Our Muslim friends in Kandi are starting their tenth day of fasting. This is our second Ramadan among them, but unlike last year, we will not be visiting any mosques or attending the Eid al Fitr festival at the end of the month. Since last Ramadan, tensions have arisen frequently between us and some extreme groups. Though there have been no confrontations, we’ve had considerable words of warning. So far, our good relationships with some key community and religious leaders have helped calm the tensions.

Because our goal is neither to confront our Muslin friends nor to offend them, we judge it wise to stand by for a while and not appear at their public meetings, even if friends invite us. We know that Muslims and Christians have held negative perceptions of each other for more than a millennium and half, with misunderstandings and mischaracterizations on both sides. Today, however, there is movement on both sides to begin to find common ground. The challenge is that Christianity and Islam are two very evangelistic systems of belief. But we are convinced that it is possible to reach a point of mutual respect for the practice of religious freedom. Both the Bible and the Quran teach liberty of choice in religion:

“I call heaven and earth to record this day against you, that I have set before you life and death, blessing and cursing: therefore choose life, that both thou and thy seed may live” (Deut. 30:19).

“There is no compulsion in religion. Verily, the Right Path has become distinct from the wrong path. Whoever rejects evil and believes in Allah hath grasped the most trustworthy handhold that never breaks. And Allah is All-Hearer, All-knower” (Al-Baqarah 2:256).

During Ramadan this year, we will fast for a third of the month for our own spiritual needs and also to show our respect for our Muslim friends’ holy month (Muslims have respect for godly, praying and caring people). We pray that many more will come to the understanding that we are not in Kandi to offend Islam as some are suggesting but that we are among them to present another faith to all the Dendis who are sincerely willing to seek God. We know culture, kinship and community pressure will not make this easy, but that is where faith and prayer come in.

“There is far more being done by the universe of Heaven than we have an idea of, in preparing the way so that souls shall be converted. We want to work in harmony with the messengers of Heaven. We want more of God; we do not want to feel that it is our talking and our sermonizing that is to do the work; we want to feel that unless the people are reached through God, they will never be reached” (Ellen White, 2SAT, 84.2).

• Twitter