 
Israel-Gaza war.
Sabeeha Rehman, a Muslim American 
writer, and Walter Ruby, a Jewish jour-
nalist, are the activist friends 
who don’t believe in giving 
up when times are tough. We 
Refuse to Be Enemies, the title 
of the podcast they launched 
on June 14, is a vehicle for 
their continuing advocacy 
of building Muslim-Jewish 
relations.
Both were affected by 
having refugee mothers who 
narrowly escaped with their 
lives, fleeing from India to 
Pakistan (Rehman’s) and 
Nazi Germany to the U.S. 
(Ruby’s). “Our mothers infused us with 
the commitment to justice, peace and 
shared humanity that animates us today,
” 
Rehman said.
She and Ruby have participated for 
decades in interfaith dialogue meant to 
nurture cooperation between their respec-
tive communities. Rehman was director of 
Interfaith Relations at American Society 
for Muslim Advancement (ASMA), while 
Ruby is the former Muslim-Jewish pro-
gram director at the Foundation for Ethnic 
Understanding (FFEU).
In his position, Ruby organized annual 
“Twinning” events, intended to bring 
Muslims and Jews together in mutually 
enjoyable ways and to engage in construc-
tive dialogue. (See sidebar about 
his Detroit connections.) It was in 
relation to the Twinning project 
that Ruby reached out in 2010 to 
Daisy Khan, executive director 
of ASMA, and got Rehman on 

the phone. From that point on, he and 
Rehman started encountering each other 
in interfaith spaces.
In 2016, Rehman contacted Ruby 
to obtain a rabbi’s “blurb” (advance 
recommendation) for her upcoming 
memoir, Threading My Prayer Rug: One 
Woman’s Journey from Pakistani Muslim 
to American Muslim. 
After reading Rehman’s 
manuscript, Ruby sug-
gested they team up 
to write a book about 
Muslim-Jewish relation-
ship-building. 
Their underlying con-
viction resulted in the 
book, We Refuse to Be 
Enemies: How Muslims 
and Jews Can Make 
Peace One Friendship at a 
Time (Arcade Publishing, 
312 pages, released April 
20, 2021).

LAUNCHING 
A PODCAST
A podcast seemed a logi-
cal next step for them. In addition to Ruby 
and Rehman’s conversations and personal 
commentaries, their podcast features 
interviews with positive-thinking opin-
ion leaders from the Jewish, Muslim and 
Christian religions. The twice-a-month 
podcast keeps its focus on issues of con-
cern to Muslims and Jews, the two largest 
religious minorities living in the U. S. 
Rehman and Ruby regret that the Israel-
Gaza War ended many of the long-term 
relationships Jews and Muslims developed 
after 9-11. They feel strongly, however, 
that each side must not let the conflict 
decimate their communities’ longstanding 
alliance.
The co-hosts are aware that Jews and 
Muslims hold sharply different viewpoints 
about Israel and Palestine. Ruby said: “
An 
imam with whom I worked closely over 
the years would not condemn the mass 

murder of Jews on Oct. 7, considering the 
huge civilian death toll in Gaza. According 
to a close associate, many in the imam’s 
own mosque would have rebelled if he had 
done so.
”
Rehman said: “
American Muslims are 
resentful at being pressured to speak out 
against Hamas’ actions when they feel that 
there has been rela-
tive silence by many 
Jews over the oppres-
sion Palestinians have 
endured for decades 
under Israel occupa-
tion.
”
On campus, where 
Jews are experienc-
ing a new high in 
antisemitic incidents, 
“students report 
feeling canceled by 
friends and faculty 
for wanting to remain 
Zionist,
” Ruby said. 
On the other side 
of the coin, Rehman 
said, “Muslim stu-
dents report feel-
ing like they’re being targeted for their 
pro-Palestinian views.
”
While the current situation can cause 
tension and depression in many individuals, 
Rehman and Ruby introduced their pod-
cast series by noting “we have had enough 
of Muslims and Jews feeling alone.
” 
Ruby said on behalf of himself and 
Rehman: “Let’s agree to disagree respect-
fully and with abiding affection for each 
other on certain issues in Israel-Palestine, 
even as we rebuild our relationship here 
at home and stand together against 
Islamophobia, antisemitism and all forms 
of bigotry, and in defense of democracy, 
pluralism and humanity.
”
He continued: “We speak of how to 
navigate this difficult terrain with compas-
sion for both communities; preserving our 
relationships even while holding true to 
our beliefs.
” 

A Muslim and a Jew develop podcast to bridge 

the differences between their communities.

‘We Refuse to Be Enemies’

ESTHER ALLWEISS INGBER CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Sabeeha 
Rehman

Walter 
Ruby

Walter Ruby and Sabeeha Rehman’s 
We Refuse to Be Enemies podcast 
can be found on YouTube and Spotify.

