As soon as some members of the Islamic Center of Muncie saw the man coming toward them, they knew he was trouble.
McKinney's transformation is the subject of a riveting documentary short called "Stranger at the Gate." The film, which won a special jury prize at the 2022 Tribeca Film Festival, recounts how McKinney abandoned his plot and ended up converting to Islam and embracing a surprising role at the mosque. Seftel made his film as part of "The Secret Life of Muslims," an online video series. He says McKinney's story gave him hope that even some of the deepest divisions in the US can be transcended.
Seeing Muslims only caused his pain to resurface. He resented the presence of Muslims in Muncie because it seemed to make a mockery of the sacrifice he and his comrades made in Iraq and Afghanistan. "When I saw him, he was walking kind of fast, his head was kind of down, and he was kind of red in the face a little bit," Williams says in the film. "I knew something was wrong."
She embodies the Quranic verse on the Islamic center's website: "The reward for goodness is nothing but goodness." "God created all of us to get to know each other and take care of each other -- not to despise," she says.Bahrami's hospitality is remarkable considering many Muslim Americans are still treated like strangers in their own country. Hate crimes against Muslims in the US surged 500% from 2000 to 2009, according to a Brown University study, reflecting an increase in anti-Muslim sentiment after the 9/11 attacks.
It’s almost like people masquerade under “patriotism” just so they can be a horrible person
*plant a bomb