[quote=CONCHO]I’d like to hear from all the Islam experts on this thread how many Muslim friends and associates they have had in their lives.[/quote]

CONCHO: My boss in my first “real” (corporate) job was Lebanese (Muslim) and we grew to be close friends over my eight years there. At present, my company works closely with Muslims in Egypt, India, Singapore, Iraq, etc on our overseas operations and domestically we work with or employ dozens more, largely in engineering or design capacities.

On a personal basis, I’ve had similar conversations on the topics we’re discussing here dozens of times. Sometimes collegial, sometimes rancorous. One of the most interesting conversations I’ve been a part of involved an Iranian structural engineer and an Egyptian mechanical engineer and covered the rise and fall of the Persian and Egyptian empires and the differences between Persian and Arabic cultures. It was not only educational and entertaining, but it showed how many Persians view the Arab world (in a disdainful light, to say the least), and the Western world (you can probably guess).