Friends in Low Places

The Muslim world is clamoring for democracy in Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, and elsewhere. The Christian world is clamoring for moderate Muslims to denounce the actions of the fundamentalists. This memoir narrates one man's fifteen-year spiritual journey which brought him to ponder how to reconcile people with competing beliefs. The journey started in the Bronx where Dr. Ibrahim opened an HIV clinic, and where mere survival causes 'the rubber' of one's belief to meet 'the road' of life. Through the message communicated in Friends in Low Places, Ibrahim seeks to bridge the gap between people with competing beliefs while bringing God's love and healing to those who need it most. Dr. Habib Ibrahim's clinic is a dangerous place but it is also a loving place where the grace of God shines. After having had a dream in which Jesus motioned with his hands saying, "Bring them to me and I will heal them," Dr. Ibrahim had a new passion to bring God's love and healing to the Bronx. Dr. Ibrahim and his wife became partners in a clinic where Jesus Christ serves as The Master Physician. Narrating the spiritual journey during the last fifteen years of Ibrahim's life, Friends in Low Places provides a humorous and sometimes poignant look at how Ibrahim seeks to fashion a human spirit that reflects the Holy Spirit of God. Only God loves us perfectly, and as we thirst for Him, He thirsts for us, as told by an old Sufi Muslim saying: "Oh, you who are thirsty for the tea do not realize that the tea is also thirsty for you." From age thirty-five to fifty, this memoir offers an eclectic representation of what Ibrahim has learned. It includes quips from his Bronx patients, which are often colored with deep meaning, and testimonies of life told through poems, essays, his Bronx patient's lives, and the lives of Christian, Muslim, and Jewish friends. This book contains the account of three Muslims, one gangster, one crack addict, and one Orthodox Jew, all whom found the love of Jesus. There is even a story of a soldier from Afghanistan who drove a tank during the Russian occupation, this man was overwhelmed by the words spoken by Jesus, encouraging us to 'love our enemies.' We Americans are the next superpower in Afghanistan, but I wonder what weapon Jesus would use to win the hearts of the citizens there. Would he use a tomahawk missile, a drone plane, or would He use his old standard weapon, the wooden cross? Ibrahim says, "I was once a Muslim from Pakistan, but after 9/11, I am a Christian from Manhattan Island. I pray that God will invert the original purpose of this satanic terrorist attack, and as such, God will bring more people to become seekers of His love. When times are good, we Americans think that our success is because of our own wisdom and might. Persecution from fundamentalist Muslims reminds us that we are still vulnerable and need to turn to God for protection and answers. Furthermore, we need to pray for those who persecute us, just as Jesus prayed for his tormentors when He was on the cross. Despite 9/11, if we are motivated to pray and practice fasting, Americans can regain their spiritual center of gravity, and many more Muslims can encounter the precious love of Jesus Christ."----Chapter 8, East meets West.