I work in downtown Chicago, worked late, and caught a cab home tonight.
After a little back and forth, I asked my cab driver where he was from, and he proudly said he was a Muslim from Bangladesh.
Please hold my hand and jump...
He went on a little bit about Islam, and I told him I'm reading a book called The Shia Revival by Vali Nasr.
I thought it was an innocuous wading into conversation about the differences between Shia and Sunni Muslims.
He spoke about the Shia and said that the Shia were not real Muslims. They don't worship correctly. He mocked the book I mentioned and said he didn't need a book, because he knows all about Shia.
"I didn't know anything," I said, "That's why I need a book."
"The Shia aren't even Muslim. They've been corrupted by the Jews."
Oh, really?
"Yes, before Muhammed, the Persians took many young Jewish men and women to Iran as slaves. When Islam finally got to Iran, the Jewish converted, but they got it wrong. They all became Shia!"
I listened politely, and when we got to my stop, he gave me the address to an Islamic bookstore on Devon Ave. I told him I would look it up. I bade him farewell and wished him a safe evening.
We all opine about whether we should be in Iraq, and about whether we should not go into Iran, but as I started walking down the street, I got the eerie feeling that we haven't got the slightest idea what can of worms we've just opened in Iraq.