"My brother" I have my problems with Islam. It is the faith of my birth-though never to be honest, of my conviction. On the other hand, I must admit that the egalitarianism and focus on justice that Islam preaches is not all feigned. In some ways, that is its problem, its intense moralizing can make the believer feel as if they are can commit no sin so long as they do in the name of God and the service of Islam (Muslims do not accept original sin). Here is an article, again from the Washington Post, on the spread of Islam among Tutsis in Rwanda.

Since the genocide, Rwandans have converted to Islam in huge numbers. Muslims now make up 14 percent of the 8.2 million people here in Africa's most Catholic nation, twice as many as before the killings began. Many converts say they chose Islam because of the role that some Catholic and Protestant leaders played in the genocide. Human rights groups have documented several incidents in which Christian clerics allowed Tutsis to seek refuge in churches, then surrendered them to Hutu death squads, as well as instances of Hutu priests and ministers encouraging their congregations to kill Tutsis. Today some churches serve as memorials to the many people slaughtered among their pews. Four clergymen are facing genocide charges at the U.N.-created International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and last year in Belgium, the former colonial power, two Rwandan nuns were convicted of murder for their roles in the massacre of 7,000 Tutsis who sought protection at a Benedictine convent. In contrast, many Muslim leaders and families are being honored for protecting and hiding those who were fleeing. Some say Muslims did this because of the religion's strong dictates against murder, though Christian doctrine proscribes it as well. Others say Muslims, always considered an ostracized minority, were not swept up in the Hutus' campaign of bloodshed and were unafraid of supporting a cause they felt was honorable.

During festivals like Eid-al-Fatir, my family would go mosque, and my father would refer to everyone as brother and sister. He's not a particularly effusive person, but on those days, I heard sincerity in his voice.