The iERA daees had been walking from village to village all morning, their sandals kicking up red dust as they went door to door for Dawah.
Near the edge of the third village, a man was already waiting for them by the community tap. He had seen them speaking to youth the week before. His name was Sembuusi, and he had been a preacher in the local church for years. He crossed his arms and said, “I’ve been wanting to talk to you.”
The daees smiled, and greeted him with “Asalamu alaikum.” tell us what’s on your heart.” they asked him.
Sembuusi got straight to it. “Why do Muslims hate Jesus? He’s the Son of God who came to save the world. Yet you don’t believe in him the way we do.”
One of the daees nodded slowly. “We don’t hate Jesus, brother. In Islam, we love and respect him deeply. We believe he is the Messiah, born of Mary by a miracle, and he was a mighty messenger of God. We mention him with honor in the Qur’an.”
“We also try to follow what Jesus taught and did,” another daee added gently. “Jesus bowed down to worship God. We bow in prayer five times a day. Jesus removed his shoes on holy ground. We remove ours before entering the mosque. Jesus fasted. We fast. The more we learned about him, the more we realized we have so much in common.”
For a long time Sembuusi said nothing. The only sound was children playing down the road.
“So you don’t reject him?” he finally asked.
“No,” they replied. “We believe in the One God that Jesus himself prayed to. That is the core of our message. La ilaha illallah. There is no god but God.”
Sembuusi stood up, dusted off his trousers, and shook each of their hands. “I came here to challenge you,” he said quietly. “But you answered with patience.”
He walked away toward the church, and the daees continued down the road, calling out greetings to the next compound.
That evening, people in the village were still talking about the conversation under the tree. Not because anyone “won,” but because two different people sat down, listened, and left with a little more understanding than they came with.
